VR-zone: NVIDIA To Launch Desktop Optimus / Synergy

[notty22]

NVIDIA To Launch Desktop Optimus / Synergy at COMPUTEX






Its a little unclear (at least to me) exactly how this can work. Will you be able to have gaming graphics passed to the monitor that is physically connected to the igp ?
Or will the system be leveraged off having 2 cables to the same monitor ?
Should interest people that want access to the transcode ability of Sandy Bridge and possibly be the fix for higher temps/power draw when running dual monitors off high end gpu's.

 

[Lonyo]

Might put the framebuffer in RAM and stream it to the iGPU for display, since that's where the iGPU has all its RAM anyway, (which might introduce an element of lag, so it might not be an ideal solution).
I think that's one of the common ways to do it, so it would make sense as a solution.

Edit: seems like that's what they've done in past solutions
http://techreport.com/articles.x/18443/3

GeForce 200- and 300-series notebook GPUs, plus future Fermi-based and "netbook" graphics chips, all feature a built-in copy engine. This engine uses dedicated logic to feed frames from the discrete GPU's frame buffer to system memory, and it can function without interrupting the graphics core. Nvidia claims the copious upstream bandwidth available with PCI Express is more than sufficient to allow the copy engine to perform those transfers with just two tenths of a frame of latency—whatever that means.

I knew from looking at SoftTH (a way to get 3 gaming monitors across two different GPUs in a system for triple monitor gaming) that the same system RAM copy systemw as used, altohugh in a more long winded way because of the dual discrete GPU setup. Couldn't remember if Optimus did a similar thing.

 

[Dark Shroud]

We already have a thread about this.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2160699

I'll repeat my comment, sounds like Nvidia is scared of Lucid Logix's Virtu technology being a hit with consumers.

 

[notty22]

We already have a thread about this.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2160699

I'll repeat my comment, sounds like Nvidia is scared of Lucid Logix's Virtu technology being a hit with consumers.

Yeah, that is in the m/b section. This is going to be another key feature for Nvidia cards , free built in to the driver.
Virtu is 3rd party and will have to bought or implemented as a feature like MSI does with Lucid Hydra.
LOL at Nvidia being scared ?
Virtu, Previewed

At first glance, Virtu looks a lot like what Nvidia is doing with Optimus. When we asked Nvidia for comment, its representatives mumbled something about not validating other companies’ solutions and shuffled off. Sounds like we're onto something there. The obvious advantage favoring Lucidlogix is that Virtu will be available to desktop users, it supports Quick Sync, and it can operate independently of GPU vendor, as seen in our testing.