S3 DeltaChrome S4 Graphics Chip Reviewed

EconolineCrush writes "The Tech Report has a preview of S3's budget DeltaChrome S4 graphics chip for PC graphics cards. While not the fastest option for games, the S4 looks like a credible alternative to ATI and NVIDIA's dominance of the graphics market - there are some handy analysis graphs comparing performance in Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, Unreal Tournament 2004 and Far Cry. Better still, the S4 has component HDTV output built right into the chip, making it an intriguing option for home theater systems."

Comments

Re:Doom 3 is too close

[stratjakt]

I dunno, I tried Catalyst 4.7 the other day.. Rebooted, my system was completely messed up video wise. I couldnt change resolutions from the control panel.. Did a complete uninstall (used driver cleaner) and reinstalled, fired up Far Cry, and had messed up graphics and a locked system within seconds.

I turned on that new temporal AA shit, rebooted, then turned it off, rebooted, now it's working again. ATi's temporal AA is like every other feature, sounds really awesome on paper but doesnt actually work in real games. (TruForm, etc, etc)

ATi is focusing on whiz-bang new bullet-points for their marketing literature, and ignoring known bugs that have been out there for months and years.

God forbid you own anything R200 based (9200s, 8500s, etc), because virtually nothing for those "ancient" cards is being updated in the drivers. "Ancient" of course means you still buy them for a hundred bucks at CompUSA.

I'm no fanboy for either. I'm not someone who sees two companies screwing consumers as "competition". Two choices suck, whether it's Intel vs AMD, ATi vs nVidia, Dems vs Reps or Cheech vs Chong.

Bah..