Lucid's Virtu. Optimus but for the desktop as well.

[BillyBuerger]

CES 2011: Lucid's Virtu combines Sandy Bridge and discrete graphics features

Will we finally have the ability to use onboard graphics for simple things and a separate GPU for gaming on a desktop? I've been waiting for nVidia to deploy their Optimus stuff on the desktop in vain for a while now. Hopefully this works well and will be available sometime soon. Or maybe it will help push nVidia to make Optimus available on the desktop. This article suggests that it should be able to power down the GPU completely. Although an article at TechReport suggests that it doesn't and that the GPU will still be eating it's idle wattage. If it can't shut down the GPU, then there seems little use for this.

Although nVidia and AMD have been doing a good job of bringing the idle power of their cards down to pretty low levels as of late. The ability to drop that extra 10-20W at idle and still have the power available when needed would be ideal.

[smilingcrow]

This article suggests that it should be able to power down the GPU completely. Although an article at TechReport suggests that it doesn't and that the GPU will still be eating it's idle wattage. If it can't shut down the GPU, then there seems little use for this.

It seems unlikely on the surface that a software only solution can shut the GPU down completely BUT this is a new platform so I’ll wait and see.
Even if it can’t shut down the GPU it still has a significant benefit in that it allows you to use a discrete GPU and still access the Quick Sync which otherwise is not accessible. E.g. as it stands you need to use a H67 chipset board with no discrete GPU to have any access to the Quick Sync hardware at all.
With Lucid’s software you can supposedly utilise Quick Sync when you have a GPU installed and seemingly even use both simultaneously which is very significant.

If Quick Sync proves to offer good enough image quality as well as excellent performance then being able to utilise it as a background process whilst simultaneously loading a discrete GPU is a massive gain; at least for some.

Sandy Bridge for laptops is a quantum leap in performance and power efficiency compared to the previous platform and whilst the desktop CPUs seem excellent Intel seems to have dropped the ball with the desktop platform. They obviously know this as they have a new chipset due within 3 months to address the current deficiencies.
Personally I would be happy with the H67 chipset but Intel have chosen to cripple it by not allowing it to support over-clocking even with the K series CPUs. That seems incredibly perverse when you consider the platform’s other limitations.

[Tephras]

Topic update: "LucidLogix Begins to Ship Virtual GPU Switching Tech to Manufacturers."

[Tephras]

THG has posted a preview: Can Lucidlogix Right Sandy Bridge’s Wrongs?

[CA_Steve]

Anandtech review.

Not quite ready for prime-time....10% hit on gaming fps and doesn't save much power, yet.

[Tephras]

It seems as if Lucid Virtu will be included with many of the upcoming Z68 Sandy Bridge motherboards, at least those from most of the major motherboard manufacturers.

Perhaps more interesting is that Nvidia has decided to do a desktop version of their Optimus technology, though they are going to call it Synergy. And it is free, as opposed to Lucid Virtu that has a license fee.