LucidLogix Virtu MVP
One of the flagship features of the Z77 platform is its support for Lucid Virtu MVP. You may be familiar with Lucid Virtu from the Z77’s predecessor, the Z68 chipset. On Z68, Virtu would assign tasks to either your integrated graphics or your discrete graphics card based on which tool was best for the job. For example, in video games Virtu would have your computer use your discrete GPU, whereas if you wanted to encode video or other similar application, it would assign the task to your CPU’s integrated option.
With Z77 and the introduction of Lucid Virtu MVP, the technology now offers Hyperformance too. By enabling Hyperformance, you tell Virtu to use both your discrete GPU and iGPU. By also enabling Virtual VSync, you instruct Virtu remove or replace redundant frames from your video source. For example, if your monitor’s refresh rate is 60Hz, Virtu will take advantage of the fact that you are not going to benefit from any framerate over 60FPS – it can then attempt to instruct your GPU to to not bother rendering certain frames that you’re not going to see, therefore freeing up resources and improving performance.
Once you have Virtu installed, you will be presented with the following screen. Here you can enable GPU virtualization. You need this enabled to take advantage of the other features Virtu MVP offers.
The second screen enables activation of Hyperformance and Virtual VSync. Enabling both of these will grant the biggest performance increase in terms of resources available.
The third screen allows application specific control. D-mode allows the use of the power of a graphics card, whilst being able to take advantage of specific Intel Integrated Graphics features, such as Quick Sync video transcoding technology. You need to have your display connected to your graphics card for this feature. I-Mode allows switching between the two technologies, which allows substantial power savings when the use of the discrete graphics card isn’t required. Checking the H checkbox enables Hyperformance for that particular application.
The fourth screen is a very simple “About” page, detailing release information and other non-functional aspects of the software.
Unlike some previous Z77 platform tests that I have run, Virtu MVP functioned out-of-the-box with the latest nVidia GeForce drivers. On previous tests, I was forced to roll back the driver quite substantially in order to prevent software crashing on launch.
I tested the system at the 3570k’s stock settings and once again with MVP + Hyperformance enabled (Virtual VSync disabled), and here are the results:
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can i use this board with an i7 3700k processor?
Yes, you can!