The LucidLogix Hydra chip has been making its way around the Internet for a while, sporting the feature of being able to combine the processing power of different graphics cards from different manufacturers, creating a Hybrid graphics platform where Nvidia and ATI can share the load. The chip was first introduced commercially with the MSI Big Bang series of motherboards, where it proved to be a very valid technology. Powercolor will be showing off it’s latest 5770 Evolution board with said Hydra chip at the Computex event next week.
How the chip is situated on the graphics card, performance and other general details are all unknown at this point. It’ll be interesting to find out how Powercolor will make use of the chip when it is based on the graphics card itself, rather than on the motherboard like with the MSI Big Bang, and how this will affect performance.
What is also interesting is the choice of card, by going with the 5770, Powercolor is targeting the mainstream segment rather than the performance and high-end market. Mainstream users are typically not the sort to buy a second graphics card, nor may they have an adequate power supply to cope with the added strain. This seems like the sort of card you buy in preparation for a second purchase later, even though buying a single – more powerful card is a better bet, since dual GPU computers can have unpredictable results when it comes to scaling performance. Maybe this is a problem alleviated with the introduction of the Hydra chip.
We’ll find out more next week.
PowerColor, a popular supplier of ATI Radeon-based graphics cards, plans to showcase an ATI Radeon HD 5770-based solution that sports LucidLogix Hydra chip, which allows to install the board into tandem with absolutely any graphics card, including Nvidia GeForce-based. The first demonstration is scheduled to take place next week at Computex Taipei trade-show.