LucidLogix responsiveness-boosting Lucid Virtu MVP GPU virtualization software has been surprising and delighting desktop PC gamers for months now, utilizing software-based technology to boost the performance of their graphics hardware. Now gaming laptop makers Origin have teamed with LucidLogix as the exclusive partner for the mobile version of the tool, and it's pretty damn amazing.
Many of today's gaming laptops come with two different sets of graphics hardware — the powerful ATI or Nvidia cards for gaming, and a more modest, less power-hungry card for everyday use. By switching between the two as needed, laptop's like Origin's EON15-S are more much more efficient. The Lucid Virtu MVP Mobile software uses this pairing to improve overall performance.
Using GPU Virtualization, the Virtu MVP software dynamically assigns rendering jobs to the best graphics resource for the job. It's a traffic cop of sorts, and an extremely effective one.
While the GPU Virtualization is policing traffic, the software's HyperFormance ultility is diving into graphics delivery pipeline, getting rid of redundant tasks while predicting potential synchronization issues. The end result is up to 30 more FPS (frames per second) than one would get relying on GPU and CPU performance alone.
That's rather impressive, but the most impressive feature of the Virtu MVP Mobile software is Virtual Vsync. Where standard hardware Vsync smooths screen tearing but limits frame rates, the proprietary Virtual Vsync technology the job without a significant FPS hit, making for a remarkably smooth gaming experience.
The Lucid Virtu MVP Mobile software features built-in support for many of today's more popular games — Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare 3 and the like — with new titles regularly added. But just because a game isn't on the list doesn't mean it won't work. While testing out the software I manually added Guild Wars 2 to the list, enabled HyperFormance and Virtual Vsync, and was taken aback by the results. Running on the EON15-S with this software the game looked and performed better than on any other machine I've played it on (quite a few, truth be told).
Origin will be including Lucid Virtu MVP Mobile software on all new EON laptops from this point forward, though customers will have a choice whether to include the free package in their build or not — Origin is very anti-bloatware. They're also looking into ways to offer the software to existing laptop owners. I'd highly recommend giving it a try, if you have the means.