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The Return of S3
flynn_nrg writes "Just saw this article on ExtremeTech about S3's new graphics card. S3 is back on the scene with its first new GPU architecture in five years. Rather than take aim at the high-end, S3 has set its sights on the midrange price/performance category, which is currently dominated by ATI's Radeon 9600 XT and nVidia's GeForce FX 5700, both of which are under $200. Today S3 unveils the DeltaChrome S8 GPU, which represents the midrange of its upcoming line of DeltaChrome GPUs."
If they are going to be making pricy cards, then they might as well make them superior to the home user (think ATI, NVIDIA) aimed cards. This is just like SGI with their high-priced chips.
...since VESA local bus (VLB) video died. Now THOSE were the days. Even AMD was really, really cool in a mainstream sort of way - anyone remember the 486DX2-80MHz? Or the 120MHz which was faster than the Pentiums at the time? A DX4 120 + a fast S3 VLB video kicked serious butt, at least in 2D and text modes.
Right now, I have an NVidia card in my workstation and I hate it. Why? Because I have to choose between using the OpenGL renderer and staying true to my beliefs about software freedom. This basically means that I paid extra for a card that I can only halfway use.
S3, take heed. Give us a product that we can use and we'll support you. Do it. It's the right thing.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
Prices are already pretty reasonable. Unless you play cutting edge games, a $75 video card will do everything you want.
Heck, even if you play cutting edge games, even that $75 card will serve you well unless you absolutely must have 1600x1200 resolution with 32bit color and 435FPS.
So they're releasing a card with serious driver issues, where the top of the line model is expected to compete in the mid-price range market.
Wouldn't this be the perfect situation to open the source and getting the community to squeeze every last bit of performance outta their chip? It helps them save money on paying people to code the driver, and it gets the most outta their hardware. IN addition, it would also give them a healthy community that would reccommend this solution to friends/family that aren't into the bleeding-edge gaming machines.
Linux - Because Mommy taught me to Share.
Maybe their not aiming for the high-end market.
Imagine how many video cards are purchased off the shelf at computer stores. Then imagine how many video cards are purchased in new computer sales. I would imagine more video cards are moved by unit in new/refurb(card replaced) sales than individual sales for LOW/MID range cards.
Now I know people purchase high-end cards from stores (I did) but, to sell mid-range cards you usually don't sell to the consumer you sell to the manfacturer.
I would rather spend 'x' amount of money to produce a cheaper and comparable card to the current market norm and get a contract providing Dell w/ cards for their mid-range systems then spending '3x' the amount of money making the "newest and the greatest" card then having to spend another '2x' just marketing the damn thing to a niche market..
I'd rather sell mid-range and more units.
Why do people buy used cars?
Why do people buy refurb'd computers?
Why do people goto yard sales?
Why do people goto dollar stores?
Maybe the secretary down the hall doesn't need a Radeon 9800?
Maybe I don't want my kid to use 'this' PC for gaming and only for school work?
There is a market for mid-range cards...
Don't just assume everyone wants to buy the best of everything. (Why isn't Mercedes-Benz the largest car manufacturer in the world?)
Maybe their not aiming for the high-end market.
Of course they're probably not. His point, however, was that *not* having a high-end card to show off and impress people with will decrease their visiblity, among other factors, and make it harder for them to sell midrange cards, even if they are comparable to or better than similarly-midrange cards from NVidia or ATI.
If you see some truly stunning demo from NVidia or ATI on their highest-end card, you're more likely to buy from them, even if you're not shopping for a card anywhere near what you saw. It may not be completely logical, but it's true.
A Minesweeper clone that doesn't suck
Don't us computer professionals deserve a usable video card for Eur 10,-- or so? Gamer/lamer crap and 5.1 Dolby sound has no place in the bulk of the computing world.
$200 to me seems like WAY to much to pay for a graphics card
Especially in a day and age where a hundred bucks more can buy you an entire PC.
http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/Article.asp?date Publish=2003/12/19&pages=A7&seq=47
I don't know when the deltachrome will be on the market, but it looks like ATI and nvidia will have some new cards on the market possibly by April which will push the price of the 5900 and 9800 way down, which will in turn push the price of the 5700 and 9600 down which is going to put some serious pressure on everybody else.
I see XGI's Volari as the biggest compitition to S3's DeltaChrome.
I think that everyone who is comparing this chipset with the high end ATI and Nvidia chipsets is missing the point.
The stated market for this thing is OEM sales to Mainboard producers. Doesn't it seem obvious that the inclusion of passable 3d and the ability to output to HDTV natively is positioning this for the set top box market?
How many discussions have there been of the new set top box market, or how to build your own PVR, on Slashdot in the last couple of months?
This chipset isn't for playing doom 3 on your dual monitor winxp system (though it might do that too), it is for using as a capable midrange chip in mini-itx systems, etc.
Just my $.02.
K
"If sharing a thing in no way diminishes it, it is not rightly owned if it is not shared." -St. Augustine