As we’ve mentioned a lot of times, PhysX was lacking in terms of multithread support and as a result of that, most PC games that featured hardware accelerated PhysX effects were plagued with low GPU usage. In other words, PhysX is bugged and in an attempt to fix those major issues, Nvidia released a new version of the PhysX SDK that offers better multithread support. This also explains the somehow choppy performance you may have encountered with PhysX heavy games like Cryostasis.
So, PhysX V3 is a major rewrite of the PhysX SDK. The new design incorporates the changes that have occurred in the gaming industry in a way to enable it to easily evolve in order to accommodate new platforms and future game design transitions. The biggest feature of PhysX V3 is its effective multi-threaded support, meaning that all PhysX-3 applications will enjoy much greater benefit from multi-core processors than could ever be achieved with earlier versions of PhysX.
Now that’s something really interesting but unfortunately, Rocksteady’s upcoming Batman game won’t support this latest PhysX version. In a interview with PCGamesHardware.de, Ben Wyatt revealed that Batman: Arkham City will actually use an old version of the PhysX SDK, version 2.8.4
Additionally, Wyatt revealed that there won’t be any exclusive hardware accelerated PhysX features. All of the physics effects will be able to run on the CPU too, meaning that Nvidia cards will only offer better performance while running them and nothing more.
Batman: Arkham City PC is slated for release this November!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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