New Intel x58's may have Hydra chip

[mrgoodbench]

This is my first post. I hope this is the correct format/section...

Intel puts Lucid Hydra on x58
Mix and match GPUs on Smackover 2
By Charlie Demerjian
Friday, 19 December 2008, 15:51

IT LOOKS LIKE Intel is not content with their x58 'Smackover' board, and is going to add a Lucid Hydra chip to the next revision. Yup, improved in every way, plus mix-and-match GPUs, what's not to love?

Early word from people who claim to have seen boards in the orient confirms what the moles say, a Lucid Hydra chip, plus a few other goodies like an LED status readout. Moles inside second biggest blue say that the board is pretty much changed everywhere in detail, and that can't be a bad thing.

This confirms what people told me a while ago, that Intel is taking gaming seriously and is listening to feedback. The last few Intel gaming boards have been fast, solid and feature laden, but lack that special pop the low-IQ set seems to crave. Luckily Intel isn't adding LEDs galore and shiny bits, just functionality and things that matter. Good for them.

In the end, you will get a fast board that won't have heatpipes that double as a house for your hamster, but you will get mix and match GPUs. This board is going to be one to watch. µ"

Here is the link to the existing forum topic:

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=116255&

[Toss3]

It's in the right section, but it's from the inq so it should go straight int the trash(the inq post all kinds of rubbish).

Welcome to the forum! :) Watch out for crainger... :bleh:

[DansFace]

wow i had my doubts about the hydra chip.
Is it really coming :D

[Toss3]

wow i had my doubts about the hydra chip.
Is it really coming :D

It's definitely a real product, but if it doesn't perform as it should it's never going to see the consumer market.

[hell_of_doom227]

Interesting. It would be really risky to SLIX ATI and Nvidia card :p

[Denroll]

I'm posting just to say I should lurk more.

[Toss3]

Interesting. It would be really risky to SLIX ATI and Nvidia card :p

The hardware is capable of this, but not the software, so in other words you won't be able to mix and match nvida and ati cards.

[CaptNKILL]

Damn, I hope this is true.

This thing sounded like a major break through in graphics hardware, I'd love to see it actually become reality.

[jAkUp]

We shall see, it had an interesting rendering algorithm, whether or not it really works will be key :)

[Toss3]

We shall see, it had an interesting rendering algorithm, whether or not it really works will be key :)

Any inside information that you'd like to share? :bleh:

[Noriega]

It's in the right section, but it's from the inq so it should go straight int the trash(the inq post all kinds of rubbish).

Welcome to the forum! :) Watch out for crainger... :bleh:

hahaha watch for crainger :captnkill:

I don't think it will be any major breakthrough but it's inetersting how will this work... some developers still got problems with game optimisation for Sli/CF.

[slaWter]

I think this story is completely made up by Charlie.
We haven't heard much about the Hydra chip and he's already talking about a X58 implementation...

[Toss3]

I think this story is completely made up by Charlie.
We haven't heard much about the Hydra chip and he's already talking about a X58 implementation...


From Lucidlogix.com (http://www.lucidlogix.com/news/pr_2008_08_19.html)

"The HYDRA 100 Series is available now for customer validation with volume delivery expected in Q4 2008. Consumer level devices are expected to reach the market in the first half of 2009."

So I guess we'll know soon enough! :cool:

[Delbert]

How would this work for DX10 if i had a DX9 card paired with a DX10 card ?
Presumably it would default to the lowest ?

[shabby]

Obviously you can't run dx10 with a dx9 card so it wouldn't work in that case.

[Siskods9]

"Lucid can scale with 2 GPUs close to linear"

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11408&Itemid=1

[AdamK47]

The last few Intel gaming boards have been fast, solid and feature laden, but lack that special pop the low-IQ set seems to crave.

By knowing what site this was written on I'm sure he was referring to his low-IQ self and the personal tastes that represents.

[Xion X2]

"Lucid can scale with 2 GPUs close to linear"

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11408&Itemid=1

That's the true benefit. Linear scaling. Mixing vendors doesn't really appeal to me much--even if there was a software workaround for it. But to have close-to-linear scaling would be really nice.

My next system will have one of these babies on it.

(pimp)

[Redeemed]

That's the true benefit. Linear scaling. Mixing vendors doesn't really appeal to me much--even if there was a software workaround for it. But to have close-to-linear scaling would be really nice.

My next system will have one of these babies on it.

(pimp)

Wait... is this implying that you should be able to run a 4870 1GB with a GTX 280, and get near 100% boost over having just one of those cards installed? Am I misunderstanding this?

[rage10]

Wait... is this implying that you should be able to run a 4870 1GB with a GTX 280, and get near 100% boost over having just one of those cards installed? Am I misunderstanding this?

I think thats what its trying to get across. how it can work is anyones guess.

[CaptNKILL]

Wait... is this implying that you should be able to run a 4870 1GB with a GTX 280, and get near 100% boost over having just one of those cards installed? Am I misunderstanding this?

No, you can't mix brands because the drivers won't function together. Mixing vendors means EVGA, BFG, MSI, ASUS etc. can all work in the same SLI setup... which I don't think has been a problem for years anyway.

What is so impressive about this is that you can buy a GTX 285 now and then buy a GT300 at the end of the year, add it in without removing your 285 and you'll get the full power of the GT300 added onto what you already have.

With SLI you can't even mix cards like that, and two identical cards tend to get between 60% and 80% scaling at best.

I really have no idea how this is supposed to work with the differences in memory capacity and things like that... but for how far its gotten it must be doing something properly.

[Redeemed]

Interesting... unless I wind up making significantly more money in the future I do not see this technology as being anything I'd care about. As is, my next monitor's native res is going to be 1920x1200... and I'm sure the dual 1GB 4870s I'll be getting will run that fine for a while. When they don't, I can always lower the res and possibly add some AA/AF. :)

[rage10]

No, you can't mix brands because the drivers won't function together. Mixing vendors means EVGA, BFG, MSI, ASUS etc. can all work in the same SLI setup... which I don't think has been a problem for years anyway.

What is so impressive about this is that you can buy a GTX 285 now and then buy a GT300 at the end of the year, add it in without removing your 285 and you'll get the full power of the GT300 added onto what you already have.

With SLI you can't even mix cards like that, and two identical cards tend to get between 60% and 80% scaling at best.

I really have no idea how this is supposed to work with the differences in memory capacity and things like that... but for how far its gotten it must be doing something properly.
cant crossfire do that alredy? say a 4870 and a 4850 crossfired? the only issue that this can have is that the 4850 will bottle neck the 4850, unless the driver can find a way to scale the cards. say 4850 does every third frame and the 4870 does the other 2. this will still hold back the cards full potental though and you wont need a hardware solution to do it.
as stated previously though, if it got this far they must be doing something right.

[ASUSEN7900GTX]

isn´t Crossfire X a Little like this not fully but still?

[Xion X2]

CrossfireX doesn't work the same way. Performance is delegated to a pair of the most common denominator. A 4870 paired with a 4850 will run as two 4850s, for example. And then there's the scaling issue. Current multi-GPU setups rarely scale at 100% on the second GPU; scale 50-60% on the 3rd GPU or 35-40% on the 4th GPU. Hydra is supposed to increase scaling so that it is much more linear.

It has the potential to be a superb product, but as long as the PC library is filled with mostly console ports, its benefit will be minimal to the average user.