Lucid Virtu Anyone?
Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 4:27 pm
Don't think its for me.
ASrock licensed it and I installed it with my new Z68 mobo so I gave it a whirl.
When in "i-mode" (HDMI connected to the IGMP H3000) I took a 3D performance hit (not huge in most cases but it was there). Ironically it didn't seem to power down the HD 5870 either so no power savings, but I couldn't really tell as CCC would not run with the Intel IGMP enabled.
When in "D-mode" (HDMI connected to the HD5870) 3d performance was fine. As well the video transcoding tests in PCMark7 showed a HUGE improvement (21623.68 kB/s with Virtu versus 7397.39 kB/s with the 5870 alone!). That said in "real life" while I did see some reduction in the time to transcode an HD video application support seems spotty, even the included trial of Cyberlink Espresso (which is supposedly Quick Sync aware) didn't show a huge gain on transcoding a 720p video from MP4 to WMV.
With PCMark I had to add the specific MMx modules to the Virtu control panel, just adding PCMark caused the 3D tests in PCMark to utilize the the Intel IGMP for ALL tests including DirectX (not a good overall score there!).
I can see the benefit for someone who is doing a LOT of video manipulation and transcoding with a LITTLE 3D gaming during breaks, but for general use (I transcode downloaded FLV videos to MP4 for my DroidX every once in a while, mostly music videos) I couldn't see the benefit.
It did work though, just won't really use it... Verdict = uninstalled (but will keep an eye out, transcoding HD videos in the background while gaming with no performance loss IS a seductive idea!).
ASrock licensed it and I installed it with my new Z68 mobo so I gave it a whirl.
When in "i-mode" (HDMI connected to the IGMP H3000) I took a 3D performance hit (not huge in most cases but it was there). Ironically it didn't seem to power down the HD 5870 either so no power savings, but I couldn't really tell as CCC would not run with the Intel IGMP enabled.
When in "D-mode" (HDMI connected to the HD5870) 3d performance was fine. As well the video transcoding tests in PCMark7 showed a HUGE improvement (21623.68 kB/s with Virtu versus 7397.39 kB/s with the 5870 alone!). That said in "real life" while I did see some reduction in the time to transcode an HD video application support seems spotty, even the included trial of Cyberlink Espresso (which is supposedly Quick Sync aware) didn't show a huge gain on transcoding a 720p video from MP4 to WMV.
With PCMark I had to add the specific MMx modules to the Virtu control panel, just adding PCMark caused the 3D tests in PCMark to utilize the the Intel IGMP for ALL tests including DirectX (not a good overall score there!).
I can see the benefit for someone who is doing a LOT of video manipulation and transcoding with a LITTLE 3D gaming during breaks, but for general use (I transcode downloaded FLV videos to MP4 for my DroidX every once in a while, mostly music videos) I couldn't see the benefit.
It did work though, just won't really use it... Verdict = uninstalled (but will keep an eye out, transcoding HD videos in the background while gaming with no performance loss IS a seductive idea!).
