[Mini Review] Mafia II - PhysX performance comparison

my colleague from web magazine CTTL.cz did small performance comparison of PhysX settings in Mafia II...here is it

Test station:
CPU: Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 @ 4GHz
GPU: nVidia GeForce GTX275
MB: ASUS P5K/EPU
RAM: A-Data Vitesta 800MHz CL4 @ 1067MHz CL5
PSU: Seasonic 750W 80Plus Silver
LCD: Samsung 2433BW (1920x1200)

http://cttl.cz/clanky/Novinky09/West...O/physxcpu.PNG

http://cttl.cz/clanky/Novinky09/West...O/physxgpu.PNG

Mini review in Czech language: http://cttl.cz/index.php?gid=11175
Translated mini review: http://translate.google.cz/translate...75&sl=cs&tl=en

So what exactly PhysX adds to the game ?

I think the better question is "what does GPU PhysX add to the game?"

To actually answer your question, though, here:

http://techgage.com/article/taking_a...its_physx_use/

Tried running in-game benchmark with PhysX on normal and high, either way kills performance too much.

Getting 15-20 avg on normal and 10-15 on high. Constant 60 (with vsync) without PhysX.

Guess they are not kidding with a recommended dedicated 285 to PhysX.

try this if you getting low fps with physx;


uninstall your current physx driver, than go to ;

xxxx \Steam\steamapps\common\mafia ii - public demo\3rd


install the "PhysX_10.05.12_9.10.0512_SystemSoftware.exe" and run the game again, and dont forget to turn off AA its causing problems with physx :down:

I don't know guys, this talk seems misleading and premature due to probably PhysX driver issues as mentioned. Sure a ded PhysX card is always going to help if you have a mediocre GPU, but a 480 should be able to render graphics and PhysX fairly well. If not this is going to piss off a a lot of people with a mere 16 lanes on the 1156 platform that may not have the slots or lanes to add a ded PhysX card.

sorry, but if i have to chose between aa and physix, its def aa, fail... :D
hows the gameplay overall? :)

I like the gameplay, the cover system works smooth and fine. What I also really like for once you die pretty quick after only a couple of bullets, get in line of the fire of an enemy and you're most likely dead. The AI seems to shoot randomly even if he doesn't see you if he camps at a door altough they can act a bit slow when hiding behind a box but this probably so you're able to flank them from the side if that's how you prefer doing it.

I also like the mature language use for a change, in a game like this it just wouldn't sound right if it didn't use it. The jokes works for me.

They've done a decent job I think with the little world I'm able to explore in the demo and I think handling is ok too, thank god they offer a view from driver's position minus the internals of the car because that makes the driving a whole lot easier and more enjoyable for me.

Finally here's my results from the benchmark with Apex off and medium. I personally prefer playing with apex off for the higher fps. Results seems good for a single GTX 280 though albeit at 1680x1050.

downloading demo of steam now

I see there is a patch that allows free roam of the game, removes the borders that limit your freedom

I should bench the same as you RPG wizard as we have similar rigs only i,m q6600 and 285 gtx

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nowyn

Guess they are not kidding with a recommended dedicated 285 to PhysX.

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Just ran the in-game bench on my 295 GTX with an 8800GTS 512MB for ded PhysX....the 8800 has plenty of power to be a ded PhysX card for this game....look at the GPU1 utilization....loaded only 50-70%

all in game video settings maxed - 1920x1200
295 @ 650/1400/1200
8800 stock
min FPS 10.7
avg FPS 45.9

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...en/mafiaII.jpg

I'd do a few more tests tomorrow ;)

I think we all knew PhysX was going to be yet another cluster:banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::ba nana:y in this game and not something thats actually useful ;) 100FPS or 20FPS with extra random crap flying around.. no brainer :D

since when was physx "useful" in any game? either way, 8800gt is plenty for a ppu. no diff in frame rate between a gtx260 and 8800gt as a ppu w/ apex high.

thx :)

http://www.gamegpu.ru/action-/-fps-/...-test-gpu.html

http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/5562/47202363.jpghttp://img261.imageshack.us/img261/1726/73221335.jpg

can some one look to Specifications!
he Test with processor Pentium Dual-Core E5200...

Quote:

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Test station:
CPU: Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 @ 4GHz
GPU: nVidia GeForce GTX275
MB: ASUS P5K/EPU
RAM: A-Data Vitesta 800MHz CL4 @ 1067MHz CL5
PSU: Seasonic 750W 80Plus Silver
LCD: Samsung 2433BW (1920x1200)

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thx cold2010 :)
this is Professional Review from gamegpu. look to the Specifications he use

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550@ 4.25 :up:

Thanks for the info guys! So is physx really needed for this game? And zen are you sure a 8800gtx would be enough for a decicated physx card to go with my 5870s?

I'd like to see what a 5870 can do on a system hacked to allow physx to run. The fact that pretty much every ATI card from the last two generations gets the exact same minimum and average framerates is telling, isn't it?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Johnny87au

Thanks for the info guys! So is physx really needed for this game? And zen are you sure a 8800gtx would be enough for a decicated physx card to go with my 5870s?

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See my post above....it'll be plenty :up:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Oberon

The fact that pretty much every ATI card from the last two generations gets the exact same minimum and average framerates is telling, isn't it?

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That's because with all ATI cards, the game is very CPU limited with Apex set to "high" due to 100% of PhysX processing being done on the CPU :rolleyes:

For me, FRAPS is not reporting min FPS as low as the game itself....with ded PhysX, my min according to FRAPS is 32FPS :up:

i7 920 @ 4.0GHz, uncore @ 3.6GHz
6GB DDR3 @ 1600 7-7-7-20-59 1T
295 GTX (GT200 240sp x2) @ 650/1400/1200
8800GTS 512MB (G92 128sp) @ 670/1674/972
300GB Velociraptor for game & fraps, OS on 80GB Intel X25M

Here are my results:

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...en/comparo.jpg

And the individual screenshots:

CPU PhysX only
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...len/th_CPU.jpg

PhysX and graphics on 295 GTX
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...len/th_295.jpg

Graphics on 295 GTX and PhysX on 8800GTS
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...en/th_8800.jpg

PhysX disabled
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...th_noPhysX.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by miahallen

That's because with all ATI cards, the game is very CPU limited with Apex set to "high" due to 100% of PhysX processing being done on the CPU :rolleyes:

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All one thread of it? ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Oberon

All one thread of it? ;)

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Unfortunately....yes :shakes:

Just played through the demo with max setting and a dedicated PhysX card:

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t.../demoPhysX.jpg

With PhysX disabled:

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...demo-PhysX.jpg

When you're focused on killing people, the last thing you look at is the particles in the air, or chunks of stuff falling off walls IMO. If a game would use physX to improve gameplay, I'd see the need for it....but until then, it's just eye candy, which is nice. The really nice part is that with a dedicated card, the FPS don't take much of a hit :D

You'll notice my FPS min were lower without PhysX, but that was because I was killed, and there was a bit of lag when it reloaded....I was not killed during the first run with PhysX, so I don't know if the behavior would be the same there or not.

The thing that really disappoints me is the driving physics :( Very arcady, and not realistic at all....feels like it's straight out of GTA III :( Like the cars only weigh 10% of the real thing.

I've been playing a lot of GTA IV lately, and the improvement in the vehical physics really makes the game far more enjoyable for me.

thanks for the info mate, 8800gtx it is!

wow it damn near cuts performance in half. I still have not even experimented with it yet but it looks brutal haha.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Copenhagen69

wow it damn near cuts performance in half.

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Not with a dedicated PhysX card...look at my post #20 above ^^^ :up:

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/4154/1111.jpg

ran the mafia II demo benchmark ... does my physx GPU usage seem low?

Looks a bit low to me, what card is it? How was overall performance?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by miahallen

Looks a bit low to me, what card is it? How was overall performance?

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getting 45fps or so

5870/460 everything high 1920x1200

Hey guys, I've seen this question come up a lot, si I included a little examination in my last artilce I thought many of you would be interested in.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MIAHALLEN

During testing, I became pretty curious about PhysX performance with dedicated versus shared PhysX processing. I was testing two games which utilize the technology, Mafia II and Metro 2033. I’ve read a lot of questions about PhysX, and many center around the debate concerning dedicated PhysX. So I decided to do a little extra bit of testing on this.


Dedicated vs Shared PhysX Processing:

http://www.techreaction.net/wp-conte...de-300x225.png
PhysX comparison - minimum FPS


http://www.techreaction.net/wp-conte...de-300x225.png
PhysX comparison - average FPS



As you can see here, with three GPUs in use, the two games behave completely differently. Mafia II seems to have very heavy usage on the dedicated PhysX GPU, where Metro uses a dedicated GPU very little. Since Metro is so heavily GPU bound, the loss of a card dedicated for PhysX really hinders performance. Mafia II on the other hand gets a very nice performance boost when one of the three GPUs is dedicated for PhysX processing.

When dropping the system to only two GPUs, the Mafia II runs just as well with the dedicated card as it does with the PhysX shared. But again, since Metro uses so little PhysX, the loss of an entire GPU for the job really hurts performance.

Our conclusion on this subject is that not all games with PhysX are equal. I would submit to Nvidia that they need to implement the PhysX configuration into the application profile area. If I were running a triple card setup, I would want PhysX shared for most stuff, but dedicated for games like Mafia II which need the extra PhysX power. Manually changing it each time is tedious at best.

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You can view the rest of the article here.