Friday, November 6th 2009
NVIDIA Shuns Lucid Hydra
A promising new technology from LucidLogix, the Hydra, has perhaps hit its biggest roadblock. The Hydra multi-GPU engine allows vendor-neutral and model-neutral GPU performance upscaling, without adhering to proprietary technologies such as NVIDIA SLI or ATI CrossfireX. NVIDIA, which is staring at a bleak future for its chipset division, is licensing the SLI technology to motherboard vendors who want to use it on socket LGA-1366 and LGA-1156 motherboards, since Intel is the only chipset vendor. On other sockets such as LGA-775 and AM3, however, NVIDIA continues to have chipsets that bring with them the incentive of SLI technology support. NVIDIA's licensing deals with motherboard vendors are particularly noteworthy. For socket LGA-1366 motherboards that are based on Intel's X58 Express chipset, NVIDIA charges a fee of US $5 per unit sold, to let it support SLI. Alternatively, motherboard vendors can opt for NVIDIA's nForce 200 bridge chip, which allows vendors to offer full-bandwidth 3-way SLI on some high-end models. For the socket LGA-1156 platform currently driven by Intel's P55 Express chipset, the fee is lower, at US $3 per unit sold.
The Lucid Hydra engine by design is vendor-neutral. It provides a sort of abstraction-layer between the OS and the GPUs, and uses the available graphics processing resources to upscale resulting performance. This effectively kills NVIDIA's cut, as motherboard vendors needn't have the SLI license, and that users of Hydra won't be using SLI or Crossfire anymore. Perhaps fearing a loss of revenue, NVIDIA is working on its drivers to ensure that its GeForce GPUs don't work on platforms that use Hydra. Perhaps this also ensures "quality control, and compatibility", since if the customer isn't satisfied with the quality and performance of Hydra, NVIDIA for one, could end up in the bad books. This could then also kick up warranty issues, and product returns.
MSI has the industry's first release-grade motherboard, the Big Bang Fuzion P55 that uses Hydra to power multiple GPUs, while also allowing users to mix and match various PCI-Express GPUs to suit their needs, something new particularly for NVIDIA users. Earlier expected to be announced around this time, MSI's Big Bang Fuzion, as it is called by its maker, has been indefinitely delayed up to Q1 2010. Apparently to fill the void created by months of hype, MSI rushed in its cousin, a similar-looking motherboard, that uses the nForce 200 chip, to provide 3-way SLI support, called the Big Bang Trinergy P55, which will stay on as the company's top offering for the P55 platform. One can only hope that Hydra doesn't end up stillborn because of corporate strategy by much larger companies.
Source:
Overclock3D.Net
The Lucid Hydra engine by design is vendor-neutral. It provides a sort of abstraction-layer between the OS and the GPUs, and uses the available graphics processing resources to upscale resulting performance. This effectively kills NVIDIA's cut, as motherboard vendors needn't have the SLI license, and that users of Hydra won't be using SLI or Crossfire anymore. Perhaps fearing a loss of revenue, NVIDIA is working on its drivers to ensure that its GeForce GPUs don't work on platforms that use Hydra. Perhaps this also ensures "quality control, and compatibility", since if the customer isn't satisfied with the quality and performance of Hydra, NVIDIA for one, could end up in the bad books. This could then also kick up warranty issues, and product returns.
MSI has the industry's first release-grade motherboard, the Big Bang Fuzion P55 that uses Hydra to power multiple GPUs, while also allowing users to mix and match various PCI-Express GPUs to suit their needs, something new particularly for NVIDIA users. Earlier expected to be announced around this time, MSI's Big Bang Fuzion, as it is called by its maker, has been indefinitely delayed up to Q1 2010. Apparently to fill the void created by months of hype, MSI rushed in its cousin, a similar-looking motherboard, that uses the nForce 200 chip, to provide 3-way SLI support, called the Big Bang Trinergy P55, which will stay on as the company's top offering for the P55 platform. One can only hope that Hydra doesn't end up stillborn because of corporate strategy by much larger companies.
230 Comments on NVIDIA Shuns Lucid Hydra
That situation just happened in recent times. Months before, NVIDIA was offering PhysX implementation to AMD/ATI cards, but they just didn't accept it. (Most likely because they wanted to work on their own Stream implementation, but as it is, it never took off.)
Back OT though this is a dick move from nvidia - they see their proprietary standard (and chipsets) threatened by a new product and so c*ckblock it - the hydra chip only allocates different directx calls to different chips - there is nothing wrong in that as all the cards handle is directx calls, the hydra chip just reduces the number of calls an individual card has to make, so there is no compatability issue there (it's the same thing as reducing draw distance or disabling the showing of certain effects in-game, less directx calls - the only issue would be with AA across boundaries but i'm sure luicid would be able to workaround that issue. Luicid would have no effect on how the nvidia cards would work - the nvidia drivers still decode the directx calls and render an image - this would be no different if luicid was there or not - the problem comes as nvidia's chipsets and SLi liscencing would be significantly reduced if luicid became popular, as well as nvidia's ability to block dual ati cards from working on nvidia chipsets.
Here's to hoping luicid can release soon, i'd really like to see if it is more efficient than SLi/crossfire
I dont like their business practices BUT i love their products. I really dont care what they do on the side just as long as they HURRY THE FUCK UP WITH A GOD DAMNED DX11 GPU!!!!!!!!
- Assassin's Creed and DX10.1. You want proofs of that Nvidia offered PhysX for free, but you are willing to believe that BS against what the developer said with no proofs. Nvidia had nothing to do with that, if they didn't want dx10.1 the game would have never been released with dx10.1!!! it's not as if they couldn't buy an Ati DX10.1 card, test how it performed and take out DX10.1 from the game before they launched. Proof of that is that the same develper released just a few months later FarCry 2, that not only had DX10.1, but also had implemented into DX10 the same special AA feature that was the only thing that was better in the 10.1 version of AC.
- Batman and AA: discussed many times, Unreal engine has no AA, that AA was specifically programmed for Nvidia, it even says Nvidia AA in the menu. The developer asked AMD to send some engineers to help QA assurance that AA for Ati cards. AMD didn't even want to hear about them from the start because it was a TWIMTBP game.
- Blocking PhysX is because of the same and I explain that above.
- Lucid is because of the same.
I dont see why people get all jumbled up about what this or that company does in the end. As long as YOU the CONSUMER dont get affected then it shouldnt matter. All i care about is products being released in a timely manner and prices dont skyrocket more than they already have. (It goes for any computer company in my books)This is exactly why i didnt get into the batman flamethread. I dont see why ATI can have 10.1 features where as Nvidia cant have their own AA in a game. A SINGLE GAME.
I supposed every side will have its closed minded fanbois.