Stardock has revealed that it is developing a unique software solution that will allow GPUs from different vendors to be used in unison. While DirectX 12 already boasts such support – though the only game that supports it as yet is Stardock’s own Ashes of the Singularity – Stardock CEO Brad Wardell says that his will open this option up to everyone.
“One of the biggest problems with games is that a new video card comes out from AMD and Nvidia, and they’re like [expensive], and you have to make a call,” Wardell told Venturebeat. “I like my video card. I can play most games on it, and I don’t want to spend $800 on some new video card. But imagine, instead, hey, they’re having a sale [using my GTX 760 as an example]. Hey, they’re having a sale on an AMD 290 for $75. Wouldn’t it be cool to put this into your computer and double your performance. You keep this in there [the 760]. You put this in there [the 290], and your games are twice as fast without doing anything else.”
Wardell says that his company has been working with NVIDIA and AMD on the solution for the past year and that, while the two video card giants aren’t necessarily happy at the idea of their hardware being combined with that of their competitors, they certainly approve of anything that mean more people will buy their products.
“They don’t love that part [mixing competing cards in one PC], but [what they do love] is the idea that people will buy more cards,” Wardell added. “It’s a major friction where someone says, ‘I have a card that works. I’m not going to spend $800.’ They don’t get the sale. But you’re going to get the same effect by adding [an] $80 video card [to your existing setup].”
More news on Stardock’s new multi-GPU software is expected to be revealed by Microsoft at GDC 2016 this week.
what would be even cooler is if the two big names made separate pci-e gpu cards for just the sake of sli/cross fire, no outputs just the appropriate sli/cross fire connector , would keep prices down slightly and give a lot of people the upgrade power a lot of games need
I dont get why AMD and Nvidia wouldn´t like this.
First clue is they are competitors and 2nd is if they wanted this, it could have happened long back.