Sapphire is readying a new performance motherboard for LGA1155 Intel "Sandy Bridge" processors, driven by Intel P67 chipset. The most distinct feature here is the LucidLogix Hydra Engine chip, which takes in the lone PCI-Express 2.0 x16 link from the processor, and gives out three PCI-E x16 slots (electrical x16/x8/x8), which lets users build a variety of 3-way multi-GPU configurations, including mix-matching of GPUs of different types and makes. The fourth PCI-E x16 slot is wired to the P67 PCH, and is electrical x4. Other slots include two PCI.

The CPU is powered by an 8-phase VRM, and memory by a 3-phase VRM. Sapphire-marked self-cooled chokes and driver-MOSFETs are used. Storage connectivity includes four SATA 3 Gb/s and three SATA 6 Gb/s ports, and one eSATA. Other connectivity features include 8-channel HD audio with optical and coaxial SPDIF outputs, two gigabit Ethernet interfaces, USB 3.0, FireWire, Bluetooth, and a number of USB 2.0 ports. Overclocker-friendly features include redundant BIOS with manual selection, debug LEDs, power and reset switches on board.

The pioneer of multivendor/multi-GPU graphic solutions, LucidLogix today announced ground-breaking GPU virtualization software designed for Intel Sandy Bridge platforms. With this technology, next generation PCs will dynamically balance the advanced power-efficient, built-in media features of Sandy Bridge processor graphics with the high-end, DirectX 11 3D performance features of discrete GPUs, while significantly reducing the power drain of traditional entertainment desktops.

Called Virtu, the Lucid GPU virtualization software is able to assign tasks in real time to the best available graphics resource based on power, performance and features considerations, with no need for additional hardware. If high end graphics power is needed for applications like DirectX 11, high-resolution 3D gaming, the system will assign the job to the discrete GPU. If not, the discrete GPU automatically goes into idle mode, while heat drops, fan speed slows down and GPU utilization goes down to zero, resulting in a green, power-efficient, long-lasting system.

ECS is designing an upper-mid range socket LGA1155 motherboard based on the Intel P67 Express chipset, ready with upcoming Sandy Bridge processors, called the P67H2-A. A pre-release version was shown to the press. The highlight here is ECS' use of the LucidLogix Hydra Engine chip that lets the motherboard mix and match graphics cards of different makes and types. The CPU is powered by a 14-phase VRM, it is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel memory, speeds of up to 2600 MHz are supported by overclocking. Expansion slots include three PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (likely x16, x16, NC / x16, x8, x8, thanks to the Hydra chip), and two each of PCI-E x1 and PCI. Four out of six of the SATA 3 Gb/s ports from the P67 PCH are assigned as internal ports (color-coded orange), two SATA 6 Gb/s controllers give out two ports internal (color-coded red). Connectivity includes 8-channel HD audio, dual gigabit Ethernet, two NEC USB 3.0 controllers that give out two ports on the rear panel and two for the front-panel via header, eSATA 6 Gb/s, and a number of USB 2.0 ports. The final version may look slightly different, of course those jumper wires won't be there.

When we first saw the ASUS ROG Crosshair IV Extreme back in March, it seemed like just a beefier version of the Crosshair IV Formula with four well spaced out PCI-E x16 expansion slots, a stronger VRM, and a few more ASUS-exclusive goodies thrown in. Later in May, we learned that the Crosshair IV Extreme is different from its smaller, more popular sibling, in featuring the LucidLogix Hydra Engine chip that lets the users pair graphics cards across the lineups and GPU vendors, whichever way they want to upscale performance or add features. After quite some wait which led some of us to fear that ASUS shelved the product as Crosshair IV Formula seems to have been well received, the company surprised us by finally releasing the beast to the market.

The Crosshair IV Extreme that we see today is slightly different from the older iterations in featuring a different heatsink assembly design. It features bulkier, more groovy-looking heatsinks over the north-west cluster that houses the CPU VRM and AMD 890FX IOMMU, while the south-east cluster has a sleeker heatsink that cools the Lucid Hydra chip and the AMD SB850 southbridge. Most other features remain the same: expansion slots that include five PCI-E x16, one PCI; support for dual-channel DDR3-2000 MHz memory; a six-port SATA 6 Gb/s RAID controller, 2 SATA 3 Gb/s ports, two eSATA 3 Gb/s; connectivity that includes gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth, 8-channel SupremeFX X-Fi audio, USB 3.0; and a boat-load of OC-friendly features including ROG Connect, redundant BIOS, on-board voltage-measure, PCI-E gating and OC controls, etc. It is priced around 300 EUR.

Today LucidLogix Technologies (Lucid) announced its arming video card manufacturers with the new Unity graphics board architecture for the HYDRALOGIX engine (previously known as HYDRA). Now graphics board vendors for the first time can combine a single HYDRALOGIX 200 real time distributed processor with any single NVIDIA or ATI GPU, creating an affordable, flexible multi-GPU-ready graphics card that can make any motherboard a high performance gaming system.

Gamers and high performance PC enthusiasts will have even more options to configure multi-GPU systems, which until recently were limited to vendor-exclusive architectures or HYDRALOGIX equipped motherboards. And mainstream graphics users can now buy even a $99 graphics card and upgrade their system in the future with the brand graphics card of their choice.

ASUS showed off a unique motherboard concept part of its Republic of Gamers series, the ROG Immensity. This socket LGA-1366 motherboard comes with onboard graphics, using a discrete ATI Radeon HD 5000 series GPU with dedicated GDDR3 memory. While the Intel X58 Express + ICH10R chipset are very much there, the X58 is wired to a Lucid Hydra Engine chip, which drives both the PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots. It is probably also connected to the ATI Radeon GPU, giving users the ability to stay connected to the on board GPU, while 3D graphics is accelerated from any graphics card plugged in to the PCI-E slots, of any make, and in any combination (including NVIDIA + ATI). The Hydra chip handles the load-balancing between the GPUs depending on their computation power and features available.

Apart from this unique feature, the ROG Immensity is designed for extreme overclocking, making use of an 8-phase PWM circuit with additional stabilizers and power conditioning using super-ML capacitors. Memory is powered by a 6-phase PWM circuit with its own power-conditioning super-ML capacitor. All ROG-exclusive features such as iROG and ROG-Connect are present. Connectivity features include SATA 3 Gb/s RAID, two SATA 6 Gb/s ports, USB 3.0, Bluetooth, gigabit Ethernet, and 8-channel audio. Four PCI-E x1 slots make for the rest of the expansion. For now ASUS chooses to call this a concept design, so it's uncertain whether it will release it to market any time soon.

The second creation from PowerColor that caught our eye is their HD 5770 Evolution, a graphics card with a Lucid Hydra Engine chip on board, which allows it to be paired with any other ATI or NVIDIA graphics card. The Lucid Hydra engine drives the graphics subsystem with whatever resources that are available to it. Apart from this unique feature, the HD 5770 is fairly standard, with an ATI Radeon HD 5770 GPU, reference clock speeds, and 1 GB of GDDR5 memory. Its display connectivity includes one each of DVI-D, DisplayPort and HDMI.

While AMD has no new GPU product launches slated for this year's Computex event, its partners are letting their imagination go places. PowerColor is doing just that, with as many as five new products and technologies. To begin with, the company is working on the PowerColor HD 5770 Sniper Edition. This graphics card packs a Bigfoot Killer NIC on-board, so graphics and network processing is packaged into a single addon card. From what we can tell, the card is designed using a PCI-Express bridge which is connected to the PCI-Express x16 interface, which gives the Radeon HD 5770 GPU an x16 link and the Killer SoC an x1 link. The Killer network processor has its own dedicated memory and ROM, with which the SoC can offload network processing from Windows, in a bid to reduce latencies, even if improving performance is inconsequential with today's systems with powerful processors.

Next up, is the PowerColor HD 5770 Evolution. Again, another novelty graphics card based on the Radeon HD 5770. This one packs a Lucid Hydra Engine chip on-board, which allows it work in tandem with any other graphics card, ATI or NVIDIA, with 2-way or 3-way multi-GPU support. Third card is probably what will interest a lot more buyers, PowerColor HD 5770 Single Slot Edition. As the name suggests, the card will occupy only one expansion slot. The next card is an even more practical product in the making, a series of low-profile Radeon HD 5770 and HD 5750 cards. Lastly, PowerColor will demonstrate what it calls the Vortex Cooling technology, a unique video card cooler which allows users to adjust the fan's height from the heatsink, and vector its air-flow. Not wanting to reveal too much, PowerColor left us with tiny images, some of which are outlines of the actual images.

Following the apparently-successful launch of the ROG Crosshair IV Formula, ASUS is preparing the second, even-higher end offering under the Republic of Gamers (ROG) series for the socket AM3 platform, the Crosshair IV Extreme. First pictured and detailed in March, the Crosshair IV Extreme turned out to be a little more than just a beefier Crosshair IV Formula with a stronger VRM and more expansion slots; it has an important addition to its feature-set which was revealed after some websites pictured the board without its chipset heatsink. The Crosshair IV Extreme makes use of the Lucid Hydra engine, with a 32-lane Hydra bridge chip that supports 3~4 graphics cards. While the AMD 890FX isn't deficient of PCI-Express lanes, the addition of Hydra gives the motherboard the unique ability to mix and match graphics cards, with special modes for pairing ATI GPUs, NVIDIA GPUs, and ATI + NVIDIA GPUs. Another feature that got revealed with the heatsinks off is the CPU VRM, which makes use of no less than 11 independent phases, and a super ML capacitor that helps voltage tuning with high precision, and conditions CPU voltage better than conventional capacitors. ASUS may choose Computex as the ideal launch-vehicle for the Crosshair IV Extreme.

MSI is working on its third motherboard that makes use of Lucid Hydra multi-GPU technology, this one aimed to be a more affordable model than the Big Bang Fuzion, for the socket LGA-1156 platform. Lucid Hydra technology allows users to mix and match graphics cards from across brands and models to upscale performance. A newly-release driver (1.5.106) for Hydra is said to increase functionality by adding full support for DirectX multi-GPU scaling, as well as expects significantly higher performance upscaling compared to older drivers. The new motherboard from MSI is the P55-GD88 Hydra, also to be known as P55A Hydra.

Built on a PCB that's different from that of the Big Bang Fuzion, the P55A Hydra uses High-C capacitors only for the CPU VRM, with normal solid-state capacitors for the rest of the board. Unlike the Big Bang Fuzion it has only two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots, but these slots work at x16 speeds. Perhaps the only selling point for Hydra on this setup (since Intel P55 platform already supports both SLI and CrossFire, and tests have shown performance hit between x16 and x8 to be insignificant for even high-end GPUs), is the ability to mix and match different kinds of graphics cards, including mixing an ATI Radeon card with an NVIDIA GeForce card.

The clear highlight here seems to be the MSI 870A-GD60 Hydra. It comes with Lucid Logix's prominent Hydra feature, using a different chip than on the Big Bang Fuzion by the way. It promises to let you combine GPUs from NVIDIA and ATI in a CrossFire/SLI like fashion for increased performance. Even though it does not deliver the most amazing scaling numbers just yet we are told that the driver "improves weekly".

MSI has undertaken a very interesting project: to use the Lucid Hydra chip on an AMD platform motherboard, its second design with Lucid Hydra. The 870A-GD60 Hydra is a socket AM3 motherboard based on the AMD 870 + SB850 chipset. The AMD 870 chipset succeeds the AMD 770, in being suited for single discrete-graphics setups. The chipset packs no PCI-Express external switching, and hence there is only one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 link it can give to a graphics card. MSI connected this link to a Hydra Engine chip, to give out two full-bandwidth PCI-Express 2.0 x16 links. "Why not simply use the 890FX?" could be a question for many, but its answer lies in Hydra's advantage over it: it allows you to pair two NVIDIA graphics cards, two ATI graphics cards, or even mix an NVIDIA and an ATI card in a mixed multi-GPU array, as has been demonstrated with MSI's P55 Big Bang Fuzion motherboard.

The AM3 socket is powered by a 10-phase DrMOS based VRM. The CPU connects to four DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel memory. It connects to the AMD 870 northbridge over the HyperTransport 3.0 interface. Its lone PCI-E 2.0 x16 port is taken up by the Hydra Engine chip located between the two PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots. Other expansion slots include three PCI-E x1, and one PCI. The SB850 southbridge gives out six internal SATA 6 Gb/s ports. Connectivity includes 8 channel HD audio with SPDIF connections, eSATA by an additional controller, FireWire, two USB 3.0 ports, and a number of USB 2.0 ports. The 870A-GD60 Hydra could be released late next month.

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, a world-wide leading manufacturer of computer components and systems, today in conjunction with THX and Creative announced its new Big Bang gaming motherboard, the first ever to implement THX TruStudio PC with Creative EAX ADVANCED HD 5.0 audio technology.

Big Bang features QuantumWave audio processing, combining THX TruStudio PC with Creative EAX ADVANCED HD 5.0 to deliver the most powerful and realistic gaming audio performance available from any motherboard.

THX TruStudio PC provides groundbreaking PC audio technologies, the result of collaborative research and development from Creative and THX. Together, these technologies deliver the fullest audio experience for music, movies and games, while remaining true to the intention of the artists who created it.

LucidLogix (Lucid) today introduced the HYDRA 200 real time distributed processing engine designed to bring multi-GPU computing to the masses.

For the first time ever, motherboard, graphics card manufacturers and users can have the flexibility to use different combinations of GPUs from AMD (ATI) and NVIDIA in notebooks and PCs. The solution delivers faster 3D graphics at consumer price points.

The new HYDRA 200 SoC is Lucid's second generation parallel graphics processor that works with any GPU, CPU or chipset to provide scalable 3D graphics performance in a multi-GPU computing environment. On display for the first time at IDF 2009 (booth 213) HYDRA 200 is faster, more flexible, smaller and more power-efficient than its predecessor silicon, the HYDRA 100.

MSI already has its task cut out when Intel's first socket LGA-1156 processors hit stores. With entry-level P55-CD53, mid-range P55-GD65, enthusiast-range P55-GD80, and a micro-ATX P55M-GD45 motherboard offering in place, the lineup seems just about complete, except for two mysterious motherboards that aren't part of the list. First being the G9P55-DC that packs an NVIDIA BR-03 bridge chip that enables 3-way SLI with better interface bandwidth to the three graphics cards, and second is under the looking-glass today. Codenamed "Big Bang", this prototype motherboard by MSI packs a LucidLogix Hydra technology, which clearly on paper, is the next big thing as far as multi-GPU systems go.

MSI P55 "Big Bang" looks similar to the P55-GD80, except for that under the top chipset heatsink (which, by the way, is purely cosmetic on the GD80), is a Lucid Hydra chip. The chip connects to all three (or four) PCI-Express x16 slots (lane configuration not known), and allows Lucid's multi-GPU technology that lets you make practically any combination of graphics cards, for performance scaling. The member cards needn't have parity on their performance, as the Hydra chip does all the load-balancing by itself. Products based on Hydra are slowly, but surely showing up in small numbers for now, including enterprise-grade rack-mount graphics rendering boxes like this one, conceived a long time ago. A lot of details are yet to emerge, especially around if there are more motherboard manufacturers eying Hydra, about when a Hydra-based product actually makes it to shelves, and more importantly, when does MSI plan to sell this and G9P55-DC.

ELSA Japan, a leading computer graphics solution provider and Lucidlogix (Kfar Netter, Israel, CEO - Moshe Steiner) announce an agreement to deploy Lucid's HYDRA based chip in ELSA Japan High Performance products.

The companies have teamed up to transform high performance computing in the Japanese marketplace. For the first time, a product based on Lucid's HYDRA technology will be used in a new line of ELSA Japan high performance systems for the HPC, broadcast and medical markets.

Aiming to radically improve graphics performance for any kind of PC, LucidLogix Technologies today took the wraps off its new parallel graphics technology that will allow PC manufacturers to satisfy consumer demand for visual reality without compromise. The real-time distributed processing engine, called HYDRA, offers a groundbreaking approach to scaling 3D graphics performance in a multi-GPU environment. Outlined for the first time on the new Lucid web site, the novel technology is the industry's first to work with any GPU, any CPU or chipset and on any application that gamers and professionals may choose.