Nvidia Reverses Course On 32 Bit CUDA For RTX 50 Series
Nvidia has quietly reversed one of its more controversial decisions for GeForce RTX 50 series graphics cards. Earlier this year, the company dropped support for 32 bit CUDA applications in its drivers for the new GPUs. While this move had been planned for a long time, it had a big side effect for PC gamers who still enjoy older titles.
Many classic games use 32 bit PhysX libraries to power extra visual effects such as debris, cloth, smoke and other physics based details. When 32 bit CUDA support disappeared, these effects could no longer run on the GPU for RTX 50 series users. Games had two options:
- Disable GPU PhysX entirely
- Push the PhysX calculations back to the CPU
Both options were a downgrade. Turning PhysX off meant losing visual flair. Pushing it to the CPU often meant more stutter and worse frame rates. Now Nvidia has stepped in with a targeted fix.
The latest Game Ready Driver, version 591.44, restores 32 bit CUDA support for a specific list of popular games that rely on 32 bit PhysX. Nvidia has not brought back universal 32 bit CUDA support, but it has focused on some of the most affected titles.
Which Games Get 32 Bit PhysX Support Back
With driver 591.44 installed on an RTX 50 series card, GPU PhysX comes back for a set of heavy hitting PC games from the last decade. The updated driver specifically supports these titles:
- Alice: Madness Returns
- Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
- Batman: Arkham City
- Batman: Arkham Origins
- Borderlands 2
- Mafia II
- Metro 2033
- Metro: Last Light
- Mirror’s Edge
These are exactly the kinds of games that showed off Nvidia PhysX back in the day. From swirling trash and capes in Batman to debris and particle chaos in Borderlands and Metro, they used the GPU for extra immersion long before modern physics heavy engines became standard.
Batman: Arkham Asylum is not supported yet, but Nvidia says it will be added in the first part of 2026. That is a vague window, so players of that classic will need to wait a while longer for a clean solution on RTX 50 series hardware.
For games that are not on this list, nothing changes with 591.44. If a title uses 32 bit PhysX and is not whitelisted in the driver, you still have two choices:
- Run PhysX effects on the CPU and accept the performance hit
- Use a dual GPU setup, where an older Nvidia card is installed in a second PCIe slot and configured in the Nvidia Control Panel to handle PhysX while the main RTX 50 card renders the game
The dual GPU route is more of a niche enthusiast workaround, but it remains an option for players who absolutely want full PhysX in unsupported games.
Real World Performance: Borderlands 2 And Batman
So what is the experience like with the new 591.44 drivers versus the older 581.57 set on an RTX 50 series card such as the RTX 5070?
In Borderlands 2, the difference in visuals between having PhysX on and off is actually quite modest. With the older driver 581.57, the PhysX option in the game settings is greyed out on RTX 50 series hardware. Installing 591.44 instantly restores the full range of options: Low, Medium and High.
However, even though the effects are back, Borderlands 2 simply runs better without PhysX enabled. With PhysX set to High on an RTX 5070, you can see a clear performance drop compared to leaving the feature off. The game feels smoother and faster when the card does not have to push the extra physics work, and the visual improvement is not dramatic enough to outweigh the loss of frame rate for many players.
Batman: Arkham City is another story entirely. This game really shows off what GPU PhysX can do. With PhysX set to High, Gotham fills with swirling papers, reactive smoke, and detailed environmental debris that respond to your movement and combat. It upgrades the atmosphere noticeably compared to playing with those effects disabled.
Without 32 bit CUDA support, Arkham City on an RTX 50 series card turns into a stuttery mess when trying to use those effects. Indoors it is not terrible, but as soon as you start gliding through the open world, drop down to street level, and get into fights, frame time hiccups become obvious.
Installing driver 591.44 fixes this behaviour by letting the main RTX 50 series GPU handle the old 32 bit PhysX work again. The stuttering largely disappears and the game becomes playable with all the visual flourishes turned on. You still lose some raw performance because the GPU is taking on more work, and the exact impact will depend on your specific card, but it is far better than the broken experience before.
In short, for games like Batman: Arkham City the restored 32 bit support is a big win, because the physics based visuals are a core part of the presentation. For games like Borderlands 2, you now at least have the choice back, even if you ultimately decide that the frame rate is more important than some extra particles.
It is also worth noting how long this fix took. Nvidia removed 32 bit CUDA support for RTX 50 series cards around February, and the corrected drivers only arrived much later. The backlash from enthusiasts and retro PC gamers clearly had an effect, and the company has responded with a focused solution rather than completely reversing its long term plan to drop 32 bit support.
For PC gamers on RTX 50 series hardware, the takeaway is simple. If you play any of the listed PhysX heavy classics, grab the 591.44 Game Ready Driver. You get your visual effects back, you can decide how much GPU performance you are willing to trade for eye candy, and your library of older games will feel a little less abandoned by progress.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/graphics-cards/in-a-surprise-change-of-heart-nvidias-brought-32-bit-physx-support-back-to-rtx-50-series-graphics-cards-though-only-for-a-select-number-of-games/
