NVIDIA has once again made one of those silent cuts that are anything but pleasant for gamers: PhysX is history on the RTX 50 series. This means that older games that rely heavily on PhysX will be brought to their knees even on a sinfully expensive RTX 5090. However, one Reddit user has found a pragmatic solution – and it shows just how absurd the situation actually is.
RTX 3050 as a PhysX crutch: How to save old games
User “jerubedo” had had enough of the stuttering and quickly installed an RTX 3050 as an additional card in his system. No SLI gimmick, but simply assigned as a dedicated PhysX GPU via the NVIDIA Control Panel. The result? Massive performance increases in old PhysX games that would otherwise be completely unplayable on the RTX 50 series. The figures speak for themselves: without the RTX 3050, Mafia II Classic bobs around at 28.8 FPS, with the additional GPU, the frame rate skyrockets to 157.1 FPS – an increase of 545%. The difference is even more drastic in Mirror’s Edge: 12 FPS without, 171 FPS with dedicated PhysX acceleration.
Here is an overview of the benchmark values:
| Game | RTX 5080 without RTX 3050 | RTX 5080 with RTX 3050 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mafia II Classic | 28.8 FPS | 157.1 FPS | 545% |
| Batman Arkham Asylum | 61 FPS | 390 FPS | 639% |
| AC IV: Black Flag | 62 FPS | 62 FPS | 0% |
| Borderlands 2 | N/A | 122 FPS | N/A |
| Mirror’s Edge | 12 FPS | 171 FPS | 1425% |
Why does the RTX 50 series kill PhysX?
Officially, NVIDIA no longer supports 32-bit CUDA applications with Blackwell. The fact that PhysX is flying under the radar was apparently considered negligible – or it was hoped that nobody would notice. Unfortunately, a number of older titles still rely on this technology. The consequence? Without hardware acceleration, the CPU takes over the job, which ends in an unplayable jerky orgy, depending on the game. So anyone who has treated themselves to an expensive RTX 50 upgrade and enjoys playing old games will now have to seriously consider upgrading to a cheap GPU as a PhysX crutch. Strange, but effective.
Conclusion: NVIDIA once again creates problems for itself
It’s telling when an RTX 5090 with all its brute performance stinks mercilessly in old PhysX titles, while a 3050 as an additional card multiplies the frame rate. The fact that NVIDIA has secretly removed PhysX support without communicating the fact makes the whole thing even more annoying. A permanent solution from NVIDIA is probably not to be expected – the focus has long been elsewhere. So if you want to continue enjoying Arkham Asylum or Mirror’s Edge with maximum PhysX effects, there’s no getting around this absurd workaround. The irony of it all: “The more you buy, the more you save” was perhaps not just a joke by Jensen Huang after all.
Source: Reddit
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