Asus Immensity - Lucid Hydra implementation

[Micutzu]

Asus will show this year at Computex their Lucid Hydra implementation in a concept called "Asus Immensity"; it is a member of the ROG family, but for some reason it only has 2 PCI-e 16X slots (?!).



Also, they have the new Sabertooth X58 on display; if you remember the Sabertooth i55 - the motherboard with military grade components and special ceramic coating, well this is the same concept applied to the X58 chipset.

Other interesting stuff: Asus Rampage III Gene and the tiny passive-cooler Atom-powered Asus AT5IONT-I Deluxe.

Source: http://lab501.ro/stiri/computex-2010...cu-lucid-hydra

[Dumo]

Asus is a top notch when it comes to innovation.....but can they make a mobo that moisture resistant/water proofed?

[[XC] Oj101]

Is it just me or does that board look a lot wider than normal? I don't understand why they'd make a high end board with only two PCIe16s though

[Sn0wm@n]

its almost as lame as the rog expander

[SlyxFX]

It only has 2 PCI-e x16 slots as you would be using this with the Asus "Ares" 4GB 5970. Atleast thats what i hope they were thinking
Notice how the slots are 3 slots apart. Thats because the Ares takes up 3 Expension slots. Its a board made specifically for Ares Overclocking.

[Helloworld_98]

you can tell they're planning for something when they only use 36 PCIe lanes out of a possible 68

might think about getting that mobo

[Mungri]

Yea, what good is lucid hydra with just two 16x slots?

[Sn0wm@n]

you can tell they're planning for something when they only use 36 PCIe lanes out of a possible 68

might think about getting that mobo

can they allocate more lane on those slots ??? making each slot 32lanes instead of 16 ???

[Bobsama]

No; a PCI-E x32 slot would be friggin enormous; about 90% longer than an x16 slot. You need an electrical connection for those additional lanes; an x32 slot would double the data pins (everything after the notch).

Now then, I don't quite know what's going through Asus's head to use Lucid Hydra with an x16-x16 board. Even so, I doubt most CFX/SLI users are doing tri-/quad-card setups.

[SlyxFX]

Like i said before, they are using 16x-16x to support their Asus Ares 4gb gpu which covers 3 slots.

[matose]

The problem is that the Hydra chip doesn't support dual-GPU cards for the time beeing, so no GTX295, HD5970 for now

[Sailindawg]

Regarding the 2-16x slots, it could be that's the configuration that worked best with the Hydra chip for the price point. If it's <$240, it could be interesting, if it's >$240, then WTH were they thinking.

[Helloworld_98]

Regarding the 2-16x slots, it could be that's the configuration that worked best with the Hydra chip for the price point. If it's <$240, it could be interesting, if it's >$240, then WTH were they thinking.

isn't the MSI one like $300?

and that uses the P55 chipset which makes it cheaper, <$240 I think not

[[XC] Oj101]

Perhaps it's just a bit of showing off?

[systemviper]

The problem is that the Hydra chip doesn't support dual-GPU cards for the time beeing, so no GTX295, HD5970 for now

wow, now that cought me by suprise, didn't know that....

[ottoyu34]

The PCB layout is looking like the Rampage 3 extreme, which is quite crowded. It's possible adding the Lucid Hydra chip need the expansion slot took up the space

[saaya]

"Asus Immensity"

whats that supposed to mean?
is that... the name of the board?
very weird marketing name...

Also, they have the new Sabertooth X58 on display; if you remember the Sabertooth i55 - the motherboard with military grade components and special ceramic coating, well this is the same concept applied to the X58 chipset.

totally forgot about that board... that about sums it up... it didnt work for p55, why redo the same for 1366?

asus is doing some weird stuff for sure...

Yea, what good is lucid hydra with just two 16x slots?

did they finally unlock 4x mode?
does it scale well?
if no, then whats the point of having more than 2 slots?

No; a PCI-E x32 slot would be friggin enormous; about 90% longer than an x16 slot. You need an electrical connection for those additional lanes; an x32 slot would double the data pins (everything after the notch)

actually not necessarily...
youd be surprised to know how many ground pins a pciE 16x slot contains that are used for signal noise insulation
if theyd figure out how to use even half the pins in a x16 slot to shovel data around, 32x in a 16x slot wouldnt be a problem at all...

The problem is that the Hydra chip doesn't support dual-GPU cards for the time beeing, so no GTX295, HD5970 for now

exactly...

[Oliver]

Thanks for posting in man , much appreciated

[=SOC= Admiral]

Actually it does support the dual cards from different companies. This is known as if I am reading this correctly their X-mode. But this is one of 2 boards that Asus is coming out with for hydra the other is the Crosshair IV extreme for amd and there are also 3 more boards coming out this year for a total of 5 bringing the total of Hydra capable boards to 6. This should speed up support of it across all areas.

[Mungri]

did they finally unlock 4x mode?
does it scale well?
if no, then whats the point of having more than 2 slots?

I thought that Hydra was meant to be for using several Nvidia and ATI cards together, but maybe I'm just behind on the news.

[Sn0wm@n]

actually not necessarily...
youd be surprised to know how many ground pins a pciE 16x slot contains that are used for signal noise insulation
if theyd figure out how to use even half the pins in a x16 slot to shovel data around, 32x in a 16x slot wouldnt be a problem at all...

exactly...

good to know saaya


any reading on said subject i could get my hand on ????

[mutantmagnet]

Too bad the link is dead. Fortunately I found a forum that saved a pic of the sabertooth.

[sholvaco]

The Immensity is a concept board for crying out loud.

Both of Intel's upcoming desktop platforms are going to offer less than 32 PCIe links (16 x 5 Gbps for LGA1155, 24 x 8 Gbps for LGA13xx) so graphically intensive applications may actually benefit from a "graphics workload distributor" like the Hydra instead of just passively splitting the available bandwidth like most boards now do. Providing of course, Hydra's active mode catches up with ATi's and Nvidia's native multi GPU solutions, because the performance gap right now doesn't make it worth the silicon it occupies.

The Sabertooth board on the other hand looks so pleasantly ugly I might have bought one if it wasn't so late in the game. No splitting the x16 links (0,1% might find more than two actually useful), no double digit phase counts, no weird form factors, just works for a comfortable 4.0 GHz OCed daily driver... of course you might as well buy a Gigabyte for that and save 50$.

[Helloworld_98]

(16 x 5 Gbps for LGA1155, 24 x 8 Gbps for LGA2011)

just corrected it for you

[[XC] Oj101]

No; a PCI-E x32 slot would be friggin enormous; about 90% longer than an x16 slot. You need an electrical connection for those additional lanes; an x32 slot would double the data pins (everything after the notch).

Now then, I don't quite know what's going through Asus's head to use Lucid Hydra with an x16-x16 board. Even so, I doubt most CFX/SLI users are doing tri-/quad-card setups.

Actually, not so:

Lanes	Pins Total	variable section	Total Length	variable section
×1	2×18=36[23]	2×7=14			25 mm		7.65 mm
×4	2×32=64		2×21=42			39 mm		21.65 mm
×8	2×49=98		2×38=76			56 mm		38.65 mm
×16	2×82=164	2×71=142		89 mm		71.65 mm

If the scaling was linear, a x16 slot would be 576 pins and 400mm long