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Last year we did a fair bit of talking about Lucid, and their Hydra chip. The Lucid Hydra chip is an independent solution to allow multiple GPUs to render scenes in games. This means that you are no longer dependent on SLI from NVidia or Crossfire from ATI. Lucid is able to perform this bit of magic by intercepting any OpenGL or DirectX calls. Asus developed a motherboard based on the Hydra chip, as did MSI. A little over a year ago, we even brought you some reviews of the Hydra chip.

Today, LucidLogix has announced a new software product called Virtu, which is short for GPU virtualization. Virtu intercepts any OpenGL or DirectX calls, just like the Hydra chip did. Virtu allows you to use both the GPU on the Intel Sandy Bridge processor as well as a discrete graphics card from NVIDIA or ATI. If you are playing a demanding 3-D game, then Virtu will send all the calls to the NVIDIA or ATI graphics card. If you are transcoding a video, then Virtu will send this to the GPU on the Intel Sandy Bridge processor, which is better for the task. Anandtech has a review of the new Virtu software.

Once setup there’s no user intervention necessary – the software just works. Fire up a game and it’ll run on your discrete GPU. Visit YouTube or transcode a video and your discrete GPU powers down leaving Sandy Bridge’s on-die graphics to handle the workload.

There is definite overhead to Virtu – I measured 2 – 8% on average, however I did see a 30% figure pop up in DiRT 2 on NVIDIA hardware. I’d expect the performance hit to be less than 10% in most cases.

via : Lucid’s Virtu Enables Simultaneous Integrated/Discrete GPU on Sandy Bridge Platforms @ Anandtech

Hardware hydra, lucid, virtu

The Lucid Hydra chip is an independent solution to allow multiple GPUs to render scenes in games. This means that you are no longer dependent on SLI from NVidia or Crossfire from ATI. In the past, there have been several problems with the Hydra chip, which appear to have been on the software side of things. We have talked about the Lucid Hydra chip several times in the past.

Guru3d is reporting on a new motherboard from Asus that uses Lucid’s Hydra chip.

On Crosshair IV Extreme, a unique layout design features a total of five PCI Express expansion slots. Two provide dedicated native graphics card support for either a single GPU or two in CrossFire configuration. The additional three feature Lucid HYDRALOGIX and CrossLinx 3 technologies, which enable a mixture of graphics cards from different vendors and generations, with a total of four detectable and working at once. Users keen on tuning their system gain greater freedom to do so with the unprecedented five PCI Express slots, and the technology maintains optimized performance whether in single or multiple-GPU arrangements.

via : ASUS launches Lucid Hydra based Crosshair IV Extreme @ Guru3D

Hardware hydra, lucid

The Lucid Hydra chip is an independent solution to allow multiple GPUs to render scenes in games. This means that you are no longer dependent on SLI from NVidia or Crossfire from ATI. In the past, there have been several problems with the Hydra chip, which appear to have been on the software side of things. We have talked about the Lucid Hydra chip several times in the past.

Guru3d is reporting that two new Hydra-enabled motherboards will be showing up at Computex. One of the motherboards is based on the AMD 870 chipset, while the other motherboard is based on the Intel P55 chip set. The MSI’s Fuzion 870A will cost around $145, while the P55A Fuzion will sell for about $170. From the Guru3d blog post:

The AMD 870 based motherboard with Hydra chip will go through life as the Fuzion 870A. The addition of ‘A’ means the board both USB3.0 and SATA 6.0 Gbit / s on board, the latter due to the SB850 Southbridge. Two PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots can accommodate a mix of so many video cards. The 870A board offers support to the new hexacore Phenom II X6 processors from AMD and also has a feature that can unlock disabled cores. The new update will get an OC Genie button for automated overclocking. The board will be equipped with military class componentns, DrMOS chips and components while contributing their bit to stability.

The Fuzion P55A, also with USB3.0 and SATA 6.0 Gbit / s on board, it will be the cheaper version of the Big Bang to Fuzion. With a P55 chipset and LGA1156 socket it can house i3/i5/i7 Core processors. This board comes with two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots. OC Genie, DrMOS, button are standard here as well.

via Affordable MSI Hydra motherboards show at Computex.

Hardware hydra, lucid

At CEBIT 2010, MSI is showing an AMD 870 based motherboard with the Lucid HYDRA chip. Lucid is a chip designer company with funding from Intel. The Hydra chip is an independent solution to allow multiple GPUs to render scenes in games. This means that you are no longer dependent on SLI from NVidia or Crossfire from ATI.

In the past, there seems to have been a lot of problems with the chip. Well, perhaps the problems were not with the hardware side of the chip, but with the software side of things. It has been almost two months since we have seen anything on the HYDRA chip, so perhaps many of the software issues have been solved.

The AM3 socket is powered by a 10-phase DrMOS based VRM. The CPU connects to four DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel memory. It connects to the AMD 870 northbridge over the HyperTransport 3.0 interface. Its lone PCI-E 2.0 x16 port is taken up by the Hydra Engine chip located between the two PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots. Other expansion slots include three PCI-E x1, and one PCI.

via : CEBIT 2010 – MSI brings HYDRA to mainstream @ Guru3D

Hardware hydra, lucid, msi

Guru3D and Anandtech have posted reviews on the MSI Big Bang Fuzion motherboard. This motherboard comes with the Lucid Hydra chip. Lucid is a chip designer company with funding from Intel. The Hydra chip is an independent solution to allow multiple GPUs to render scenes in games. This means that you are no longer dependent on SLI from NVidia or Crossfire from ATI. The MSI Big Bang Fuzion motherboard has been delayed until some time in Q1 2010, which is basically anytime in the next three months. From the Anandtech review:

We’ve had the Fuzion in our hands for over a month now, as the hardware has been ready well ahead of the software. Lucid has been continuing to develop the software side, and the two parties are finally ready to sign off on the finished product, although Hydra is still very much a work in progress.

Interestingly enough, we had posted a link to [H]ard|OCP’s review of the same motherboard back on December 9th. That review seems to be missing from [H]ard|OCP’s website now. That is curious. I wonder if the reason the article disappeared was due to the improvements made over the past month. Perhaps later today we will see an article from [H]ard|OCP. Switching over to the Guru3D review:

One can easily make the mistake that this review is solely about the Hydra chip used on the Big Bang Fuzion motherboard. In the grand scheme of things the Hydra chip is merely a little extra lovin’ to play around with and as such it should be seen that way. We definitely like what Lucid is trying to accomplish, but we also have to acknowledge that we ran into quite a lot of problems, compatibility issues and sheer limitations. Where it works it can work well, but in the end, in this time and age, the combination of two similar Radeons in Crossfire or two NVIDIA GeForce cards in SLI will simple make much more sense as you by far will not have to deal with the profile support and compatibility issues.

via Guru3D : MSI Big bang Fuzion (Lucid Hydra) review

via Anandtech: Lucid’s Hydra Unleashed: Part 1

Graphics, Hardware ati, hydra, lucid, msi, nvidia

[H]ard|OCP has taken delivery of the MSI Big Bang motherboard which has the Lucid Hydra. Lucid is a chip designer company with funding from Intel. The Hydra chip is an independent solution to allow multiple GPUs to render scenes in games. This means that you are no longer dependent on SLI from NVidia or Crossfire from ATI. If you are using Windows 7, you can use both NVidia and ATI in a multiple GPU configuration, although there are caveats with that. Hit the link below to read more about it.

via: MSI Big Bang’in with Lucid Hydra

Hardware ati, hydra, lucidlogic, multigpu, nvidia, video game

Both NVidia and MSI have responded to recent rumors that MSI delayed their Hydra-powered motherboard, the Fuzion, due to guidance from NVidia and rumors that NVidia plans to disable Hydra at the driver level.  They claim they fully support the Hydra product, and it’s just regular product delays getting in the way.

The second product in our Big Bang line will be the MSI Fuzion motherboard featuring Lucid Hydra technology. Although we had planned to release this product by now, we decided to postpone it until early next year to make sure it delivers the best possible experience for our customers. We are continuing to work closely with Lucid to bring this exciting product to market.

We want to be clear that the reason for the delay has to do with software, and not external pressure from others. NVIDIA did not delay or impede the production of Fuzion in any way.

via NVIDIA Denies Involvement in the Fuzion’s Delay – Expreview.com.

Hardware hydra, lucidlogic, msi, nvidia

Some prototypes of the Lucid Hydra 200 Multi-GPU solution have been shipped to reviewers, and the results are promising for an early build unit.

After running Lucid’s test bed through an assortment of tests in several graphics configurations, we have a better idea on how well the Hydra 200 performs. Using the components available to us, we saw impressive scaling in most instances, which peaked at 85% in dual-GPU mode. The mixed ATI / NVIDIA combo ran pretty well and fell within the expected range of performance throughout testing.

It remains to be seen if Nvidia will allow something like this to exist in the market, they’ve previously stated their intent to intentionally disable it at the driver level.  If it comes to market, it shows huge potential tho.

via Lucid Hydra 200 Multi-GPU Performance Revealed – HotHardware. and PCPerspective

Hardware benchmark, hydra, lucidlogix, multigpu

Remember the MSI Big Bang Motherboards we mentioned last week, specifically the Fuzion with the Lucid Hydra chipset allowing multiple-vendor SLI?  Seems that the Fuzion board has been delayed, possibly terminated, due to some strongarming by NVidia.

Considering the product would impact NVIDIA’s profit coming from SLI fee, the green giant decides that it’s time to do something. Firstly, they will break support for Lucid’s chip at the driver part, and by unknown means force MSI to postpone their “Big Bang” motherboard. Though MSI claims the Big Bang Fusion powered by Hydra engine will be released by the end of 2009, we don’t think so, exactly. The site Overclock3D believes the board will be delayed to early next year, or even be killed finally.

Update: Real Nvidia & MSI’s official response to this, freeing NVidia of any responsibility.

via Report: NVIDIA Plans to Block Lucid’s Hydra Chip – Expreview.com.

Hardware hydra, lucid, msi, nvidia

MSI has unveiled their latest motherboard offering, the “Big Bang Gaming” series.

The first Big Bang branded mainboard, Trinergy is designed with eye-catching features such as NVIDIA SLI technology and QuantumWave™ audio processing with the latest THX TruStudio PC and Creative EAX ADVANCED HD 5.0 plus exclusive performance boost design from MSI.

The really interesting part is that this is the first motherboard (in my knowledge) to offer the Lucid HYDRA chipset, meaning you can run multiple GPU’s from multiple manufacturers in the same system.

Pricing and release date TBA.

Update: More news from Guru3D.

• MSI P55 GD80 Fuzion = with the Lucid Hydra chip — this motherboard has been delayed to Q1 2010.
• MSI P55 GD80 Trinergy = with the NVIDIA NF200 chip (adds additional PCIe lanes to the motherboard) and thus is likely tri-SLI ready.

via MSI announces Big Bang Gaming Series Mainboards.

Hardware hydra, lucidlogix, msi