ever heard of Hydra?

[jiro]

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Ever heard of Hydra? im kinda surprise that this was dated 2008. expected release was 2009.

More about hyra

or

Techgage - Lucid HYDRA Engine Multi-GPU Technology

source: What is Hydra? A SLI/CrossFire slayer, that's what!
What is Hydra? A SLI/CrossFire slayer, that's what!
Bennett Ring21 August 2008, 7:12 PM
Multi-GPU technology debuts at IDF; could put SLI and CrossFire to shame.

While not all of us were lucky enough to get an invite to this week’s IDF (damn you David and Seamus!), thanks to the wonders of the blogosphere we’re practically there anyway. And we have to say that for all Intel’s talk of Nehalem, the once piece of news that has made us take note is a little piece of hardware called Hydra, designed by a company known as Lucid.

If you can’t join ‘em, beat ‘em, and that is exactly what Lucid has done with Hydra. Let us explain. One of Lucid’s main investors is Intel, the very same company who can’t get NVIDIA to deliver SLI on Intel chipsets. Hydra is a hardware solution developed by Lucid that enables multi-GPU solutions that are independent of the GPUs in use – and it has nothing to do with SLI or CrossFire. In other words, it will allow you to whack any combination of video cards into your system to deliver multi-GPU performance. It could also deliver multi-NVIDIA GPU performance to Intel systems, without Intel needing to sign an agreement with NVIDIA. But it gets even better.

Lucid claims that Hydra can deliver near linear performance increases in a multi-GPU setup; run four GPUs and you’ll get four times the performance. Contrast this with today’s primitive solutions delivered by ATI and NVIDIA, where two GPUs deliver anywhere between 1.3 and 1.8 times the performance, (and results getting even worse once we hit three GPUs), and now you might understand why we’re just a tad excited about this technology.

Hydra delivers such impressive performance by intercepting DirectX calls before they hit the GPUs, then deciding on where the load should be sent. It’s a mixed software/hardware approach, that is much more refined than today’s alternate/split frame approach. Hydra could decide to send the rendering of one model or effect to just one card, and let the other cards handle the rest of the scene. It’s a very dynamic approach, with Hydra knowing exactly what each GPU on the market is capable of, and maximising the use of each GPU’s strengths.

For this tech to be shown at IDF, Intel must have confidence that it’s not just great on paper. It has the potential to make multi-GPU systems truly worthwhile, rather than the buggy, overpriced and under-delivering issue that they are today. With some form of release in early 2009, Hydra has suddenly bounced to the top of APC’s technologies-to-watch list.


source: Intel puts lucid hydra on x58 - The Inquirer
Intel puts Lucid Hydra on x58
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
Update: Other sources tell The Inq that the Smackover II board is not finalized, so the Lucid chip on it is not 100%. They are looking hard at it though.

[glide 1]

nice find - interesting, so where does that leave existing mobo platforms without the chip like in the Smackover they talk about? or will this be implemented on the newer gpu's instead? cross platform xfire and sli compatible running the at the same time?

not quite sure i get the gist. Seems like a while before this happens, but would be nice though.

[ethzneuron]

...nice...

[spookey]

i don't think this will only be available on newer GPUs since as stated above it is GPU independent which means old or new as long as it is PCIE then it will not be a problem. so you no longer need to consider clock speed, model or even manufacturing type. it won't also matter if you mix nvidia and ati.

[centax error]

i would rather change mobo than gpu...1 vs 2 - 4

[vashtinone]

i agree with centax... mix-and-match huh?? hmmmm... interesting... hahhaha