LucidLogix Virtu in action and it discrete graphics and Sandy Bridge together at last.LucidLogix brings the ability to save power when you don’t need the power of a discrete GPU and of course the option to use Intel’s Quick Sync technology for transcoding or encoding video……..
LucidLogix has made the Virtu GPU virtualization software available to motherboard manufacturers in order to allow them to test it out and maybe decide to bundle it with their upcoming LGA 1155-supporting motherboards.Virtu allows automatic graphics switching on desktops powered by Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors. What Virtu basically does is assign tasks either to the CPU-integrated graphics or the available discrete GPU from either Nvidia or AMD, depending on needs.The only major requirement to allow for all this is to have a motherboard with a display output, which means P67 boards are no good.Virtu Lucid GPU virtualization software is able to assign tasks in real time to the best available graphics resource based on power, performance and features considerations, with no need for additional hardware. If high graphics performance is needed for applications like high-resolution 3D games, the system will assign the job to the discrete GPU. If not, the discrete GPU automatically goes into idle mode, while heat drops, fan speed slows down and GPU utilization goes down to zero, resulting in power-efficient system no matter how powerful it is.
The technology is designed for the latest Intel’s Core i3/i5/i7 microprocessors with Sandy Bridge core as well as AMD Radeon and Nvidia GeForce DirectX 11-class graphics processing units. The company did not specify with exact GPUs are supported. One of the compulsory system requirement is to always connect the display screen directly to the motherboard’s Sandy Bridge display output (DVI, HDMI, etc). Another one is the usage of Microsoft Windows 7 operating system.Nvidia Corp. in 2010 unveiled its Optimus technology, which dynamically switches between integrated Intel Core i graphics engine and Nvidia GeForce DX11-class graphics processors based on applications that are loaded at the moment. The technology helps to improve battery lives of notebooks and is currently not used on desktop computers.
Advanced Micro Devices also has PowerXpress, which is a similar, but a less flexible, technology ATI PowerXpress allows notebook users to manually or automatically switch between an ATI Mobility Radeon HD discrete graphics processor and an integrated core of AMD M780G with ATI Radeon HD 3200 chipset without rebooting their notebook and plans to introduce a more advanced dynamic graphics switching technology for its mobile platforms featuring code-named Llano accelerated processing units. The technology will also allow to run integrated and standalone GPUs at the same time to boost performance.LucidLogix Virtu essentially enables mobile technologies from AMD and Nvidia on desktop using proprietary software. It remains to be seen how successful will technology become. Not a lot of people try to cut power consumption of desktops and so do OEMs.LucidLogix is hoping for companies to release motherboards that utilize Virtu ‘by next quarter’ so we could expect some announcements at CeBIT 2011 (March 1-5). One name that pops up as a likely Virtu adopter is MSI as it has worked with Lucid for quite some time, integrating the Hydra/Hydralogix chip in Big Bang boards.
Sources :tcmagazine.com,xbitlabs.com
