Motherboards MSI "Big Bang" to feature Lucid Hydra chip?

Title sais it all really. Link HERE.



It's been a while since we heard anything from Lucid Logix, so here's their site:
http://www.lucidlogix.com/technology/index.html

In short, the Hydra is a multi-GPU solution that balances all GPU workload before it's sent to the GPU. No CrossFire or SLI is needed, and they even claim to be able to run ATI and nVidia cards hand-in-hand! Up to 4 cards can be combine, regardless of brand, type, capacity, whatever, and they claim near-100% scaling.

Ladies and gentlemen, if this works, we have the new BIG thing on our hands here!

 

ah yes i remember reading an article on this chip, very clever little piece of tech if it works as its supposed to.

apparently you get very close to 1:1 performance gains using this chip i.e. 2 cards adds 99% performance over 1. the real beauty of it though is that you no longer rely on drivers to sort out your multiple GPU set up and that takes load off the CPU too, win win! looks like multi GPU could finally be useful for something other than e-peen

 

Another Lucid rumour, I thought that Intel were going to incorporate it into thier Skulltrail boards? If it is true, then it is ironic that they will launch it on a P55 board, when such a system really could benefit from the triple 2.0 PCI-E x 16 lanes of the X58.

 

The triple x16 lanes are not needed, as ALL lanes in the Lucid setup stem from the Lucid chip, which in turn only requires PCIe x16. In fact, it's PERFECT on P55, as theNB is eliminated, and the PCIe connects to the CPU on-die.

 

I bloody hope this is true!

 

There is no northbridge on a P55 board. Unless I'm terribly mistaken (quite possible!) the GPUs still need to use the PCI-E lanes to communicate with the CPU and various I/O devices, that being the case the 3 x16 lanes of a x58 board will offer greater performance than the x8 - x8 etc setup of a P55, especially for the upcoming DX11 cards.

 

This.

 

You are mistaken, though not terriby

The NB is indeed non-present on the P55, that's what i meant by eliminated, i could have been more clear. The NB not being there has nothing to do with Hydra, it's P55 basic architecture.

However, the P55 has PCIe lanes that run directly into the CPU socket. That's the upside of the platform, you eliminate an extra step (NB on other platforms). The downside is you only have 16 lanes. That's what makes the Lucid/P55 combo so perfect, because the Hydra is the one sitting at the end of those 16 lanes. It then distributes the load further down to the GPUs via it's own PCIe lanes, which i assume will be either 32 or 64 (for 4x16).

From their own website:

 

Thanks for the clarification, I must say that it's an ingenious piece of engineering, I wonder why the big boys never though of it. @ Bit-Tech, now that it has been integrated into a MB, I hope a review is in the pipeline.

 

not a fan of MSI, but IMO the Hydra chip is the only way to advance multi-GPU to more than 2 cards.

hope Asus or Gigabyte produces one, it'd be ace

 

Good point... i'll make sure to poke the Asus boys on this topic when i'm at their event in two weeks

 

The Lucid seems to be perfect for Larrabee, especially as Intel have been funding them! Hopefully, this will ensure another round of intense competition in the DX11 GPU market, and thus lower prices for us.

 

*Grabs GD80*

*Puts it into PCI-Express and multi-GPU feature*

 

Oh you teaser you!

 

So there may be some truth after all!

MSI boards have been getting better and better recently, well priced, lots of features. Certainly made me interested!

 

When it does come out...

Huzzah!

 

Anandtech did a fairly good summery from a demo a year or so ago:
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3385

P55 could posibly be the best match for it with the shifting of the NB to the CPU. It could cut back on latancy and it acts like a PCI-E bridge to boot (by by NF200, you wont be missed). Also has extra space to put the chip itself.

Quote from the Lucid site "Watch for partner announcements and consumer product availability coming in 2009!".

I'm not much bothered about mixing of ATI/nVidia cards (although it would be nice). The driver independant 100% scaling per card is the real money winner if it works as they say. Here's hopeing!

For the board itself, two powered E-SATA ports on the rear (and a pinout)? Also all lowrise caps or something.

 

X58 offered an excellent solution, allowing either cross-fire or SLI depending on your taste. I hate the idea of swapping motherboards, i have never gone multi-GPU for that very reason. I nearly bough a pair of 7900GS's back in the day, but decided a 8800GTS for an extra £20 would offer alot more performance, which it did in bucket loads.

 

Hmm... If it is indeed true, my i7 rig in progress may be moved to a P55 i7 rig in progress...

Triple 4890's with near 100% scaling Cheesecake anyone?

 

This suddenly made P55 worth buying.