Lucid HYDRA Engine Multi-GPU Technology

Rob Williams · 08-25-2008, 03:34 AM

Can either of the SLI and Crossfire technologies be defeated by a company we've never heard of before? Hard to say, but Rory's look into Lucid and their Hydra Engine can definitely give us some insight.

One of the more exciting third-party demonstrations we saw at Intel's 2008 Developer Forum was by a little-known company called Lucid, who promises highly-efficient multi-GPU performance scaling via their unique "Hydra Engine" technology. We take a look at Hydra Engine, and what it means for ATI's Crossfire and NVIDIA's SLI.

Read the article, then discuss!

Kougar · 08-25-2008, 06:13 PM

It's one of those too good to be true things . Theoretically I don't know of a single reason it shouldn't work, but attempting to get everything to work smoothly with such good scaling would take a massive amount of work or some very smart/innovative software/hardware tricks.

Lucid needs to deliver on this or allow sites to bench test the technology before I will get excited over it. Because if this approach was so easy to implement, you can be sure either NVIDIA or ATI would have done so already...

Merlin · 08-25-2008, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kougar

It's one of those too good to be true things . Theoretically I don't know of a single reason it shouldn't work, but attempting to get everything to work smoothly with such good scaling would take a massive amount of work or some very smart/innovative software/hardware tricks.

Lucid needs to deliver on this or allow sites to bench test the technology before I will get excited over it. Because if this approach was so easy to implement, you can be sure either NVIDIA or ATI would have done so already...

Time to check out the stock market....
The stocks may take a good trend

Merlin

08-25-2008, 08:00 PM

I hope Nvidia or ATI er I mean AMD buy this company

Maybe even Intel so they could integrate it into a next gen on board graphics platform in co-op with NVidia or AMD lots of possibilities

Kougar · 08-26-2008, 06:13 PM

ATI/AMD can't afford to buy diddly right now. Their credit rating & asset-to-liabilities ratio are both poor so they couldn't even if they wanted to.

NVIDIA just got suckerpunched with a loss out of what was supposed to be a very profitable quarter for them, but they could still easily afford Lucid I'm quite sure. Going by the company's past behavior though, I don't see this happening.

08-28-2008, 01:39 AM

I would rather them stay themselves so that there is none of this you only use OUR GPU's on OUR motherboards.

Know what I mean?

Rob Williams · 08-29-2008, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HouseOfBugs

I would rather them stay themselves so that there is none of this you only use OUR GPU's on OUR motherboards.

Know what I mean?

I tend to agree, since if it's a chipset, it could simply be either integrated onto the motherboard or a special graphics card. If NVIDIA picked it up, they might very-well limit the technology to their own cards, which is not going to make the consumer the true winner.

I think we'll learn a lot more about this technology in the months to come... I really hope it's able to deliver upon all of its promises.

08-25-2008, 03:34 AM	#1
Rob Williams Editor in Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 8,921	Lucid HYDRA Engine Multi-GPU Technology Can either of the SLI and Crossfire technologies be defeated by a company we've never heard of before? Hard to say, but Rory's look into Lucid and their Hydra Engine can definitely give us some insight. One of the more exciting third-party demonstrations we saw at Intel's 2008 Developer Forum was by a little-known company called Lucid, who promises highly-efficient multi-GPU performance scaling via their unique "Hydra Engine" technology. We take a look at Hydra Engine, and what it means for ATI's Crossfire and NVIDIA's SLI. Read the article, then discuss! __________________ Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 @ 3.20GHz, ASUS P5K Premium WiFi-AP, OCZ 8GB PC2-6400, EVGA GTX 285 1024MB Seagate 500GB, 750GB & 1TB, Pioneer 22x ODD, Corsair 1000HX, Thermalright Ultra-120, CM Storm Sniper Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Ultrasone PRO 750, Gentoo Linux (KDE 4.3.2, 2.6.31 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter Profiles: Last.fm \| Xbox Live \| Steam

08-25-2008, 06:13 PM	#2
Kougar Staff Writer Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Texas Posts: 1,497	It's one of those too good to be true things . Theoretically I don't know of a single reason it shouldn't work, but attempting to get everything to work smoothly with such good scaling would take a massive amount of work or some very smart/innovative software/hardware tricks. Lucid needs to deliver on this or allow sites to bench test the technology before I will get excited over it. Because if this approach was so easy to implement, you can be sure either NVIDIA or ATI would have done so already... __________________ Core i7 920 @ 4.2GHz 1.40v (HT on) Gigabyte GA-X58-UD5 (F9e) 3 x 2GB OCZ Platinum 1600MHz 7-7-7-18 EVGA GTX 260 w/ D-Tek Fuzion 2 GFX ASUS Xonar DX \| Cooler Master UCP 1.1kW U2 UFO Cube Case \| Windows 7 RC1 x64 Swiftech Apogee GTZ + MCP655 Pump & Thermochill PA120.3 Radiator

08-26-2008, 06:13 PM	#5
Kougar Staff Writer Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Texas Posts: 1,497	ATI/AMD can't afford to buy diddly right now. Their credit rating & asset-to-liabilities ratio are both poor so they couldn't even if they wanted to. NVIDIA just got suckerpunched with a loss out of what was supposed to be a very profitable quarter for them, but they could still easily afford Lucid I'm quite sure. Going by the company's past behavior though, I don't see this happening. __________________ Core i7 920 @ 4.2GHz 1.40v (HT on) Gigabyte GA-X58-UD5 (F9e) 3 x 2GB OCZ Platinum 1600MHz 7-7-7-18 EVGA GTX 260 w/ D-Tek Fuzion 2 GFX ASUS Xonar DX \| Cooler Master UCP 1.1kW U2 UFO Cube Case \| Windows 7 RC1 x64 Swiftech Apogee GTZ + MCP655 Pump & Thermochill PA120.3 Radiator

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08-25-2008, 08:00 PM	#4
Unregistered Guest Poster Posts: n/a	I hope Nvidia or ATI er I mean AMD buy this company Maybe even Intel so they could integrate it into a next gen on board graphics platform in co-op with NVidia or AMD lots of possibilities

08-28-2008, 01:39 AM	#6
HouseOfBugs Guest Poster Posts: n/a	I would rather them stay themselves so that there is none of this you only use OUR GPU's on OUR motherboards. Know what I mean?