PhysX, a dedicated physics simulation tool once touted as a selling point for Nvidia’s gear, has been largely deprecated on Nvidia 50-series cards. This means some PC games may experience performance issues or even crash when upgraded to these newer cards.
PhysX was introduced in the early 2000s by Swedish firm NovodeX and later acquired by Ageia before being integrated into Nvidia’s GPUs in 2008. Initially, it showed promise with its SDK available for PlayStation 3 developers and outreach efforts to encourage support in games like Mafia II and Batman: Arkham City.
However, some older PC games reliant on PhysX may not be compatible with the new RTX 50-series cards, particularly those from the early days of enthusiasm for particles, destructible environments, and smooth-moving hair. The most recent affected game, Assassin’s Creek IV: Black Flag, was released in 2013.
Nvidia has left out PhysX from its road map, despite its once-promising potential to deliver impressive physics effects in games.
Source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/02/batman-arkham-games-among-those-losing-physx-powers-on-newer-nvidia-gpus