It would suck if it needs app support. I thought CrossFire / SLI both worked without the game realising that the system has multiple GPUs?
Having said that, if it could cut a chunk of the computer's power usage while in 2D mode without any performance advantages over just running with a graphics card in 3D mode, it would be worth it for that alone IMO.
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Hey I have the same motherboard as you do. Is that version of the ASUS motherboard firmware a BETA? I don't see it listed on the ASUS website, but they have two further BETA versions beyond the non beta version 2001. I had issues with the betas, so I'm still using the non-beta version.
I was very confused why performance was unchanged whether I enabled hybrid or disabled it. From what I remember when searching, I think the hybrid driver is designed to look for certain apps that it understands, and then you realize a benefit despite the small overhead. I think the idea is that the driver has to recognize the game/app and the driver has to know how to get itself to take advantage of that game. So I think it's a driver thing, and the game doesn't have to support hybrid, but the drivers have to support it.
there just isn't any good information I could find about hybrid, nobody uses it, and AMD didn't tell anybody how it actually works, it's just a secret.
As for your point regarding power savings, I don't see how it can work to save power. I have a kill-a-watt power meter that I plugged in to see if the computer saved power or used more power whether hybrid eyefinity was enabled or disabled, and the power was unchanged. So while you can save power by running a less powerful GPU and letting the other GPU sit idle, I don't see any way of eliminating the idle power consumption. And, the issue is that if you give a GPU a very easy task, it will use not much power. So, even if you could use 5770 and 4290 in hybrid, well how would you save power? Your power would be consistent with the amount of GPU power you are using, and if you use a tiny bit of power on just the 4290, I think it would be similar to using a tiny bit of power on just the 5770. My point is that I bet the hybrid configuration uses just as much power as if you use dual video card in non-hybrid configuration, and "manually" switch between the 4290 and 5770 (for example, use two monitors, and disable the 5770 monitor and just use the 4290 when you are in idle/desktop mode, then disable the 4290 monitor and enable the 5770 monitor when you are gaming etc.). And even if you disable the video card, I still think it uses power, just sitting there idling in disabled mode.
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