Using multiple graphics cards to improve gaming performance has been a reasonable solution for over a decade now but that usually means being locked into a specific vendor at best and the same specific model of graphics card at worst.

In comes the MSI Big Bang Fuzion which uses the Lucid Hydra 200 chip that allows two graphics cards, even from competing vendors, to team up and tackle those pesky high-end gaming titles. Guru3D has the rather lengthy review:

So let me put it simply: The first Big Bang branded mainboard, Trinergy is designed with high-end technologies including nVidia nForce 200 SLI technology, Quantum Wave audio processing with the latest THX TruStudio PC and Creative EAX ADVANCED HD 5.0. The second one, the Fuzion, is perfectly the same motherboard that uses an Intel P55 platform board and a Lucid HYDRA chip that adds support for different brands and models of GPUs in the same system.

It’s extremely expensive and only a P55 motherboard as well but it does offer many compelling features as an enthusiast board.

There was a time when you’d have to stick to one of the two graphics chips makers in case you wanted, some day, the Multi-GPU upgrade option. Heck you even had to stay within the same card generation, same specs as well, if you wanted that sweet sweet frame rate boost two graphics cards offered. That’s no longer the case.

The Lucid Hydra 200 chip is designed to take any supported graphics card and allow you to pair it up with the competition’s graphics cards with some interesting scaling results. HotHardware has a few test cases:

We tested the graphics cards in this article using a unique setup provided by Lucid. The main components consist of a Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R motherboard powered by Intel’s Core i7 920 quad-core processor and 2GB of OCZ DDR3 RAM. Of course, this particular motherboard does not feature Lucid technology so as a result, the graphics cards were installed on a special evaluation board featuring the Hydra 200 chip. The evaluation board was connected via PCIe card installed on an x16 slot on the GA-EX58-UD3R motherboard. We were told that this test setup simulates the performance of the Hydra 200 when integrated on a mainboard.

It’s not final and hasn’t been integrated into a motherboard yet but the performance it’s pumping out is highly impressive and should be on most gamer’s want lists, and high end motherboards, in short order.

The thought of a computer using two graphics cards from very different graphics chip vendors would seem absurd, or even vaporware in the eyes of many…well it would seem we all have a bit of rethinking to do over the next few months.

AnandTech scoped out the Lucid Hydra 200 chipset which is set to allow for game acceleration by graphics cards from ATI and Nvidia, and perhaps Intel in the future, all at the same time:

There are three versions of the Hydra 200: the LT22114, the LT22102 and the LT22114. The only difference between the chips are the number of PCIe lanes. The lowest end chip has a x8 connection to the CPU/PCIe controller and two x8 connections to GPUs. The midrange LT22102 has a x16 connection to the CPU and two x16 connections for GPUs. And the highest end solution, the one being used on the MSI board, has a x16 to the CPU and then a configurable pair of x16s to GPUs. You can operate this controller in 4 x8 mode, 1 x16 + 2 x8 or 2 x16. It’s all auto sensing and auto-configurable. The high end product will be launching in October, with the other two versions shipping into mainstream and potentially mobile systems some time later.

Interesting technology which should make for some interesting testing with mixed and matched graphics boards.

If there’s one thing that’s true of most enthusiast motherboards it’s the fact that they all sport some form of high contrast color combination in order to draw your eye to their product and given how much surface area there is on a board there are plenty of opportunities for them to splash color all around.

EVGA chose a more muted approach with their P55 LE motherboard opting for a nearly all black motherboard which should be a nice option for those aesthetic seekers but it’d be foolish to ignore its other benefits. Hardware Secrets has a review:

EVGA P55 LE has two PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots. These slots are actually connected directly inside the CPU, and this in one of the main new features brought by socket 1156 processors. If only one video card is installed, the main slot will work at x16, but if two video cards are installed the speed drops to x8 on each slot. This is a limitation from the CPU, not from the chipset or the motherboard, since the CPU is the component controlling these slots, as explained. P55 LE supports CrossFire configuration, but not SLI. SLI support on P55-based motherboards will depend on whether the manufacturer licensed this technology from nVidia or not. From the EVGA line-up, only P55 LE does not support SLI, all the other five models do.

A slick board but given the equally flashy designs of memory, CPU coolers, and graphics cards you won’t be seeing much of it buried under all of your hardware…for shame.

There was a time when mid-range graphics cards weren’t much faster than their low-end counter parts, that and they still cost you a decent chunk of change despite their less than stellar performance. Nowadays innovation and cut-throat competition means that you get a lot more performance for the money.

Enter the XFX Radeon HD 4770 graphics card which features the same graphics technology as the 4800 series but with a much smaller die process which means a much cheaper product for the rest of us. HardOCP has a look:

Who would have thought that we would be here right now telling you that a $105 video card will let you play the latest games with the highest in-game settings? It wasn’t too long ago that a video card around $100 wouldn’t buy you this kind of performance. Now, we are able to actually have very respectable framerates at high resolutions with all the in-game graphics options turned up. The level of performance provided in today’s value video cards is impressive, and they certainly earn their title as being VALUES.

A slick board that’s cheap enough where a CrossFire setup makes sense for a budget gamer.

AMD’s Phenom II has the right price/performance ratio which is getting it quite a bit of attention now, of course finding the right motherboard to drop one into without spending a mint is a difficult task given the options.

Jetway’s Hummer HA08 LF motherboard boasts the AMD 790GX chipset with its CrossFire support and integrated graphics processor tied to 128MB of performance enhancing sideport memory, all standard fare but its street price is quite agreeable. Guru3D has a look:

Though hard to find, a board like the Hummer HA08-LF can be spotted for 125 USD in e-tail and surely it is worth the money you have to pay for is. It’s versatile, feature rich and oozes good performance.

Some impressive overclocking performance too…for those that are into that sort of thing.

ATI’s Radeon HD 4770 fits into that nice category where it’s faster than the low end and almost as fast as the more expensive mid-range. Given the small performance trade offs and a $99 MSRP they’re a bargain for the budget conscious folks out there.

Then again there are those that are on a budget but want to push their gaming to new extremes, that’s where ATI’s CrossFire multi-GPU technology steps in and, apparently, Legion Hardware thinks the 4770 and CrossFire are a great match. Here’s a peek:

The Radeon HD 4770 Crossfire configuration was much better suited to 1920×1200, and with 24″ LCD prices now quite reasonable this is a good resolution for this kind of setup. The performance of the Radeon HD 4770 Crossfire graphics cards at this resolution was simply amazing, and with the exception of Far Cry 2 the performance was hard to believe.

$200 nets you insane performance in almost everything outside of extremely high resolution circumstances.

You could always count on ASRock to combine the latest CPU support with some oddball features and somehow make it all work together, lately that doesn’t seem to be the case. Oh their products do work splendidly but you’re likely to miss the strange combination of features.

That’s not a bad thing considering the ASRock M3A790GXH-128M combines AMD AM3 processor support for Phenom II chips, CrossFire capabilities, and the 790GX chipset with 128MB of sidebar memory for the integrated graphics. Intrigued? CPU3D has more:

Looking at the specifications, it’s one of the most feature-packed
motherboards for the AM3 platform we’ve seen to date. And when I say
feature-packed, I really mean it. Take for example the InstantBoost
feature and the support for both DDR3 ram (upto DDR3-1600)
and CrossfireX (upto 3-way Crossfire - switchcard included). But that’s
not it … there are other features such as the onboard Radeon HD 32xx
graphics with several outputs including VGA, DVI and HDMI. There’s also
masses of connectivity, which includes SPDIF optical output, eSATA,
Firewire, 6 USB ports and gigabit ethernet.

A solid entry into the AM3 market…going to miss their weirder products though.

Intel’s motherboards have a reputation for being somewhat…bland. Sure they offer stable performance and security features, so they’re tried and true, but most other manufacturers tend to pass over for the full throttle overclocking prowess so they get all of the attention.

Enter Intel’s Extreme Series DX58SO motherbord which combines their stable board pedigree with the side option to overclock a Core i7 CPU a whole heck of a lot. Legit Reviews has a few thoughts on it:

The bottom left of the board is where we have the location of our
PCI/PCIE slots.  The Intel DX58SO board has one legacy PCI slot, two
X16 PCIE slots that support Crossfire and SLI technologies, one X4 PCIE
slot and two X1 PCIE slots.  Next to the X4 slot at the top, we also
have a 4-pin molex connector that gives extra power for those that will
be running a multi-video card setup.

CrossFire, SLI, overclocking…the X58 Express chipset sure does wonders.

When one considers the microATX form factor its best trait is the small footprint it has in comparison to larger ATX boards. It’s all about the size in that market so very little focus is actually placed into making performance motherboards in such sizes.

The ASUS Rampage II Gene bucks trends with its Intel Core i7 support, ATI CrossFire and Nvidia SLI multi-GPU support, and plenty of overclocking options. Interested? Elite Bastards has a look:

The Rampage II Gene’s bundle doesn’t seem huge compared to some of the
offerings we’ve seen from ASUS, but it still features cables aplenty, a
manual and driver disc (as well as a fully paid-up copy of 3DMark06,
and ASUS’ handy little LCD Poster for showing BIOS information, errors
and the like.  An SLI cable is also included to make use of NVIDIA’s
multi-GPU configurations.

Perhaps a smaller, beastlier machine is in your future courtesy of this motherboard.