LucidLogix & MSI Make High Performance Graphics Available To The Masses

By using the Lucid HYDRA 200 real time distributed processor in MSI’s 870A Fuzion and P55A Fuzion motherboards, LucidLogix and MSI are giving customers the performance of multi-GPU computing for an affordable price. The HYDRA engine makes it possible for users to upgrade to multiple GPUs from a variety of vendors and provides for interoperability among GPUs and chipsets. The three new motherboards from MSI will be available shortly after Computex, which runs through June 5.

Lucid and MSI Make Multi-GPU Gaming Accessible to the Masses

Two New MSI Motherboards With Lucid HYDRA Give Consumers More Choice

2010 COMPUTEX TAIPEI

KFAR NETTER, Israel & TAIPEI, Taiwan--This week at Computex, LucidLogix and MSI have announced that the Lucid HYDRA 200 real time distributed processor is now being used in MSI’s 870A Fuzion and P55A Fuzion motherboards. The new motherboards will provide consumers with performance multi-core graphics and gaming at an affordable price along with the flexibility to choose any major brand graphics card and CPU platform.

MSI was the first to introduce a motherboard with the HYDRA 200 in its high-end Big Bang Fuzion in January 2010. Now, the company is launching two new products that will deliver the benefits of silicon-agnostic, multi-GPU computing to mainstream motherboards. Even budget-conscious consumers will now have the freedom to mix and match up to three ATI or NVIDIA graphics accelerators of their choice (new or repurposed), while also adding the flexibility to choose between platforms.

“MSI shares the Lucid multi-GPU vision of taking high performance graphics to the masses,” said LucidLogix Co-founder and President, Offir Remez. “By bringing Lucid and MSI to new market segments, it further solidifies our relationship and gives consumers freedom of choice.”

Designed with the PC gamer in mind, the HYDRA engine offers a flexible solution for performance hungry consumers who may wish to upgrade to multiple GPUs from a variety of vendors. This new approach provides interoperability among GPUs and chipsets, auto-correct load balancing and multiple GPUs that simultaneously process a single frame within a game, thus resolving bottlenecks and inter-frame dependencies prior to rendering.

About Fuzion Motherboards

The three new mainboards include an IntelP55 based product and two AMD 870-based boards, one of which will use the AMD SB850 south bridge, while the other will use the more affordable SB710 south bridge. The boards will include support for SATA3 and USB3, while the two higher priced boards will include DrMOS circuitry for power efficiency. Each feature 2x full PCI-E 16 slots and make use of the best Military Class components and can easily boost performance with OC Genie.

All new Fuzion boards are expected to go on sale shortly after Computex, which runs from June 1 to 5 in Taipei, Taiwan.

“Lucid’s technology adds the type of high-end graphics potential that our customers are looking for when they play games,” said Henry Lu, MSI global senior vice president. “MSI strives to be first to market with technology that gives the best overall end user experience, therefore we are pleased to continue our relationship with Lucid and look forward to collaborating on other bleeding-edge products in the future.”

MSI and HYDRA enabled motherboard owners can enjoy playing more than 100 AAA PC games, including DirectX 11 titles with a wide range of graphics card combinations including NVIDIA Fermi based boards. Fuzion boards accelerate the ATI Eyefinity technology and are compatible with NVIDIA’s CUDA and PHYSX technologies. Both Lucid and MSI are working together to continually improve game compatibility and performance when combining GPUs and in some instances achieving performance above native AMD Crossfire or NVIDIA SLI configurations. Therefore, it is recommended that users regularly update their drivers, which can be downloaded from the MSI support website or directly from Lucid driver download page.

Additionally, Lucid today also announced its HYDRA Masters program and is seeking 50 enthusiastic gamers who currently are HYDRA users that would like to get the inside scoop on the technology and directly influence engineering for future product development. To become a HYDRA Master, visit Lucid’s home page at www.Lucidlogix.com.