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NVIDIA's Project Maximus takes multi-GPU mainstream, 'Virtual Graphics' takes it to the cloud
NVIDIA just wrapped up an intimate press briefing here at SIGGRAPH 2011, where -- amongst other things -- it officially took the wraps off of two major initiatives. Project Maximus and Virtual Graphics are the two main topics of conversation here, and while both are obviously targeting working professionals at the moment, there's no question that a trickle-down effect is already on the company's mind. With Maximus, the outfit plans to stop recommending bigger GPUs to pros, and start recommending "a light Quadro GPU and as large a Tesla as you can get in the system." The overriding goal here is to make multi-GPU technology entirely more accessible; to date, it hasn't exactly been easy to get a finely tuned multi-GPU setup to the masses, but it sounds like a good deal of future flexibility (it'll be "nearly infinitely scalable") aims to change that. Just imagine: dynamic coupling and decoupling of GPUs depending on user load, at a far more detailed level within the application... Update: Regarding that Tesla bit, NVIDIA clarified with this: "What we're saying is for applications that are light on graphics / don't place a heavy demand on graphics, but more so a heavy demand on computational tasks, users will have an option to choose an entry- or mid-level Quadro card for graphics functions, such as the Quadro 600 or Quadro 2000. For certain applications, better performance is achieved by adding a Tesla companion processor, as opposed to scaling up the primary Quadro graphics. Users still require as much graphics as possible." %Gallery-130218%
NVIDIA SLI faces AMD CrossFire in a triple-GPU shootout
Place your bets, folks, because this one's gonna get ugly. On your left: a thunderous triad of AMD Radeon HD 6950 cards running in CrossFire. On your right: the terrorizing threat of triple NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 in SLI. In the middle: a Tom's Hardware tester just trying to stay alive. The winner? Well, as usual in these benchmark articles that sort of depends on what you're doing, but in general it's the AMD solution and its CrossFire barrage that comes out on top in terms of performance, cost, and even efficiency. But, that's certainly far from the whole story. You'll want to click on through to read about every agonizing blow.
LucidLogix virtualization tech enables AMD and NVIDIA GPUs to play together with Sandy Bridge
It's baaack. We've gone well over half a year without hearing a peep from black magic makers LucidLogix, but here on the doorstep of CES 2011, the company has resurfaced just in time to ride on the coattails of Intel's forthcoming Sandy Bridge platform. Sandy is expected to take over CES when companies start to introduce new PCs in just a few days, and thanks to Lucid's virtualization software, we wouldn't be surprised if a few are served with NVIDIA and AMD GPUs. This here technology enables the two to play nice, making the outlandish fantasy of using a multi-GPU, multi-vendor setup a reality. DirectX 11 is also supported, with the only real requirement being to "connect the display screen directly to the motherboard's Sandy Bridge display output." We'll be taking a closer look at the peacemaker once we land in Vegas, but for now, go ahead and prepare yourself for a beta version of 'Virtu' -- it'll hit at some point next month.
Lucid's multi-GPU HYDRA technology explained
Putting it simply, Lucid's goal with its HYDRA technology is to "build a completely GPU-independent graphics scaling technology" which enables two completely different cards to work together in harmony with "little to no software overhead." Let that sink in a minute. Now that a puzzled look has surely overtaken your face, we'd strongly recommend hitting the read link for a (very) detailed look at the technology, an explanation of how it works and even a few hard hitting questions addressed to the company. We're trying to stifle our excitement here, but our hopes are escalating quickly.
Current crop of graphics cards compared, ranked by price
Although NVIDIA's pledged to simplify its lineup for consumers and ATI's been getting better, the current state of the graphics card market is still a pretty wild alphabet soup of model numbers and specs lists, so the crew over at The Tech Report decided to break things down using the only stat that matters: price. While the results aren't exactly shocking (surprise: more dollars equals more FPS), what's interesting is that multi-GPU rigs are really quite cost-effective, delivering performance on par with higher-end cards at significantly lower prices. For example, two Radeon HD 3850s run nearly as fast as a single Radeon HD 3870 X2, even though they cost a fair bit less, and two GeForce 9600 GTs can potentially outgun a GeForce 8800 Ultra. That's always been the promise of SLI and CrossFire, and it looks like it's paying off -- any system-builders out there care to share their experiences?
AMD releases ATI Catalyst 8.3 drivers, enables CrossFireX
Get ready to burn through your allowance, kids, as AMD is getting set to loose its Catalyst 8.3 drivers for all to indulge in. What does the download net you, exactly? Why, CrossFireX support, of course. Starting today, users can link up any combination of RV670- and R680-based products -- that includes the Radeon HD 3850, Radeon HD 3870 and Radeon HD 3870 X2 -- in order to acquire triple- and quad-GPU performance within Windows Vista. Additionally, the drivers also introduce ATI Hybrid Graphics support in Vista, which was boasted about already when the firm unveiled its upcoming 780G chipset. Check out the read link for the full list of changes, and keep an eye on the firm's support page for v8.3 to surface any moment now.
ATI's mix-n-match CrossFire X technology gets official, tested
Sure, SLI technology is fine and dandy, but ATI's hoping to remove some of the restrictions found on current multi-GPU setups with its forthcoming CrossFire X technology. As we've seen before, the idea here is to "take two, three or four GPUs and use their power to render one game faster than you otherwise would be able." Over at PC Perspective, those kind folks were able to pick AMD's brain on the topic, and aside from getting confirmation that CrossFire X "supports multi-GPU configurations of any combination of RV670- and R680-based products," we also found that a public release was just weeks away. Better still, there's a full report detailing the results of putting the technology to the test, and yes, initial impressions do seem quite positive. Hit the read link for the full spill, cool?[Thanks, sizewise]
NVIDIA gets official with Hybrid SLI technology
We had a hunch NVIDIA was prepping Hybrid SLI technology, and although it's taken over half a year for it to go official, we suppose now's better than never. As we already knew, the tech's primary purpose in life is to increase graphics performance and decrease power consumption simultaneously, and apparently, it will soon be incorporated into a "wide variety of graphics and motherboard desktop and notebook products." In case you've forgotten, Hybrid SLI enables NVIDIA motherboard GPUs to work cooperatively with discrete NVIDIA GPUs when paired in the same PC platform, and only the GPU(s) needed will be called upon in order to save energy (and battery life in laptops). For more on what upcoming products will sport the technology, head on down to the read link.[Via HotHardware]
