1/23/2012 10:23:00 PM
dannzfay
LucidLogix' Hydra system-on-chip devices may have just made the difference clear between a revolutionary breakthrough and something that is 'just' a breakthrough.
The Hydra 200 SoC, first used in the MSI Hydra 200 Big Bang Fuzion motherboard, seemed to fit the bill of a revolutionary technology perfectly when it emerged for the first time.
With the ability to allow AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards to work in tandem, regardless of model, it seemed to be just what everyone was waiting for.
Unfortunately, the great idea turned out not to be so well received, even though initial appreciations were high.
In the end, the performance of Hydra-enabled multi-card setups was inferior to that of 'pure' AMD CrossFire or NVIDIA SLI configurations.
Now, there are genuine concerns that nothing more will come of the idea.
Looking back, it seems as though the way the whole idea was approached wrong.
Only some high-end motherboards actually got landed with Hydra, but the price premium made CrossFireX and SLI models all the more appealing.
After all, if people could afford a high-end platform, they could just as easily afford a pair of AMD or NVIDIA cards as well.
It doesn't help the technology's situation that MSI announced it had decided not to include Hydra SoCs on future products.
All in all, cross compatibility for video cards was one of those dreams that proved not to be all they were cracked up to be when they finally came true.
On the bright side, Lucid, as a company, doesn't have to worry about its wellbeing, since the Virtu and XLR8 technologies have been fueling its finances quite readily.
At this point, it is almost a certainty that LucidLogix will just go ahead and abandon the whole hardware side as obsolete. If nothing else, NVIDIA and AMD can sit back and breathe a sigh of relief.
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1 comments:
Got that shafted feeling again, can't even get hydra to work under the out of date conditions now!luckily i'm rich enough not to notice getting ripped off-NOT- LOL! It's the hobby i spend my money on but Lucid 200 has been a painful and frustrating experience without reward and wasted my valuable resources, i think of it on my board as the "Lucid Lemon" a device without meaning that you can't even get rid of completely.Not to mention the cost of a high end NVIDIA card idling doing no more than running a monitor. Taken the shine off an otherwise great board in the asus xhair iv extreme in a great build. Hydra 200 is not fit for purpose if you ask me-if i had the time and were rich i would sue Lucid for highly misleading sales pitch. No wonder Asus have dropped Hydra 200, never mind sinking it was never afloat. Anyone else out there feel angry about being dumped without any support when they can't do too much for virtu users now? Warm regards, Angry man.
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