GPU PhysX on Linux

[JeGX]

The new PhysX SDK version 3.3.2 adds the GPU PhysX acceleration on Linux (see THIS NEWS).  I updated GLSL Hacker with this new SDK (GLSL Hacker v0.7.2.0) and I added a new particle demo in the code sample pack:

host_api/PhysX3/Pool/demo_gl2_v1.xml

This is a simple particle/fluids demo that fills a pool with particles:



On Linux, you can start the demo with the command line:

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$ ./GLSLHacker /demofile=\"path_to_code_sample_pack/host_api/PhysX/Pool/demo_gl2_v1.xml\"



Currently, I didn't manage to get the GPU acceleration on Linux (Mint 17 64-bit). I tested with latest R331.104 and with R340.xx. There is a cuInit failure (I installed the latest CUDA toolkit v6.5.14). The cuInit failure is also present with PhysX SDK samples.

Here are some benchmark numbers with GPU PhysX (currently only under Windows) and CPU PhysX (Windows and Linux).

To force CPU PhysX, just edit the demo file (demo_gl2_v1.xml) and update the line 182:

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gpu_physx = 0



Benchmark settings: 6000 particles, 1280x720 windowed.

On Windows with a GeForce GTX 660 (R337.50) + Intel Core i5 2320 @ 3GHz:
- GPU PhysX: around 420 FPS
- CPU PhysX: around 150 FPS


On Linux Mint 17 64-bit, with a GeForce GTX 680 (R331.104) + AMD FX 6100 @ 3.3GHz:
- GPU PhysX: not available (cuInit failed)
- CPU PhysX: around 60 FPS (this CPU sucks!)

As soon as the GPU PhysX will be enabled, we should see a jump in the FPS on Linux (> 100 FPS on my Linux box).