32-bit implementations of PhysX, the open-source, real-time physics engine middleware SDK owned by NVIDIA that has enabled simulated debris, soft body dynamics (e.g., cloth simulation), and/or other realistic effects in nearly 70 popular PC games, are not supported on GeForce RTX 50 Series “Blackwell” GPUs, NVIDIA has confirmed.
“PhysX still isn’t working on the 50 series cards. Attempting to force it on via a config file edit in Borderlands 2 and turning on the PhysX indicator shows it’s running on the CPU,” a member of the official NVIDIA forums noted last week in response to green team’s new GeForce Game Ready 572.42 driver, to which a staff member replied:
This is expected behavior as 32-bit CUDA applications are deprecated on GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs.
32-bit compilation native and cross-compilation were removed from CUDA 12.0 and later Toolkit. 32-bit CUDA applications cannot be developed or debugged using CUDA 12.0 or later toolkit for any target architecture. Use the CUDA Toolkit from earlier releases for 32-bit compilation
CUDA Driver will continue to support running 32-bit application binaries on GeForce RTX 40 (Ada), GeForce RTX 30 series (Ampere), GeForce RTX 20/GTX 16 series (Turing), GeForce GTX 10 series (Pascal) and GeForce GTX 9 series (Maxwell) GPUs. CUDA Driver will not support 32-bit CUDA applications on GeForce RTX 50 series (Blackwell) and newer architectures.
The response from Manuel@NVIDIA, which has been described as “unacceptable” by some members, comes over a week after GeForce RTX 50 Series users began complaining about missing PhysX support, with one, in particular, saying how the option was grayed out in GPU-Z and unavailable in some games on GPUs that include the flagship GeForce RTX 5090.
“I noticed that in GPU-Z, the checkmark next to PhysX in Technologies is missing,” one complaint reads. “So, I booted up a PhysX game, Borderlands 2, and sure enough, PhysX is greyed out. Is this a issue with the card, or is it a driver issue?”
According to online sources, there are a total of 68 PC games that have been released with support for PhysX, including Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Metro Exodus, and almost every game in the Batman Arkham series: Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and Arkham Origins.
“At least give RTX 50 users a ‘Use at your own risk’ option,” one member advised.