GTX 260 for Physx / CUDA

**snowmanwithahat** · 03-11-10, 12:47 PM

So I'm presented with the opportunity to have a GTX 260 (192) for a very modest $100.... I'd be using it along-side my gtx 285 for physx and as a CUDA device when doing things that can actually take advantage of CUDA.

I'm not sure if its worth it though... it's a great deal but I'm not sure I can put the power to use.... or possibly a more cost-effecient method of putting it to use would be to just get another 285 and go with an sli setup.

I'm also considering selling the 285 for a 470 when they are released.... any opinions would really be appreciated

Yaboze · 03-12-10, 08:51 AM

Well, a GTX 260-216 is around $200 new, of course $100 is half the price.

I was using a 9600 GT for PhysX and I don't think it was worth it, I ended up pulling it out.

I guess it depends on how many PhysX games you really play with all of that turned on.

As much as I like the idea of it, I just don't think PhysX is really worth it right now. I certainly wouldn't only buy Nvidia because of it. When I had a 4870 I didn't miss it at all, the only thing I did miss were Nvidia's drivers, which are better, IMHO.

It also seems like you are into CUDA, if you are interested in CUDA programming and PhysX, I guess it might be worth it for you, but for games, I wouldn't bother.

CaptNKILL · 03-12-10, 11:33 AM

I'd buy a GTX 260 for that price whether I needed it or not.

That's a smoking deal.

You could always just try it out. Play some Physx games, take advantage of the performance improvement, and then take the card out if you aren't using it any more. If you end up not needing it at all, sell it for a profit. That's what I did with my 9600GT. Its currently going into a system I'm building for a friend.

**snowmanwithahat** · 03-12-10, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaptNKILL

I'd buy a GTX 260 for that price whether I needed it or not.

That's a smoking deal.

You could always just try it out. Play some Physx games, take advantage of the performance improvement, and then take the card out if you aren't using it any more. If you end up not needing it at all, sell it for a profit. That's what I did with my 9600GT. Its currently going into a system I'm building for a friend.

That's kind of how i tried justifying it to myself lol.

I actually use alot more CUDA enabled programs than just physx so it definetly does have some benefit there... it's just tough dropping $100 on a video card that I can't use in sli... even if I had an sli board

03-11-10, 12:47 PM	#1
snowmanwithahat Snowy Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Michigan Posts: 973	GTX 260 for Physx / CUDA So I'm presented with the opportunity to have a GTX 260 (192) for a very modest $100.... I'd be using it along-side my gtx 285 for physx and as a CUDA device when doing things that can actually take advantage of CUDA. I'm not sure if its worth it though... it's a great deal but I'm not sure I can put the power to use.... or possibly a more cost-effecient method of putting it to use would be to just get another 285 and go with an sli setup. I'm also considering selling the 285 for a 470 when they are released.... any opinions would really be appreciated __________________ ---Gaming Rig--- Q6600 3.4ghz (378x9) - 1.5v Gigabyte EP45-UD3P 8gb (4x2gb) OCZ Gold DDR2-800 (5-4-4-12) MSI+ASUS GTX 470 SLI Dell u3011 IPS Display HP 22" Auxiliary Monitor 256gb Western Digital Silicon Edge Blue SSD 5x2tb RAID-5 Array 750W PC P&C PSU Windows 7 Pro 64-Bit & Ubuntu 10.04 64-bit ---Gaming Laptop--- ASUS G53JW Core i7 740QM 16gb DDR3 Nvidia GTX 460m 1tb WD HDD 120gb Corsair SSD Join the NvNews Folding @ Home Team

03-12-10, 08:51 AM	#2
Yaboze Registered User Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: United States Posts: 2,057	Re: GTX 260 for Physx / CUDA Well, a GTX 260-216 is around $200 new, of course $100 is half the price. I was using a 9600 GT for PhysX and I don't think it was worth it, I ended up pulling it out. I guess it depends on how many PhysX games you really play with all of that turned on. As much as I like the idea of it, I just don't think PhysX is really worth it right now. I certainly wouldn't only buy Nvidia because of it. When I had a 4870 I didn't miss it at all, the only thing I did miss were Nvidia's drivers, which are better, IMHO. It also seems like you are into CUDA, if you are interested in CUDA programming and PhysX, I guess it might be worth it for you, but for games, I wouldn't bother.

03-12-10, 11:33 AM	#3
CaptNKILL CUBE Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: PA, USA Posts: 18,844	Re: GTX 260 for Physx / CUDA I'd buy a GTX 260 for that price whether I needed it or not. That's a smoking deal. You could always just try it out. Play some Physx games, take advantage of the performance improvement, and then take the card out if you aren't using it any more. If you end up not needing it at all, sell it for a profit. That's what I did with my 9600GT. Its currently going into a system I'm building for a friend. __________________ ---- Primary Rig ---- CoolerMaster 690 II Advance - Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 4.0Ghz + Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme 6GB DDR2 @ 942Mhz 5-5-5-20 1.9v (2x1Gb Wintec AMPX PC2-8500 & 2x2Gb G.Skill PC2-6400) - EVGA Geforce GTX 470 @ 750/1500/1850 (1.050v) Sparkle Geforce GTS 250 1Gb Low-Profile (Physx) - Crucial RealSSD C300 64Gb SSD - Seagate 7200.12 500Gb SATA - Seagate 7200.10 320Gb SATA ASUS VW266H 25.5" LCD - OCZ GameXStream 700W PSU - ASUS Xonar DX - Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Surround - Windows 7 Professional x64 ---- HTPC ---- Asus M3A78-EM 780G - AMD Athlon X2 5050e 45W @ 2.6Ghz - 2x2GB Kingston PC2-6400 DDR2 - Sparkle 350W PSU Seagate 7200.10 320Gb SATA - Seagate 7200.10 250Gb SATA - Athenatech A100BB.350 MicroATX Desktop - Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic