Ivy Bridge / Graphics Card Question

[astrokat]

I am thinking about upgrading my rig to Ivy Bridge tech. I realize I will not get that great of speed improvement from my current i7 920 rig, but I wish to take advantage of the Intel SATA 3 ports for my SSD to achieve maximum speed and USB 3. I understand that these cpus support on-board graphics out the box and every Z motherboard comes with graphic display. Is there a way to leverage the on-board graphics with a 2nd graphic cards (like a crossfire scenario)? Or will all of that additional tech be wasted if a 2nd graphics card is purchased?

[Open Minded]

I wouldn't call it a waste because you can use QuickSync to speed up video encoding. It will not help speed up any games, though.

[articuno1au]

^ This.

Sums it up perfectly :)

[dafin0]

I am thinking about upgrading my rig to Ivy Bridge tech. I realize I will not get that great of speed improvement from my current i7 920 rig, but I wish to take advantage of the Intel SATA 3 ports for my SSD to achieve maximum speed and USB 3. I understand that these cpus support on-board graphics out the box and every Z motherboard comes with graphic display. Is there a way to leverage the on-board graphics with a 2nd graphic cards (like a crossfire scenario)? Or will all of that additional tech be wasted if a 2nd graphics card is purchased?

most (if not all) new mainboards support lucid mvp (http://www.lucidlogix.com/product-virtu-mvp.html) so if you do get a dedicated graphics card it will use the onboard graphics to help push up your frames.

but basicly if you dont play games, onboard graphics will do the job. if you play games then you will need a better GPU

[Open Minded]

most (if not all) new mainboards support lucid mvp (http://www.lucidlogi...-virtu-mvp.html) so if you do get a dedicated graphics card it will use the onboard graphics to help push up your frames.

but basicly if you dont play games, onboard graphics will do the job. if you play games then you will need a better GPU

I didn't know LucidLogix offered that. Looks like the program/game has to be on the support list, though.

[abysal]

I've tried the VirtuMVP and found it horribly impacted frame rate. I only tried it in Tribes Ascend however.

[dafin0]

I've tried the VirtuMVP and found it horribly impacted frame rate. I only tried it in Tribes Ascend however.

the old virtu was really bad, the new one with series 7 mainboards works really well. at lest with the limited use iv had with it.

[abysal]

the old virtu was really bad, the new one with series 7 mainboards works really well. at lest with the limited use iv had with it.

hmm could be, it was a z68 motherboard i tried it with. I haven't tested it with any of the z77 series boards.

[astrokat]

Thanks for the info guys. Will Lucid Logic and QuickSync happen automatically, or will 3rd party drivers or supported video card be needed?

[Open Minded]

Thanks for the info guys. Will Lucid Logic and QuickSync happen automatically, or will 3rd party drivers or supported video card be needed?

Not every Z68 MB supports Virtu (not sure about Z77) so you'll need to check on that when you buy a new MB. Then you just need to download Virtu from Lucid's site, install the driver and that's about it.

[Lunfai]

Yeah others have summed it up, it won't increase games, but the on-board HD Graphics 4000 is good enough for daily routines.

[Noir Angel]

I have an Asus Republic of Gamers Maximus IV Extreme-Z (Z68) and it doesn't have an iGPU port, so you'll need to verify that your board does have an iGPU port. I personally disable my iGPU as it adds nothing performance wise, and the lucidlogix virtu software seemed to make Mass Effect and Assassin's creed both crash a lot and suffer from framerate spiking. You cannot however use the iGPU in conjunction with your discreet card, you can only use it for tasks like acceleration of video transcoding.

If you have SATAIII disk drives, the upgrade would be worthwhile but if they are SATAII drives, plugging them into a III port wouldn't give you a performance boost. With regards to USB 3.0, unless you have storage devices that are USB 3.0 capable the chances are you'll see little real world performance boost from using USB 3.0

[astrokat]

Thanks all!