Ok, I just got my 8800GT and I am very pleased with it.

Now my question is..... My bro has a 8600GT 256mb twin turbo. I thought I would be generous and give him my old x1950pro 256mb. Now, at first I thought the x1950 would be faster. But due to the recent drivers for nvidia that enables physics, I have begun to wonder otherwise. Would the 8600gt run games better than the x1950pro if physics comes into play? I only want what is best for him. Thanks guys!

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/desktop-vga-charts/oblivion...588%2C1639

It looks like the 8600GTS (one better than the GT) ends up consistently lower than the 1950 Pro. There are very few games that support Ageia/NVIDIA physics.

Just needed some reassurance. Didn't want to give him something that is/will be slower than what he has. Although I doubt those benchmarks were run with latest drivers to enable physics. Oh well, all he plays on his computer anyways is NHL 08. That's where I thought physics would be a bonus!

I'm not sure, I just got my 9800GTX+ and its amazing but I am wondering whether or not to even go ahead and install the PhsX drivers... will it make my FPS higher or lower?

It looks like NHL 2009 will have Ageia support. I can't find anything that says NHL 2008 does.

And NHL 09 is what he is anticipating to buy! So keep the 8600gt then?

I really can't see physics processing on the GPU helping at all especially in simple games like hockey. I believe it is mostly hype at this point.

Hey, some of those checks can really use physics ya know?

Can anyone recommend installing them vs not installing them?

I read one benchmark where the drivers helped fps by 2-3...is that true?

I installed them. And my 8800gt still has enough horsepower to play anything

Checks are easy to calculate physics for. So is the puck. What really causes strain on computers is quantity. For instance, it's really hard on computers to calculate the physics involved with hundreds of bullets simultaneously. Developers have to choose their battles in that regard. There is only like 20 entities with physics calculations in a hockey game (players, refs, goals, and puck)--nothing the CPU can't handle.

So his 3800x2 would be good enough for that aspect then? Or are graphic physics more advanced?

As far as I can tell, no requirements have been listed for NHL 09 yet. You'll have to wait until those are announced to make a good judgement on what hardware is needed to run it.

anyone tried the latest drivers? there were beta drivers for nvidia out a week ago, and then a few days back i read they had matured them.. anyone tried it out yet?