RTX 5090 users multiplies performance in classic games with an RTX 3050 PhysX card

Redditor multiplies game performance by pairing Nvidia’s RTX 5090 with an RTX 3050

As we reported earlier this week, Nvidia has dropped support for 32-bit PhysX with the introduction of the company’s RTX 50 series graphics cards. This leaves RTX 50-series GPUs unable to utilise PhysX acceleration in several PC classics. This includes games like Borderlands 2, Batman: Arkham City, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Borderlands 2, and more. Now, an RTX 5090 user has used an RTX 3050 as a dedicated PhysX card to re-enable this feature.

Reddit user jerubedo has upgraded his RTX 5090-powered PC with an RTX 3050 6GB as a dedicated PhysX card. By doing this, they have been able to multiply the performance of several classic PhysX games. Without an RTX 3050 for PhysX, Mafia II (Classic) ran at 28.8 FPS. With an RTX 3050 or PhysX, the game ran at 157.1 FPS. For Batman: Arkham Asylum, benchmark performance leapt from 61 FPS to 390 FPS.

Strangely, jerubedo has reported that newer 64-bit PhysX games would not use their RTX 3050 for PhysX. These games appear to not utilise their RTX 3050, despite having the GPU set as a dedicated PhysX card in Nvidia’s control panel.

As we have said before, we think it is a shame that Nvidia has dropped support for 32-bit PhysX. It is a part of Nvidia’s gaming legacy, and it should be supported for as long as possible. Many PC gamers still play these classics, and it is a shame that they cannot be enjoyed with PhysX on Nvidia’s latest GPUs.

You can join the discussion RTX 50 series GPU users using older GPUs for PhysX on the OC3D Forums.