A year ago Lucid announced the Hydra 100: a physical chip that could enable hardware multi-GPU without any pesky SLI/Crossfire software, game profiles or anything like that.
At a high level what Lucid's technology does is intercept OpenGL/DirectX commands from the CPU to the GPU and load balance them across any number of GPUs. The final buffers are read back by the Lucid chip and sent to primary GPU for display.
The technology sounds flawless. You don't need to worry about game profiles or driver support, you just add more GPUs and they should be perfectly load balanced. Even more impressive is Lucid's claim that you can mix and match GPUs of different performance levels. For example you could put a GeForce GTX 285 and a GeForce 9800 GTX in parallel and the two would be perfectly load balanced by Lucid's hardware; you'd get a real speedup. Eventually, Lucid will also enable multi-GPU configurations from different vendors (e.g. one NVIDIA GPU + one AMD GPU).
been saving this quote for quite a while. Im gonna have to break it out now just as he said to do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GAR
You can QUOTE me on this, THIS WILL NEVER BE A SUCCESS. As a matter of fact this will never even be mass produced. I say it will dissapear from the face of this world very shortly.
__________________
Quote:
Particle's First Rule of Online Technical Discussion:
As a thread about any computer related subject has its length approach infinity, the likelihood and inevitability of a poorly constructed AMD vs. Intel fight also exponentially increases.
Rule 1A:
Likewise, the frequency of a car pseudoanalogy to explain a technical concept increases with thread length. This will make many people chuckle, as computer people are rarely knowledgeable about vehicular mechanics.
Rule 2:
When confronted with a post that is contrary to what a poster likes, believes, or most often wants to be correct, the poster will pick out only minor details that are largely irrelevant in an attempt to shut out the conflicting idea. The core of the post will be left alone since it isn't easy to contradict what the person is actually saying.
Rule 2A:
When a poster cannot properly refute a post they do not like (as described above), the poster will most likely invent fictitious counter-points and/or begin to attack the other's credibility in feeble ways that are dramatic but irrelevant. Do not underestimate this tactic, as in the online world this will sway many observers. Do not forget: Correctness is decided only by what is said last, the most loudly, or with greatest repetition.
Remember: When debating online, everyone else is ALWAYS wrong if they do not agree with you!
Hail fellow warrior albeit a surat Mercenary. I Hail to you from the Clans, Ghost Bear that is (Yes freebirth we still do and shall always view mercenaries with great disdain!) I have long been an honorable warrior of the mighty Warden Clan Ghost Bear the honorable Bekker surname. I salute your tenacity to show your freebirth sibkin their ignorance!
Been waiting on more info about the MSI's Big Bang and Lucid's Hydra chip...
What more needs to be said, no more SLI... and this:
From the moment I heard about this technology and Company (15 months ago), I've been a close follower. Just looking at the people who are on the board @ Lucid gave me hope this Hydra chip was for real.
I can't wait for the bench reviews, but this looks pleasing..
__________________
Violence does not solve social problems.
Quote:
"The implications, if this actually works as advertised are insane." (HYDRA chip from Lucid)
Lucid has to get these on AMD boards of we'll cry "bloody murder!" Intel has their fingers in Lucid, but I hope they wouldn't deprive AMD users of this man-made miracle.
I don't think computing life will ever be the same after this. Today has been a momentous day in the world of hardware betweem AMD's 5870, Lucid's Hydra, and Intel's IDF. I will sleep with a smile on my face.
Hail fellow warrior albeit a surat Mercenary. I Hail to you from the Clans, Ghost Bear that is (Yes freebirth we still do and shall always view mercenaries with great disdain!) I have long been an honorable warrior of the mighty Warden Clan Ghost Bear the honorable Bekker surname. I salute your tenacity to show your freebirth sibkin their ignorance!
As i understand lucid is owned now by a subsidiary of intel, or at least funded by them indirectly somehow, which is great, because this is the best thing since the gpu!!!!
My next rig...
sandy bridge
sata 6gb/s ssd
AND lucid hydra, doesnt really matter which gpu now!
Been waiting on more info about the MSI's Big Bang and Lucid's Hydra chip...
What more needs to be said, no more SLI... and this:
From the moment I heard about this technology and Company (15 months ago), I've been a close follower. Just looking at the people who are on the board @ Lucid gave me hope this Hydra chip was for real.
I can't wait for the bench reviews, but this looks pleasing..
I m confused on the 4X the 8x pcie on a p55... since the cpu only has 16 pci-e lanes dedicated to gfx...but the hydra is issuing instructions via 32 lanes..?
__________________
Laptop For now. New Build soon
"This Business is Binary, your either a 1 or a 0, alive or dead." - Gary Winston ^^
I m confused on the 4X the 8x pcie on a p55... since the cpu only has 16 pci-e lanes dedicated to gfx...but the hydra is issuing instructions via 32 lanes..?
I think this quote from the article will help:
Quote:
And the highest end solution, the one being used on the MSI board, has a x16 to the CPU and then a configurable pair of x16s to GPUs. You can operate this controller in 4 x8 mode, 1 x16 + 2 x8 or 2 x16. It's all auto sensing and auto-configurable.
The way I read it is that the chip communicates with CPU with a single x16 lane; It subsequently communicates with the GPUs with a 4x8, 2x16, or 1x16 interface.
The way I read it is that the chip communicates with CPU with a single x16 lane; It subsequently communicates with the GPUs with a 4x8, 2x16, or 1x16 interface.
DAMN THIS IS COOL
I read that, but thats what i m asking, if it communicates to the cpu at pci-e 16... doesnt that necessarily limit the amount of instructions it can send to the gpus at 16lanes.. ie 1x16, 2x8, or 4x4?
__________________
Laptop For now. New Build soon
"This Business is Binary, your either a 1 or a 0, alive or dead." - Gary Winston ^^
Personally I don't think this will do any good for using similar cards compared to existing SLI and Crossfire. Using Radeon and GeForce cards at the same time... hmm, dunno, probably not worth it...
Bulldozer can't show up fast enough either. Bulldozer better live up to THIS: Image
It will either make history or make AMD history if it doesn't. Intel's thread count is getting higher than Fugger's bed sheets!
Undergoing rebuild:
CPU: Core i7 920 (batch # 3910A732) | Heatsink: Prolimatech Megashadow | TIM: Indigo Xtreme | MB: EVGA Classified E760 | RAM: G.Skill Trident 3x2GB DD3-2000 | GFX: Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 1GB GDDR5 | HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB | SB: Auzentech X-Fi Forte | PSU: Corsair HX1000 | Case: open stand till Silverstone Raven RV02 arrives | Monitor: LG Flatron W2452T | Keyboard: Razer Lycosa Mirror Edition | Mouse: Logitech MX518 (screaming for an upgrade) | OS: Windows 7 x64 Professional
I read that, but thats what i m asking, if it communicates to the cpu at pci-e 16... doesnt that necessarily limit the amount of instructions it can send to the gpus at 16lanes.. ie 1x16, 2x8, or 4x4?
You are not going to saturate a PCIe x16 connection with a Hydra chip.
It's own technology talks to as many GPU as you want given those lanes... how the PCIe bus works doesn't change... thats the function of the Hydra chip. Seamless!
__________________
Violence does not solve social problems.
Quote:
"The implications, if this actually works as advertised are insane." (HYDRA chip from Lucid)
Nvidia will disable the ability for this in their drivers, sooner or later.
You're right. Sad thing is if Nvidia does this, they will undermine the adoption of their own tech. It will be a horrible business decision on their part.
Hail fellow warrior albeit a surat Mercenary. I Hail to you from the Clans, Ghost Bear that is (Yes freebirth we still do and shall always view mercenaries with great disdain!) I have long been an honorable warrior of the mighty Warden Clan Ghost Bear the honorable Bekker surname. I salute your tenacity to show your freebirth sibkin their ignorance!
You're right. Sad thing is if Nvidia does this, they will undermine the adoption of their own tech. It will be a horrible business decision on their part.
They already did this with crappy SLI chipsets on the 6XX and 7XX mobos. X58 is the best thing that ever happened to Nvidia honestly.
I hope it is a winner, however I buy my graphic cards in pairs. It will be interesting to see if there is any performance hit when using it with 2 of the same cards.
Guys, as has already been stated the Hydra operates independently from the OS and thus is not affected by drivers or at least not much anyways. As such, Nvidia / ATI cannot block it on the software side of things. They may be able to limit it however. At least this is how it works to my understanding.
Particle's First Rule of Online Technical Discussion:
Rule 1A:
Rule 2:
Rule 2A:
Linear Mode
