nVidia not involved in the Lucid MSI Dispute at all

MSI speaks out
During our conversation with nVidia we were told that MSI had released a statement that would be forwarded to us. We decided to reprint their entire statement from the first e-mail as well as some information that followed in the following e-mail exchange between BSN* and MSI. MSI's representative in this matter was Mr. Jason Lee, Director of Component Marketing at MSI.

"We have seen a lot of speculation about our upcoming Big Bang motherboards, andwe wanted to take this opportunity to clear up some misconceptions.

First, the MSI Big Bang is a line of products targeted at enthusiast gamers. Big Bang is not a single motherboard or a product, but rather a series of products. The first motherboard in our Big Bang line is the MSI P55 Big Bang Trinergy which uses nVidia's nForce 200 SLI chip to deliver 3-Way SLI on P55 [platform]. With Trinergy, gamers can combine the latest Intel Core i5/i7-800 CPUs with the power of 3-Way SLI. The product, which was originally debuted at CeBIT 2009, is on track for a release in 4Q 2009, as planned.

The second product in our Big Bang line will be the MSI Fuzion motherboard featuring LucidLogix Hydra technology. Although we had planned to release this product by now, we decided to postpone it until early next year to make sure it delivers the best possible experience for our customers. We are continuing to work closely with Lucid to bring this exciting product to market.

We want to be clear that the reason for the delay has to do with software, and not external pressure from others. NVIDIA did not delay or impede the production of Fuzion in any way.

We're very excited to bring these products tomarket, and will share further details for the Big Bang line in the weeks tocome. Stay tuned!"

The real reason for delay: Microsoft Windows 7
MSI has made it clear that the cause of this unfortunate delay is software related. This statement actually ties in with some additional information we have picked up in conversations with MSI and LucidLogix. The issue is not the current state of drivers but more a lack of an important feature that Lucid did not even seem to know was important. Brace for impact, folks. MSI knows that their targeted audience for this product are people who are converting to Windows 7, especially in light of the DirectX 11 API and much better performance and scaling. However, it seems that Lucid missed this memo and their drivers, while working in XP and Vista, are not fully compliant with demands set forth by Windows 7 operating system. When you add to that no "Mix and Match" support is coming until first quarter of next year, we see a pattern begin to emerge.

We did find out some information that is good news for gamers though. Big Bang Fuzion P55 motherboard is not the only Lucid-based motherboard MSI is planning on. In the not too distant future you may be able to get the Big Bang Hydra 200-based board with the X58 chipset, which should tie nicely with the release of Core i9 processors in second quarter of 2010. This will certainly change the playing field for multi-GPU gaming if the issues with Windows 7 support and Mix and Match are ironed out.

As you can read above, MSI is telling us and you, respectable readers - that in no way was nVidia involved and that the true cause for this delay was the release of Microsoft Windows 7 operating system on October 23, 2009 - six days prior to scheduled release of Big Bang Fuzion motherboard. Unfortunately, this issue was a show stopper.