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S3 DeltaChrome S4 Graphics Chip Reviewed

Posted by simoniker on from the third-wheel? dept.

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."

6 of 190 comments (clear)

  1. Listen up S3 (and all the others) by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While not the fastest option for games, the S4 looks like a credible alternative to ATI and NVIDIA's dominance of the graphics market

    As far as I'm concerned, as a Linux user, I will dump my nVidia card and buy you a cartload of S3 cards the day you contribute a full-featured GPL driver to the Linux kernel, and GL stuff for X released under the GPL as well.

    I wish those graphics card companies realized there isn't much to lose in opening up a driver's code (no, it won't release trade secrets if the hardware interface is generic) and everything to gain by grabbing the emerging hi-perf graphics card market for Linux.

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    1. Re:Listen up S3 (and all the others) by Mike+Hawk · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Sounds more like Open Source is a PITA to deal with. When I need to update my closed-source drivers for my closed-source operating system to play my closed-source game, all I do is double-click, reboot and I'm off. And it being inferior in terms of performance is not a sacrifice I have to make. Instead of blaming the player, maybe you should blame the game.

    2. Re:Listen up S3 (and all the others) by Some+Dumbass... · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As far as I'm concerned, as a Linux user, I will dump my nVidia card and buy you a cartload of S3 cards the day you contribute a full-featured GPL driver to the Linux kernel, and GL stuff for X released under the GPL as well.

      Normally I'd disregard this as the usual slashbot knee-jerk

      Wanting your hardware to work with your software properly (not to mention out of the box!) is your idea of a "slashbot knee-jerk"?

      Perhaps we're just got a cultural misunderstanding here. I'm guessing you've never had any problems with binary video drivers on Linux (for one reason or another). Anyway, when they work, they're awesome, but when they don't, they're a disaster. Anyone else have that nVidia driver problem which boiled down to the permissions on /usr/lib/tls being wrong? Unbelievably hard-to-diagnose problems can happen with those binary drivers.

      Linux is designed to be open-source. Video drivers which are open source (and reasonably mature) generally "just work", presumably because they're designed in parallel with the kernel (e.g. 4K stack support is added early on and gets tested properly). That's what most people want -- they want their computer to just work. In the case of drivers on Linux, open sourcing them is the way to achieve that.

      With this in mind, realize that calls to open source binary drivers do not necessarily represent open source evangelism or any such thing. They may just represent Linux users who want a better user experience. What's wrong with wanting that?

      Whether or not open source drivers make sense from S3's point of view is an interesting issue, but probably not what the grandparent post had in mind.

    3. Re:Listen up S3 (and all the others) by vandan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Not true. In a best case scenario all you have to do is point, click and reboot.

      However there are a number of problems you may have to deal with that will make your experience drastically worse than users of open-source drivers:

      1) The company that made your product decides not to support your setup. What do you point at?

      2) The company that made your product disappears ( hello 3dfx ). What do you point at?

      3) The drivers suck and crash your system. Where do you send bug reports? The manufacturer? They don't care. At least nVidia and ATI don't care anyway. I speak from experience.

      4) Your all-wonderful closed-source system comes under the control of some snotty-nosed haxor, forcing you to re-install your pirated version of Windows XP and your pirated gamez and your pirated appz. Not so smart now, are we?

  2. I've said it before... by labratuk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...and I'll say it again.

    XGI, S3/Via and anyone else who wants to get into the 3d card market, write full featured DRI drivers for linux and GPL them. They will become the geek's choice standard in no time. Especially with all of this xorg/dri/composite/glitz/cairo stuff coming along.

    --
    Malike Bamiyi wanted my assistance.
  3. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion