Lucid Hydra 100 - Enabling SLI/CrossFire on Any Platform

[Maziar]

http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?i=3379
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/display/20080819154157_Lucid_s_Multi_GPU_Technology_Finally_Available_Demonstrated.html

If the things that they have said are true then it will be very good,

 

[Amiga500]

I'm having trouble believing ATI or Nvidia did not do this before if it was a viable technique.


Surely this is the most logical of all multi-gpu paths* - therefore you would have expected it to be considered first.


*split the problem equally between GPUs...

 

[jimmysmitty]

I remember ATIs old way that all you needed was a Crossfire GPU and a normal one and the little dongle and no need for support via the mobo. That was nice but I guess not as effective.

 

[dragonsprayer]

looks like intel planned for the nvidia revenage back in the 975x debacle

why do you think nvidia is flipping?

nvidia looks like fish out of water more and more, as Christmas approaches look for new stock lows!

 

[amdfangirl]

^ nvidia, with the huge returns problem and the bare sight of the HD 4xxx series...

Nvidia is losing support for SLi mobos... ever since Intel used Ati Crossfire... newer ones require an extra chip to do SLi...

Ati and nvidia have similar performance now... It makes sense to buy the cheapest thing now...

If the Hydra is implemented it will almost certainly be on an AMD or Intel motherboard... extra SLi chip would be hard to fit... and be more expensive

 

[Reynod]

How many people buy more than one graphics card ??

Sheesh ....

 

[dobby]

yeah, i dont really care for Sli Xfire. it nice to see on monster rigs but not needed, considering the gains are minimal

 

[amdfangirl]

How many people buy more than one graphics card ??

Sheesh ....

Integrated all the way (apart from the HD 2600PRO)

 

[Maziar]

yeah, i dont really care for Sli Xfire. it nice to see on monster rigs but not needed, considering the gains are minimal

Wrong,the gains arent always minimal,sometimes they are very big,especially in very high resolutions
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/245454-33-crossfire-faqs

 

[Maziar]

Another link:
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3385

 

[hannibal]

Is there anyone in here forum who has an any clue if this system can really work? Sounds very interesting and allmost too good to be true...
But if this is sound idea, I really am interested in...
Real linear increase in speed would be really good news.
They said in that anandtech article that Nvidia and ATI may sabotage this solution if they want: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3385&p=5

As AMD and NVIDIA have to work closely with graphics card and motherboard vendors, they could try and strong arm Lucid out of the market by threatening either (overtly or not) the supply of their silicon to certain OEMs. This could be devastating to Lucid, as we've already see what the fear of an implication can do to software companies in the situation with Assassin's Creed (when faced with the option of applying an already available fix or pulling support for DX10.1 which only AMD supports, they pulled it). This type of thing seems the largest unknown to us.

How possible this could be?

 

[Grimmy]

Interesting stuf, nice Maziar.

 

[mactronix]

Well as some of the previews point out these guys have been heavily subsidised/bankrolled by Intel. Now is it just me or is it very curious that these very reputable reviewers have stopped short of staiting the obvious. Which is that if this thing works, and from what i know and have read about it, it is all quite possable, then Intel have open season on multiple cards with larrabee. Someone like TGGA would know if there were any deep down at silicone/hardware level issues with whats being proposed, but on the face of it i dont see any obvious reason why it shouldnt. Speculating for a minuite then. If it works and the scaling is as good as they say then Intel would certainly see some benefit from this if we assume that Larrabee wont hit the floor running up to speed with ATI and Nvidia. The other thing that i am wondering is could you run Larrabee in tandem with a Nvidia or ATI card ? that would be interesting. Either way i think it has the potential to allow Intel a much easier entry into the GPU market than otherwise would have been the case. I think it would be a mistake for Nvidia or ATI to try any funny stuff as i for one if almost gauranteed 100% scalling with no compatability issues would definatly seriously consider running more than one card. Something i am not at all interested in with things the way they are at the present time. I would guess plenty more people would think the same way and so card sales should increase.

Mactronix

 

[Maziar]

Interesting stuf, nice Maziar.

thx