Increased performance AND reduced power consumption
In an effort to combat the three big problems with modern graphics cards - excessive heat and noise and high power consumption - NVIDIA created Hybrid SLI, a technology that the company announced today and plans to roll out in a variety of graphics and motherboard products for AMD and Intel in 2008.
The Hybrid technology aims to provide lower power consumption while offering high graphics performance by allowing motherboard GPUs and discrete GPUs to work together. The two key features of the technology are:
- HybridPower, a feature that will allow a PC to switch processing from a single GPU or multiple GPUs in SLI configuration to the onboard motherboard GPU and therefore result in lower power consumption and heat output and reduced noise. On a desktop PC, the benefits will become available when demanding graphics aren't required. With notebooks, HybridPower is said to extend battery life by up to three hours.
- GeForce Boost, a turbo-charge feature, combines the processing power of the traditional NVIDIA GeForce-based graphics card with that of an additional GPU integrated into the motherboard core logic. NVIDIA says it will know when it's needed and kick in when demanding applications require it.
"From the introduction of programmable GPUs to the rapid adoption of our multi-GPU SLI technology, NVIDIA has repeatedly pioneered and innovated to solve difficult problems for the industry", said Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, adding that, "we believe Hybrid SLI technology is one of the most important innovations we've come up with to date. Hybrid SLI delivers new multi-GPU technology to a large segment of the PC market, delivering consumers a level of PC graphics performance and power efficiency never before seen".
Official press release: NVIDIA PIONEERS HYBRID TECHNOLOGY FOR THE PC
