Which is better for general/Physx gaming in the $150 price range, 7770+ or GTX650+?

[MCMXCIX]

There are fan boys on both sides, and I don't have a preference, brand-wise. I plan on playing many games, including PhysX games like Borderlands 2, the Batman games, and others (keep in mind, I can't afford a build that maxes out settings, and for the time being, my resolution is gonna be 1024x768). I believe 650 (Ti) and 7770 are roughly the same price, maybe $10 or $20 more for the 650 Ti. Unless I can find a good i5 for cheap over the next 8 days, I'm probably gonna get an i3 3220. Question is: how would the performance be between the two if I were to simulate PhysX on my CPU? Would my low end CPU cripple under the extra stress?

[yurano]

Borderlands 2 allows PhysX to be processed via CPU. I'm not so sure about Batman.

If there are games which do not support CPU PhysX you have no choice but to go with 650 Ti, since the 7770 cannot perform PhysX at all.

Borderlands 2 PhysX on CPU doesn't seem to affect performance significantly. On my crappy old T9400 which is less than half the performance of your i3-3220, my FPS decreased by less than 10% when going from no PhysX and high PhysX.

PhysX rendering is actually quite weak and incomplete. In Borderlands 2, the only things that are simulated via PhysX are flags, puddles of magically disappearing water and bullet hole debris (which also magically disappear after about 15s).

[MCMXCIX]

Borderlands 2 allows PhysX to be processed via CPU. I'm not so sure about Batman.

If there are games which do not support CPU PhysX you have no choice but to go with 650 Ti, since the 7770 cannot perform PhysX at all.

Yeah, I was reading some stuff after posting that, and I read that multiple times.