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S3's DeltaChrome Examined
sand writes "Firingsquad takes a look at DeltaChrome, which is a graphics chip from S3. The core runs at 300MHz and offers pixel and vertex shaders that go beyond DirectX 9, just like Nvidia GeForce FX. The really cool feature though is the integrated HDTV encoder, you can output from your PC or laptop directly to an HDTV or 1080p projector!"
Ooohhhh, ahhhh... I'm impressed really... Did I mention that the latest ATI All-In-Wonder has had HDTV out since it was released... some time ago.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
I wonder if S3 is on the way back again in the market. I am starting to design a media station like system using a projector for my future house. Are there any decent frameworks out there for designing a network capable media center?
More power to them for bringing some more competition into the market (again)...
Being a cheap bastard, I'm borrowing this from ABC.com's FAQ.
Benefit: Picture Resolution
Resolution is a measure of picture sharpness. Current analog television contains about 480 active scanning lines resulting in a picture resolution of about 330 lines of resolution. By comparison today's VHS VCR's have about 240 lines of resolution which is why VHS recordings don't look as sharp as the original picture. DVD's offer higher resolution typically on the order of 400-480 lines of resolution. (Note the number of scanning lines does not equal resolution. For example, both the VHS and DVD formats have 480 active scanning lines but have different resolutions.) HDTV offers resolution that is at least twice that of analog television. You can expect razor sharp images from HDTV.
I have heard that there are two HDTV formats -- 720p and 1080i. Is there a difference between these formats and can my television receive both these formats?
Regardless of the HDTV format being broadcast, all new HDTV receivers can receive both formats. New HDTV televisions will convert any received signal to a format that is compatible with your new display. The 720p format uses progressive scanning, which is just like your computer monitor. Progressive scan offers crystal clear images that virtually eliminates those scanning lines that are visible on most large screen televisions. ABC broadcasts all of its programming using the 720p format except in Dallas, where the ABC station broadcasts in 1080i. Many new flat panel displays use progressive scan. The 1080i format uses interlace scanning just like today's analog televisions. Scanning lines are less visible on big screens due to the number of lines. Most currently available projection HDTV's use 1080i.
It's been stated that Doom 3 won't run at full frame rate on any of today's existing hardware. Does a card like this change that situation? What types of advances in graphics cards are going to be necessary to play Doom 3 at it's fullest potential?
Actually, that is also a relevant question to those people with agp motherboards, who want to add a second display adapter to their systems.
The top-of-the-line adapters often have dual-head capability these days, but there are people who are interested in decent secondary display adapters.
Culling a bit out of the article...
--They won't say exactly how many, but the new card will have approx 1/2 the gates of Nvidia's FX.
--It will run at 60% clock (300Mhz) of high-end cards (FX again, as well as ATIs Raedon (sp?).)
--It will use DDR SDRAM.
--It won't be availible until end of Q2. (5 months or so.)
To be faster, you either need: (1) more gates, for more work per cycle. (2) More cycles, for more work per time. Looks like they have neither of these, plus they're not getting ultra-high bandwidth out of their memory... And it won't be availible for months...
With the NVIDIA FX coming out early Feb, it won't capture the high end...
What is the market for this thing?
I know. However, just because it exists doesn't mean absolute abandonment is necessary. Heck, a second screen on those single AGP-slot equipped systems could be done via PCI
They used to be, but nowadays the video cards have multiple DACs. My GF4 Ti4200 has two outputs on it for two monitors. Matrox has cards that can drive up to four monitors at once.
It's no longer necessary to have more than one video card to have multiple monitors.
On a side note however, what is PCI (32 and 64 bit) throughput
The PCI you find in your average computer is 133 MBps - 32 bit, 33 Mhz. On servers you may find faster PCI backbones, and I believe the top of the line with the current PCI spec is 64-bit at 66 MHz, giving you 533 MBps transfer rate.
If it's less than, say, 300MBPS, couldn't an external USB2 videocard be made
USB2 is 480 Mbps, not MBps. That's a whopping 60 MB/s, which is well below even PCI 1.1. Oh, and you'll never actually get 480 Mbps from a USB2 device, since that's maximum theoretical speed and never approached in reality.
PCI is less and less viable for graphics as we move on... the bandwidth just isn't there. IIRC, even the GF4MX cards are crippled on a PCI bus... which is pretty pathetic. I don't expect to see any more advanced 3D cards made available on that bus.
To keep it simple.
480i = 640x480 interlaced at 60 Hz refresh
480p = if it is in 4:3 mode then it is 640x480 60 Hz refresh
if it is in 16:9 mode then it is 720x480
at 60 Hz refresh
720p = 1280x720 non-interlaced at 60 Hz refresh
1080i = 1920x1080 interlaced at 60 Hz refresh
1080p = 1920x1080 non-interlaced at 60 Hz refresh
Most HDTV's support 480i, 480p, and 1080i, some of the better ones also support 720p, and some top of the line models will support 1080p.
We've all had ViRGE chips in our machines at some time or another. I can't say that I've every really cared for the S3 products. Drivers and tech support have always been poor. The chips have always fought over the bus and lagged down PCI devices such as soundcards. Savage 2000 was disappointing. The drivers and slow 32 bit rendering made it a horrible card to have, even for games based on the aging Quake 3 engine. I sure hope that they can change things in the future. They've always been able to put themselves into the value and OEM markets, especially since they were purchased by VIA. It's an easy way to slap these chips into integrated mobos, as long as they can put out performance that is better than the low-end nForce products.
;)
It's nice to hear about new products from alternative companies. What I am really looking for is a new product based on PowerVR's technology. I've really gotten a lot out of my Kyro II over the last two years, and the drivers have been quite solid under Windows and (now I use) Linux. I think that their series 4 products were canned, after STM anounced that it was selling its graphics business (which licensed PowerVR's series 4 technology). Series 5 was in development, but has had no real press.
My Kyro II experiences have been very good. The card puts out crisp and beautiful graphics, and rendering is fast. Unfortunately, it's time to upgrade for the up and coming games. Products from ATi and nVidia seem to be on my list, but I will probably end up waiting until the next nVidia chip gets released. Competition will drive down the R300 price.
Competition is a good thing, especially if the manufacturers provide Linux drivers.