I don't understand PhysX as well as I would like, so I came here. With the following hardware and settings I usually get well over 30 fps in large fights with little to no stuttering. But once I force PhysX my performance tanks (logical) yet it appears to mostly affect my CPU. Specifically, when I'm around elevator beams, my fps turns into a slideshow for up to 30 seconds and shows [CPU]. I run with the in-game fps on and see around 4-7 fps during this slowdown. So I figured it was due to the elevators' particle effects. But in the warpgate, I rarely to never have this issue near the elevator beams. Could it be the extra people and the battle? Also, with my Nvidia drivers set to use my 560 Ti card as the PhysX device, why does the game show [CPU]? Shouldn't PhysX hit the GPU instead? My current hardware: i7 920 overclocked to 3.3 GHz 6 GB RAM at 1600 MHz EVGA Superclocked 560 Ti (Fermi) My usual graphics options are as follows, although I have recently tweaked them: 1920x1080 resolution All graphics on high except shadows = medium motion blur = off My current useroptions.ini file settings: [Display] FullscreenRefresh=0 Maximized=0 RenderQuality=1 FullscreenWidth=1920 FullscreenHeight=1080 WindowedWidth=1920 WindowedHeight=1080 Mode=Fullscreen FullscreenMode=Fullscreen [Rendering] GraphicsQuality=2 TextureQuality=1 ShadowQuality=2 RenderDistance=6000.000000 Gamma=0.000000 MaximumFPS=120 UseLod0a=0 OverallQuality=-1 LightingQuality=2 EffectsQuality=3 TerrainQuality=3 FloraQuality=3 ModelQuality=3 VerticalFOV=55 ParticleLOD=2 ParticleDistanceScale=2.0 FogShadowsEnable=1 MotionBlur=1 VSync=1 AO=1 GpuPhysics=1 [Sound] Master=1.000000 Music=1.000000 Game=1.000000 Dialog=1.000000 UI=1.000000 UseFloat32Output=0 ExclusiveMode=0 HitIndicator=1 LowAmmoIndicator=1 VehicleChatter=1 OutputDeviceName=Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio) [VideoCapture] Resolution=2 Quality=100 OutputFile=E:\SOE\Videos\Planetside2\PS2Video_0011 WorkingDir=C:\Users\Bill\Videos\Planetside2 [VideoStreamer] Resolution=1 Fps=30 Kbps=0 MicRecordVolume=0.000000 SpeakerRecordVolume=1.000000 Username= [Terrain] RenderFlora=On [General] AutoDetectPerformanceSettings=0 MouseSensitivity=0.580000 SprintToggle=0 ZoomToggle=1 VehicleMouseSensitivity=0.550000 ScopedMouseSensitivity=0.600000 InvertVerticalFly=1 DrawHud=1 Profanity=0 FlightMouseSensitivity=0.900000 [UI] WelcomeScreenShown=1 MapZoomLevel=6 MapPositionX=-233.75450899707 MapPositionY=64.99188233496093 ShowCertsTutorial=0 ShowMapTutorial=0 MapCenterOnPlayer=0 MapFilterShowSquad=1 CentralizedHudMode=1 MapStatisticsView=0 MapFilterShowMissions=1 MapFilterShowActivityLevel=0 MapFilterShowTerritoryControl=1 MapFilterShowAllies=1 HudChatSize=517.5|187.03125 MapFilterShowGrid=0 HudTintMode=2 HudTintColorVS=6696337 HudTintColorNC=4426954 HudTintColorTR=7995430
Physx is CPU bound at the moment for Planetside. The game doesn't chew it well so it spits out the uneaten bits onto the CPU which it shouldn't in optimal situations. Your 384 CUDA cores in your GPU should do the job once it's fully implemented. Edit: Added video from dev talk: 3:40 is part "PhysX is always running...on the CPU" I bought a darn Nvidia card to run PhysX with my 1536 CUDA Cores!
I don't notice much of a performance hit at all on my 670. Also, the PhysX that runs on the CPU has nothing to do with the GPU PhysX that enables all the fancy visual effects. It could just be that your 560 is already running near it's limit so asking it to do the PhysX is a bit too much. One thing you could check is that PhysX is set to use GPU not CPU in the nVidia control panel. Other than that we'll have to see if they can optimise it for when they actually officially turn it back on.