SimGuy
19 Sep 2003, 7:39am
S3 Re-Enters The Graphics Market Swinging
DeltaChrome is back in all 3 graphics categories with viable solutions...
THE TURBULENT graphics market has seen tremendous action in the last 12 months, including some antics from Nvidia that make Soap Operas dull. Weekly some new story exploded across the web, whether related to benchmarks, auctions, or deleting the clothes textures from "Dawn" while running it on ATI hardware. Makes for interesting copy anyhow. While all this was going on, some companies were diligently working on new graphics architecture under the scandal-ridden radar.
Today details should start appearing all over the web on S3's newest entry into the 3D graphics desktop market, the DeltaChrome chip. I had an opportunity to check out the performance of a pre-release card, and was impressed with the overall concept. Rather than chasing dubious benchmark scores, S3 decided to create an architecture that was compliant with Dx9 without tricks, and threw in a bunch of other features. Add to that a core that was designed for mobile applications that draws 5 watts max, and you have a cool running chip that does not require supplemental power. While S3 is not going after the 'bleeding-edge' at this early stage, they do have products throughout the rest of the market spectrum.
As you can see, things really get interesting in the mainstream and value categories. If S3 can come through on the driver side, ATI and Nvidia are going to be hard pressed to compete with half the number of pipelines. This comprises such a large portion of the market and in some ways acts as a 'clearing house' for lower binned chips, at a lower cost.
Where S3 has focused a large portion of its attention is on the aspects of computing that have been largely ignored by the big 3D vendors. This includes video processing and 2D performance. DeltaChrome includes hardware acceleration for the 'Best Appearance' default under Windows XP, and takes a minimum performance hit for font anti-aliasing and all the goodies in Windows XP. The video processing unit, Chromotion, is one of the more unique features and allows for realtime application of filters to video streams. For anyone who has waited for a filter to process on an editing program, this is a godsend. Add to that hardware rotation, native HDTV output, and 10 bit colour accuracy and you have to wonder if ATI and Nvidia are hearing footsteps.
Until the DeltaChrome hits shelves with retail frequencies and retail drivers, final performance numbers will be unknown. If S3 can deliver with clean drivers and avoids texture swapping scandals, then the consumer wins with one more viable choice on the market.
Source: S3Graphics.com (http://www.s3graphics.com/index.html) & The Inquirer (http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=11629)
DeltaChrome is back in all 3 graphics categories with viable solutions...
THE TURBULENT graphics market has seen tremendous action in the last 12 months, including some antics from Nvidia that make Soap Operas dull. Weekly some new story exploded across the web, whether related to benchmarks, auctions, or deleting the clothes textures from "Dawn" while running it on ATI hardware. Makes for interesting copy anyhow. While all this was going on, some companies were diligently working on new graphics architecture under the scandal-ridden radar.
Today details should start appearing all over the web on S3's newest entry into the 3D graphics desktop market, the DeltaChrome chip. I had an opportunity to check out the performance of a pre-release card, and was impressed with the overall concept. Rather than chasing dubious benchmark scores, S3 decided to create an architecture that was compliant with Dx9 without tricks, and threw in a bunch of other features. Add to that a core that was designed for mobile applications that draws 5 watts max, and you have a cool running chip that does not require supplemental power. While S3 is not going after the 'bleeding-edge' at this early stage, they do have products throughout the rest of the market spectrum.
As you can see, things really get interesting in the mainstream and value categories. If S3 can come through on the driver side, ATI and Nvidia are going to be hard pressed to compete with half the number of pipelines. This comprises such a large portion of the market and in some ways acts as a 'clearing house' for lower binned chips, at a lower cost.
Where S3 has focused a large portion of its attention is on the aspects of computing that have been largely ignored by the big 3D vendors. This includes video processing and 2D performance. DeltaChrome includes hardware acceleration for the 'Best Appearance' default under Windows XP, and takes a minimum performance hit for font anti-aliasing and all the goodies in Windows XP. The video processing unit, Chromotion, is one of the more unique features and allows for realtime application of filters to video streams. For anyone who has waited for a filter to process on an editing program, this is a godsend. Add to that hardware rotation, native HDTV output, and 10 bit colour accuracy and you have to wonder if ATI and Nvidia are hearing footsteps.
Until the DeltaChrome hits shelves with retail frequencies and retail drivers, final performance numbers will be unknown. If S3 can deliver with clean drivers and avoids texture swapping scandals, then the consumer wins with one more viable choice on the market.
Source: S3Graphics.com (http://www.s3graphics.com/index.html) & The Inquirer (http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=11629)