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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."
we're all going to go broke upgrading these things
Being in the market for a new graphics card (Doom 3 anybody?) I have to admit this wouldn't even show up on the radar. I have enough concerns about ATI stability, or the fact that I need to buy a separate minitower and nuclear power supply to power the nVidia cards.
The component out is a major selling point however, for home theatre people anyway who might want to play the occasional game.
This is more interesting for being the graphics technology that will be incorporated in upcoming VIA integrated chipsets however.
I'd still get a low-end ATI or nVidia card above this however. What will S3's support be like for Linux?
Not a top score, but an alternative more credible than XGI, IMHO.
Bye!
SeqBox
I thought S3 was bought out or disbanded or something quite a while ago. Is my memory playing tricks on me? Since when did they start making chips again?
And making decent graphics chips, no less. As someone who used a S3 ViRGE for much more time than anyone should have to, this is a certainly a surprise to me....
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
I think all 9xxx series and newer Radeons have component out capabilities. No need to resort to S3 for an HTPC. The 9000, 9200 and I think several 9600 models are fanless too, making them better choices for home theater use. It does require an adaptor though, I think it is $20 to $30 direct from ATI.
It's not that I don't welcome another challenger in the graphics arena, I still have a bad taste from their previous sad attempts to compete.
Why I can get PDFs or books full of info about AMD, Intel, ARM or TI processors so I can program them, avoid the "errata" problems, target new CPUs better or whatever, but ATI or NVidia can not provide any basic info now? Do they have anything to fear from others programming their chips?
I doubt the validity of these benchmark:
unless the radeon 9550 is radically different than 9600 pro (which I own), the 9550 should destroys in any benchmark test the nvidia 5200 fx(which I also own). 5200 is in fact just a little bit faster than a gf4mx440.They are two very low-end by today standard. 9600 (and so is 9500) is a mid-range card. So why in most test the 5200 got better result than 9550? Even more,I'm not even sure than 9550 exist. I know for sure 9500 and regular 9600, but these two are two close in performance for worthing a half '50 version.
Does anyone know more about the component outputs?
from the pictures it looked like it was an adapter that went to the svideo port, however from the small picture they had it was hard to tell.
I really don't know all that much about the video standards and wiring capacities, but I thought svideo couldn't cary hdtv signals.
...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.
because thats 5200 Ultra.
5200 Ultra - Chipclock 325mhz, Memoryclock 650mhz
5200 - Chipclock 250mhz, Memoryclock 400mhz
for example 5200 Ultra is faster than 5500.
Actually, VIA (who own S3) were very nice to me. I told them that I wanted to write an X driver for their graphics chip (the CLE266 northbridge with integrated graphics). They sent me an NDA and then the register documentation.
And they did actually already write their own driver which was released as opensource (although I'm not sure of the license) for XFree86 including all of the "GL stuff".
IMHO S3/VIA are very appreciative of opensource work and are very supportive of opensource developers.
I do not represent myself.
The problem with the video card market can be seen right here. Look at the Slashdot section this is in: Games.
Video card manufacturers have stopped marketing their products to normal people, and have focused on gamers. Your MeshBlitter 99900 FireCore+ selling for 599 dollars and 99 cents isn't going to do a damned thing to improve my word processing. Heck, it will probably make it worse by driving me nuts with the attached Hoovermatic cooling system.
Yeah, all you gamers living in your parent's basement are going to mod this down for heresy, but the truth cannot be ignored, and that truth is that most people don't need more RAM for their GPU than their CPU.
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
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