Shock! Nvidia brings PhysX again to GeForce RTX 50 GPUs, sort of

Nvidia is reactivating a function that lots of you will have already written off: The brand new Recreation Prepared driver 591.44 brings again PhysX assist for chosen older video games.

For house owners of a GeForce RTX 50 graphics card, this can be a very related change — particularly in the event you take pleasure in taking part in basic video games with elaborate physics results.

Why PhysX is vital – and why it was eliminated

PhysX has been a mainstay in PC gaming for a few years, creating practical results for materials, smoke and particles in titles akin to “Borderlands 2” and “Batman: Arkham Metropolis.” However Nvidia cancelled PhysX assist originally of 2025: New RTX-50 collection graphics playing cards may now not speed up PhysX calculations in 32-bit video games by way of GPU. Because of this, the calculations landed completely on the CPU — with important efficiency losses in comparison with prior technology GeForce playing cards.

Some players reacted with a hilarious, but completely useful workaround: They plugged an older Nvidia card into their pc simply to have the ability to proceed utilizing PhysX results.

Driver 591.44: PhysX returns – however just for choose video games

With the present driver, there may be now a turnaround. Nvidia is introducing a so-called “Customized Help” stage. This isn’t an entire return of the outdated 32-bit assist, however moderately individually created profiles for a hand-picked choice of significantly widespread PhysX titles.

These 9 video games now profit from GPU acceleration once more:

• Alice: Insanity Returns
• Murderer’s Creed IV: Black Flag
• Batman: Arkham Metropolis
• Batman: Arkham Origins
• Borderlands 2
• Mafia II
• Metro 2033
• Metro: Final Mild
• Mirror’s Edge

Nvidia has introduced extra assist for “Batman: Arkham Asylum” for the primary half of 2026.

Whether or not different video games will observe stays to be seen. Nvidia writes that it has initially centered on the most well-liked classics which can be nonetheless steadily performed as we speak.

PhysX know-how initially comes from Ageia, which developed its personal physics processor unit (PPU) round 20 years in the past. Nvidia took over Ageia in 2008 and built-in PhysX calculations instantly into the CUDA cores of its personal GeForce graphics playing cards. This made the extra PPU card superfluous, but additionally tied the results firmly to Nvidia {hardware}.

Driver additionally brings optimizations and bug fixes

Along with the return of PhysX, Nvidia’s new Recreation Prepared driver gives additional enhancements:

• Optimizations for “Battlefield 6: Winter Offensive” and “Name of Responsibility: Black Ops 7”, particularly together with DLSS 4.
• Fixes for graphics artifacts in “The Witcher 3”.
• Stability fixes for Adobe Premiere Professional.

Driver 591.44 is on the market for obtain as typical by way of the Nvidia app or the Nvidia web site.

In the event you play basic video games with PhysX results, the replace ought to convey noticeable enhancements — usually considerably greater body charges and reactivated graphical results. If, alternatively, you solely play fashionable titles, you’ll primarily profit from the overall optimizations and bug fixes.