Nvidia disables PhysX when ATI card is present

Robin · October 28th, 2009, 11:34 AM

@ GenL

Are you still busy with that hacked patch for ageia PPUs?

Pat · October 28th, 2009, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daist

I had to give up using 2 cards at once as I'm sick and tired like hell of the idiotic behaviour of my system... 9600GT in PCI-E x4 is somehow used by the rig as the main one and HD4870x2 is recognized as the secondary card. So whenever I'm using OpenGL apps like the great Berserker @ Quake 2 all the open windows/apps turn out to be opened on the 9600GT's display (which is by default No. 1) instead of the actual display which was assigned as primary but the system is seeing it as No. 2).
So what I have to do is shutdown all these apps and restart them to see them at the currently Primary (but No. 2) display. This does not work with apps that remember their god damn window position and the only things that can be done to move the window is either to plug the display connector to 9600GT (which is terribly inconvenient as the rig is under the table with access heavily blocked by stuff) OR aim the mouse at the small icon of the app on the app panel, see a miniature window, right-click it, choose "move window", move it with arrow buttons a little to make it stick to the mouse cursor and then move it out of the invisible area. But what is really driving me crazy is that it doesn't work with windows that cannot be moved because they are pop-up windows of apps like Comodo Internet Security.

Is there anybody who might tell me how to make Windows believe that my ATI card is the No. 1 card and it should have the primary display (No. 1) assigned to it by default? I guess it has smth to do with the PCI-E slots numbering, Windows thinks that the x4 slot with its card is No. 1 when it's occupied and the x16 slot with its card is No. 2 which is totally wrong and different from what I want - the x16 MUST be the primary as it's faster.

If I understood right, you want to change the desktops's numbering. Now when you press the "Identify" button on the screen resolution window you get "1" on the second (or inactive) monitor and "2" on primary? If so, it's easy to change the order:

1) Open Screen Resolution - I assume you have "2" on ATI card - it's your main display and "1" on NV desktop
2) Select "Show desktop only on 2" and apply
3) Go to the device manager and disable NV card - you should see the "2" becoming "1" in Screen Resolution window
4) Enable NV card and it will be "2".
5) Select back to "Extend these displays" to get PhysX work again.

If it doesn't work for you, you can remove NV driver (uninstall and clean using driver sweeper) that will make your ATI desktop "1" and then install NV drivers.

Daist · October 28th, 2009, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pat

If I understood right, you want to change the desktops's numbering. Now when you press the "Identify" button on the screen resolution window you get "1" on the second (or inactive) monitor and "2" on primary? If so, it's easy to change the order:

1) Open Screen Resolution - I assume you have "2" on ATI card - it's your main display and "1" on NV desktop
2) Select "Show desktop only on 2" and apply
3) Go to the device manager and disable NV card - you should see the "2" becoming "1" in Screen Resolution window
4) Enable NV card and it will be "2".
5) Select back to "Extend these displays" to get PhysX work again.

I seem to have already done this. When I disable NV card the ATI display is still "2", at least in the CCC. However I'll try again when I come back home.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pat

If it doesn't work for you, you can remove NV driver (uninstall and clean using driver sweeper) that will make your ATI desktop "1" and then install NV drivers.

My ATI desktop was initially "1" before I installed the 9600GT card and its drivers. Then it became "2".
The worst part of it is that when there are 2 cards installed the system ignores the ATI card in the x16 slot so I can't even see the BIOS/boot screen (it's only visible if I connect the display to the 9600GT card output).

In short, when the display is hooked to the ATI output it looks like this:
1) I start the PC, the display is black (off).
2) The system goes to the OS choice menu (I have XP, Win7x86 and Win7x64), waits for 5 sec, starts booting Win7x86. The display is still off.
3) Only at the Welcome screen the display turns on as Windows tells it that the ATI card is the one to be used at the moment so the display connected to ATI has to be turned on and used. And the ATI's display is still No. 2.

Rybka00 · October 28th, 2009, 07:28 PM

hi Guys, it may look like I am a newbie, but I have a problem with installing the patch for windows 7 x64 (Phsyx on ATI). I'm running a Gigabyte Radeon HD4850 1gb Zalman video card and I wanted to install PhysX to play some of the new games, actually I have a big problem. As we can read in the readme file, installation of nVidia drivers before is needed to patch it. The problem is that I cannot continue the installation of Physx on my hard drive. The button "continue" doesn't anwser and I'm gettin stuck after the 1st window of installation - license agreement. What should I do?

Please reply.

Regards

darthcyclonis · October 28th, 2009, 07:34 PM

Rybka00...Do you have an Nvidia card installed as well? PhysX does not work on ATi cards. You can use it to render graphics and use a Nvidia card for PhysX. The patch was designed to allow users to run ATI for Graphics and Nvidia card for PhysX. Nvidia blocked PhysX when it detected an ATI card.

Rybka00 · October 28th, 2009, 07:58 PM

No nvidia cards inside. So it means I won't be able to play any game which requiers PhysX, am I right?

Lurk · October 29th, 2009, 01:47 AM

Unfortunately for you, yes, you are right. No way to enjoy PhysX the way one should w/o an Nvidia card.
The patch is to enable the use of PhysX on mixed GPU configurations, i.e. ATI for rendering and Nvidia for PhysX calculations.
Unless you add an Nvidia card to your system you won't be able to enjoy PhysX properly.
On Batman for example you can decide to run PhysX off the CPU if you don't have an Nvidia card, but the performance hit will be the kind that makes you want to stop playing right away.

BES · October 29th, 2009, 06:05 AM

UhOH! GenL Nvidia is on to you! ...
http://physxinfo.com/news/330/offici...onfigurations/

Hope you up to hacking their next set of drivers!..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lurk

Unfortunately for you, yes, you are right. No way to enjoy PhysX the way one should w/o an Nvidia card.
The patch is to enable the use of PhysX on mixed GPU configurations, i.e. ATI for rendering and Nvidia for PhysX calculations.
Unless you add an Nvidia card to your system you won't be able to enjoy PhysX properly.
On Batman for example you can decide to run PhysX off the CPU if you don't have an Nvidia card, but the performance hit will be the kind that makes you want to stop playing right away.

Someone was able to hack ATI drivers supposedly so physx would work... but they wouldnt show how they did it.. I say show the proof or im not going to believe it..

Rybka00 · October 29th, 2009, 03:38 PM

Oh right.. But guys listen, the most strange thing about the PhysX on my pc is that I've had it installed. I'm 100% sure about it! It must have been installed autimaticly before (during some game installation). I remember the moment when I've removed the nVidia (including PhsyX) folder from my Program Files. This is insane, so many fantastic games I will not be able to play -,-

technogiant · October 29th, 2009, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BES

UhOH! GenL Nvidia is on to you! ...
http://physxinfo.com/news/330/offici...onfigurations/

just read that official Nvidia reply...the last section says that they support the Ageia PPU in win xp and vista but not windows 7.....?? but that does not appear to be correct....i can't get the latest Physx runtime software to work in my xp /ati system?? just getting confused now