Hey everyone, I recently built a new PC with a 5090 and a 9800x3d processor, along with 64GB of RAM. I started gaming again and ran into a problem right off the bat. One of the first games I tried uses a 32-bit PhysX engine, which I didn't realize wasn't supported on my new setup. My FPS was a dismal 14! So, I decided to add a 2080 Ti solely for PhysX, and now the game runs smoothly at 144 FPS.
However, for newer games, I've noticed that my 1% and 0.1% lows drop significantly—by about 20 to 30 FPS—whenever I have the 2080 Ti connected. If I remove it, those lows improve again. Can anyone explain why this is happening? It would be super annoying to have to keep unplugging and re-plugging the GPU just for those 32-bit PhysX games!
2 Answers
Are you sure your main GPU is running at full power? Sometimes, motherboards switch to an x8 mode when two GPUs are connected, which could impact performance. What's your motherboard model? Also, if you just disable the 2080 Ti in Windows instead of physically unplugging it, that might help. It sounds like a software issue with drivers. Worth a shot!
Good call! Sometimes software tweaks can make a big difference without the hassle of unplugging.
It sounds like offloading PhysX to another GPU, especially a slower one, isn't really worth it overall. While it did boost your FPS from 14 to 144 for the 32-bit games, in newer titles, it may actually be causing more issues than it solves. I’d recommend just using your powerful 5090 without the 2080 Ti for most games—it should perform way better on its own!
Also, remember that SLI pretty much faded away for a reason—multiple cards often lead to more headaches than gains.
Exactly! The whole point of having a new GPU like the 5090 is to take full advantage of its power. The 2080 Ti is just slowing it down in modern games.
Yeah, I checked—my 5090 is actually at GEN 5 x16, while the 2080 Ti runs at GEN 5 x4. So, it should be enough for PhysX. I'll definitely try disabling it through Windows and see if that helps!