MSI Big Bang-FUZION: Lucid Hydra arrives

MSI Big Bang-FUZION: Lucid Hydra arrives

Manufacturer: MSI
UK Price: TBA

We've been hounding MSI for a while to get us their retail Big Bang-FUZION board. We've waited as the company has prepared a considerably difficult motherboard in co-operation with Lucid, and finally, just before the end of the year we got one of the first off the production line!

So, why was it so difficult?

Well the task is no easy feat of engineering. Lucid's aim is to allow mix-and-match multi-GPU between almost any graphics cards, free from the restrictions SLI and CrossFire impose. This means it had to not only create a multi-GPU hardware solution that bypassed the considerably strong driver ecosystems of both ATI and Nvidia graphics cards, but also develop drivers for every possible graphics hardware combination to work in every game, efficiently.

That's literally thousands of combinations to QA, and with obviously no help seeded from ATI or Nvidia as it goes against their very business model. Evidently the potential for success is stacked heavily against it. With that in mind, the fact that Lucid managed to pull it off at all is a very big deal. It's so rare to see something so unique and refreshing from the motherboard industry these days; that's what makes the Fuzion exciting and it's a feeling that has been echoed across our community as well.


We'll get to the Lucid Hydra in a minute, but first let's talk about the MSI's Big Bang-FUZION. Yes, it's all capitals. As you can see, we received "lucky number 7" from MSI's Media Testing Centre (MTC), and getting it out the box we were presented with absolutely loads of kit. There's certainly enough adapters and add in bits to suit everyone's needs, not to mention more driver discs and manuals than you can shake a stick at. You'll need them too, to use the Big Bang-FUZION properly.


The actual board itself is akin to its P55 brothers and likewise it's also quite frankly delicious. The design and styling look fantastic, and it's full to the brim with high-end gear, which we'll get into on the next page.