Using Old GPU for Physx

[Earl_of_Madness]

So I'm preparing to upgrade to a 980 or 980 ti for the release of Witcher 3 played on a 1440p monitor (buttery smooth frames here I come!).  I have my old GTX 580 hanging around and it has served me very well these past 3 years.  I don't want to just chuck the card out, could i conceivably use the 580 for a physx card with the 980/980ti without bottle necking the 980? My instinct tell me yes but i'm unsure.  My PSU can handle the wattage as it is rated for 1000W (ahhhh, the SLI that never happened, damn college does that to you, but i've saved up). The 580 may be power-hungry overkill for physx but I already own the card and I kinda want to render Witcher 3 in all of its glory on the ultra settings with all the hair and environment physics turned on.  

[GlassBomb]

The 980 is more than enough to handle physx by itself. The 580 would likely only bog it down.

Edit: This is still true.

[melias24]

980ti @Unlikelyjoker

[1Scotty1]

Dedicated PhysX card for such high-end GPUs is totally unnecessary

[Earl_of_Madness]

I should probably just test it since I will be buying the 980 anyways but i wanted to prepare my expectations.  The 580 though is equivalent to a GTX 750 in terms of sheer computing power in benchmarks (not graphics performance just sheer computing power). I was just curious since hearing the steep requirements on Witcher 3 on ultra settings would even make the 980 cry (Says CD Project Red) and have the frames drop to 30 fps in most combat scenarios.  This is pretty much purely for Witcher 3 btw I know the 980 will crush everything else. 

EDIT: Witcher 3 apparently has not yet been shown to its full potential and all current benchmarks are done with a 980 on High not ultra and 30-60 fps is what you get and that concerns me .  Also Witcher 3 uses a lot of physx effects, like hair, particles, flames, smoke, water and leaves so tons of bells and whistles.  In addition I know that the 980 is overpriced but this whole decision was pretty much made on the basis of getting witcher 3 to max out for as little cost as possible. 

[Guest Kloaked]

PhysX cards are not necessary today. They'll do nothing but add heat to your system.

 

I wouldn't bank on a 980ti releasing either. If you're gonna wait that long you may as well wait for the Nvidia refresh that's due for Maxwell in Q3/Q4.

[LIGISTX]

The issue with physx on the 580, if anything it will add more heat to the rig and cause you to get less OC out of the 980. The physx calculations are not hard for a GPU to do, with a top line card, using anything for physx is pointless. Just use a crapload of watts and pump out heat for nothing. I didn't even see a difference when I tried a gtx 275 as a physx card for my gtx 470. Pretty much didn't matter.

[Unlikelyjoker]

The 980 is more than enough to handle physx by itself. The 580 would likely only bog it down.

Edit: This is still true.

Damn thats a thick 580