AMD Platform Meets Lucid Hydra on MSI 870A-GD60 Hydra

MSI has undertaken a very interesting project: to use the Lucid Hydra chip on an AMD Platform motherboard, its second design with Lucid Hydra. The 870A-GD60 Hydra is a socket AM3 motherboard based on the AMD 870 + SB850 chipset. The AMD 870 chipset succeeds the AMD 770, in being suited for single discrete-graphics setups. The chipset packs no PCI-Express external switching, and hence there is only one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 link it can give to a graphics card. MSI connected this link to a Hydra Engine chip, to give out two full-bandwidth PCI-Express 2.0 x16 links. "Why not simply use the 890FX?" could be a question for many, but its answer lies in Hydra's advantage over it: it allows you to pair two NVIDIA graphics cards, two ATI graphics cards, or even mix an NVIDIA and an ATI card in a mixed multi-GPU array, as has been demonstrated with MSI's P55 Big Bang Fuzion motherboard.

 

 

The AM3 socket is powered by a 10-phase DrMOS based VRM. The CPU connects to four DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel memory. It connects to the AMD 870 northbridge over the HyperTransport 3.0 interface. Its lone PCI-E 2.0 x16 port is taken up by the Hydra Engine chip located between the two PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots. Other expansion slots include three PCI-E x1, and one PCI. The SB850 southbridge gives out six internal SATA 6 Gb/s ports. Connectivity includes 8 channel HD audio with SPDIF connections, eSATA by an additional controller, FireWire, two USB 3.0 ports, and a number of USB 2.0 ports. The 870A-GD60 Hydra could be released late this month.

 

Games qualifed
These games are verified with HYDRA driver 1.3.105 by Lucid. The games that are highlights (Bold) are common to all confgurations.

N-Mode (dual NVIDIA graphic cards)
007 Quantum of Solace
3DMark Vantage
3DMark06
Age of Empires III
Batman Arkham Asylum (including benchmark)
Battlefield 2
BioShock (DX10 & DX9)
Brothers in Arms Hells Highway
Bully: Scholarship Edition
Burnout Paradise The Ultimate Box
C&C3 Kane's Wrath
C&C3 Tiberium wars
Call of Duty 4
Call of Duty World At War
Call of Juarez Bound In Blood
Call of Juarez (DX10 & DX9) (including benchmark)
Civilization IV
Civilization IV Beyond the Sword
Civilization IV Colonization
Civilization IV Warlords
Code of Honor 3
Company of Heroes ( including benchmark)
Dead Space
Death to Spies
F.E.A.R. 2 Project Origin
Fallout3
FIFA09
Frontlines Fuel of War
Gears of War
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfghter 2
Half Life 2
Half Life 2 episode one
Half Life 2 episode two
Jericho
King's Bounty the Legend
Kung Fu Panda
Left 4 Dead
Lego Indiana Jones
Lost Planet - Extreme Condition DX9
Lord of The Rings Midd e Earth
Madagascar 2
Mass Efect
Medieval II: TotalWar
Monsters vs Aliens
NBA 2K9
Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising
P.E.S. (Pro Evolution Succer)
Portal
Pure
Rainbow Six Vegas 2
Spore
Stormrise (including benchmark)
Street fghter 4 (Including benchmark)
Supreme Commander (including benchmark)
Team Fortress 2
The Godfather II
The Witcher Enhanced Edition
Time Shift
TomClancy's: EndWar
Tomb Raider: Underworld
Transfomers2
Unreal Tournament 3
Velvet Assassin
Virtua tennis 2009
Wall-E
Wheelman
Wolfenstein
World In Confict (including Benchmark)
X-Man Origin Wolverine

A-Mode (dual ATI graphic cards)
007 Quantum of Solace
3DMark Vantage
3DMark06
Age of Empires III
Battlefeld 2
Brothers in Arms Hells Highway
Bully: Scholarship Edition
Burnout Paradise The Ultimate Box
C&C3 Kane's Wrath
C&C3 Tiberium wars
Call of Duty 4
Call of Duty World At War
Call of Juarez Bound In Blood
Call of Juarez (DX10 & DX9) (including benchmark)
Civilization IV
Civilization IV Beyond the Sword
Civilization IV Colonization
Civilization IV Warlords
Company of Heroes (including benchmark)
Dead Space
F.E.A.R. 2 Project Origin
Fallout3
FIFA09
Frontlines Fuel of War
Gears of War
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfghter 2
Half Life 2
Half Life 2 episode one
Half Life 2 episode two
Jericho
King's Bounty the Legend
Kung Fu Panda
Left 4 Dead
Lego Indiana Jones
Lord of The Rings Middle Earth
Madagascar 2
Mass Efect
Monsters vs Aliens
NecroVision
Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising
P.E.S. (Pro Evolution Succer)
Portal
Pure
S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky
SIMS 2 Double Deluxe
Spore
Stormrise (including benchmark)
Street fghter 4 (including benchmark)
Supreme Commander (including benchmark)
Team Fortress 2
The Godfather II
Tom Clancy's: EndWar
Tomb Raider: Underworld
Transformers2
Virtua tennis 2009
Wall-E
Wanted Weapons of Fate
Wolfenstein
World In Confict (includinq benchmark)
X-Man Origin Wolverine

X-Mode (dual mixture of NVIDIA and ATI graphic cards)
3DMark Vantage
3DMark06
Batman Arkham Asylum (including benchmark)
Call of Duty 4
Call of Duty World At War
F.E.A.R. 2 Project Origin
Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising


Hardware Setup
Installing the Graphic Cards
HYDRA allows you to fexibility use diferent combinations of GPUs from AMD/ATI and NVIDIA, and do not need cables to connect the graphic cards (The current version only supports windows 7). Please follow the steps below to install the graphic cards.
- Turn of your computer and disconnect the power cord.
- Open and remove the case of the computer.
- Find and locate the PCI-E x16 slots.
- Remove the bracket which may obstruct the installed PCI-E slots.
- Gently but firmly install the graphic cards to the PCI-E x16 slots and secure the card brackets with screws.
- Replace and secure the case. Reconnect the power cord to the computer.
Connecting the monitor
- After you have installed graphic cards, connect the monitor to the monitor port on the first graphic card

Important
If you use NVIDIA + ATI GPUs combination, it is recommanded installing the NVIDIA graphic card to the first PCI-E x16 slot.