Nvidia dropping 32-bit PhysX from the RTX 50-series' CUDA infrastructure is another sign that game preservation can't depend on those making gaming hardware.

The launch of Nvidia's RTX 50-series hasn't gone well so far, and it seems that things aren't about to improve anytime soon.The Latest Tech News, Delivered to Your Inbox

Nvidia’s new video cards drop support for 32-bit CUDA applications, including PhysX.

Nvidia's new 50-series graphics cards just aren't as good at running certain older games as previous hardware generations were, some PC gamers have discovered. With its latest generation of GPUs, Nvidia has quietly removed support for PhysX, a physics simulation technology that was used in a number of popular titles in the early 2010s.

The once popular PhysX graphics technology by Nvidia is now out of support, leaving fans of the legacy games it powers saddened.

With the retirement of 32-bit CUDA application support on RTX 50 series GPUs, PhysX is now end-of-life starting with Blackwell and newer Nvidia GPU architectures.

NVIDIA has stopped supporting 32-bit CUDA applications. Now, many games, including Mirror's Edge, Borderlands 2, and the Batman: Arkham series, can no longer use GPU acceleration for PhysX. This affects the PhysX feature on its RTX 50 series graphics cards.

Technology always marches forward, but often there are a couple of hobbled lurches backwards at the same time. One of them appears to be Nvidia PhysX, a proprietary graphics technology that was all the rage about 20 years ago but has since fallen out of fashion.