MSI announced the Big Bang Fuzion motherboard with a Lucid Hydra 200 chip, basically this motherboard is the only one to allow nVidia and ATi graphics card to run in multi-GPU mode together.
For ages, nVidia stuck to its SLI license, meaning if you want to run SLI you need to have the same graphic card model and a SLI capable chipset. SLI capable chipsets were only nVidia chipsets and lately some Intel chipset (X58/P55) with SLI license.
Crossfire had better compatibility for a long time now. First of all you can use different graphic cards from the same series without any problem (mixing HD4870X2 and HD4870 for example) and that was available on almost all existing chipsets.
Until now, when you wanted to upgrade your multi-GPU solution, you needed to check which multi-GPU solution you wanted to use and upgrade accordingly. Now if you use the Big Bang Fuzion motherboard, you can use nVidia and ATi graphic card in a multi-GPU solution without the need to fit either nVidia SLI or ATi Crossfire solutions.
MSI demoed during CES 2010 a platform running R4890 and GTX 260 Lightning in multi-GPU configuration fully working on the MSI Big Bang Fuzion (MS-7582 codename).
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As you can see on the pictures, PCI-Express 2.0 slots have x16/x8/x8 bandwidth, the OC Genie button allowing you to overclock you LGA 1156 CPU, the clear CMOS button and the Easy Button 2 (tactile-on-PCB Power/Reset/Green Power button).
Another interesting feature is the HI-C cap all around the motherboard, most of the other brands actually use solid caps. MSI chose to use HI-C caps due to their low-profile size and performances, we’ll soon test that under extreme cold conditions. As usual with MSI, they still use the DrMos Mosfets for power delivery. As a side note, the voltage controller used is a uP6217AM.
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As on the P55-GD80, the Big Bang Fuzion uses the V-Check points for an easy to use voltage reader with a multimeter. You can find the voltage values of CPU Vcore, CPU VTT, memory voltage and PCH voltage. In addition to the v-Check you can see the V-Up, allowing you to boost by 0.1V the voltages described before.
On the back panel you can see a new connector, to be used with the MSI OC Dashboard, allowing you to control multiple settings like voltage, frequencies, and bios settings.
Just a side note, you have no restriction regarding the graphic card that needs to be plugged in the first slot. We tested both the GTX 260 Lightning and the HD 4870 in the first slot and both worked well.
January 24, 2010 7:43 pm
Looks like a stable board ;-)