Lucid is a designer of universal multi-GPU solutions that created the Hydra technology some years ago. It allowed video cards from different vendors to work in parallel simultaneously. Thanks to this technology, you could combine AMD and NVIDIA video cards in the same system and put them to work in parallel, in a kind of SLI/CrossFireX mode.

The problem with today’s multi-GPU solutions, such as SLI and CrossFireX, is that they require the consumers to use identical video cards from identical vendors. SLI works only with NVIDIA video cards, while CrossFireX works only with AMD video cards. You cannot combine AMD and NVIDIA video cards in the same system and put them to work in parallel using such technologies. Hydra technology is a solution to this problem.

What made Lucid's Hydra technology possible was a software layer that intercepted OpenGL and DirectX calls from the CPU and directed them to a GPU of Lucid's choosing, in a kind of load balancing.

With Hydra technology in mind, Lucid’s engineers have developed a multi-GPU solution, dubbed Virtu GPU Virtualization, for the Intel 2nd generation CPUs (Core i7, i5 and i3 based on Sandy Bridge architecture).

As you know, these CPUs have an integrated graphics processor (GPU), so Lucid's Virtu technology can automatically switch between the integrated GPU in Intel's Sandy Bridge processors and a discrete video card. It works like Hydra, i.e., it intercepts OpenGL and DirectX calls and passes them along to a GPU of its choosing. However, unlike Hydra, the goal here isn't load balancing across multiple GPUs. Instead, Virtu aims to match each task with the GPU best suited to it.

Simply put: the discrete card will be used only to run 3D games, while the integrated GPU will be used for trivial 2D applications.

Lucid has licensed the Virtu GPU Virtualization technology to Intel, which will be used on Intel’s H67 and Z68-based motherboards.

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