Powercolor is showing off two hybrid HD5770’s that add extra and unexpected functionality to their offerings at Computex.  The first is the HD5770 Sniper which has a network processing unit onboard; think Killer NIC, though a different solution.  The second card is another HD5770, the Evolution, has a little present from LucidLogix on it called Hydra.  This is the form that the second release of Hydra is taking, originally planned as a discreet card they seem to have learned the lesson Bigfoot has not and convinced a graphics reseller to add it directly to one of their cards.  That should allow triple SLI or Crossfire in hybrid setups, just like the add on chip on MSI BigBang motherboards.

This is a nice move on Powercolor’s part, as many agree with the theory behind networked gaming acceleration or mix and match multi-GPU setups but are not willing to pay $100+ for the privilege.  By adding it onto a card that already serves a purpose you get something useful with an extra feature that will add a little to the cost but not as much as a discreet solution.  Most consumers would scoff at a Gigabit NIC for sale separately as there is at least one on every modern motherboard and most have abandoned discreet sound cards.  The GPGPU and similar merged products continue to find more ways to mutate and multiply.


“GRAPHICS CARD MAKER Powercolor, or TUL Corporation as it is otherwise known, has thrown our way some tasty morsels of what’s to be expected at the upcoming Computex tradeshow.

The company will be putting a couple of items on the menu. These did spark our curiosity and will definitely warrant some additional looking-into. The first one goes by the name of HD5770 Sniper, a Juniper RV840 based card that sports not only a GPU but also an onboard NPU, the likes of the ones we see from Bigfoot Networks, that is, Killer Xeno Pro. NPUs give users a slight edge in gaming as they prioritise gaming network packets to reduce possible latency.”

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