New S3 graphics cards coming soon

Lonyo

Lifer
Aug 10, 2002
21,938
6
81
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/v...ay/20070829082235.html

Doesn't look like they will be the best cards ever, but to be honest a little extra competition can only really be healthy. If S3 do eventually manage to get their act together a few years down the line, it could be interesting.

DX10.1 support is also touted for their mid-range offering, which might in theory give it a leg up over current mid range, although vendor support and some decent drivers would be necessary too, and S3 don't have much of a track record with either.

It might also be interesting to see what sort of multimedia support is present in the low end cards, since the have HDMI/HDCP support. I wonder if they will also include things like hardware acceleration for video playback. Could be an interesting potential option for low power HT systems.

It could also indicate a continuing push by Via to develop graphic solutions not just for integrated chipsets, but maybe in the future a move towards that same goals as Intel and AMD, integrating graphics and CPU in one chip, since Via already has their attempt at x86 CPU's, albeit aimed currently at a different market to AMD and Intel.
 

Remedy

Diamond Member
Dec 1, 1999
3,981
0
0
Have they incorporated any of the Chrome25 technology into their IGP's yet? It was marvel back then what they were able to do TDP wise and Clock wise for the segment. It would've been nice to have it paired up with a good CPU for IGP performance.
 
Oct 19, 2006
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This is good news. There is always room for players in the video card market and while it may seem that S3 isn't work talking about, they have much more business outside of north America.

I really do miss Trident, ST micro, XGI, and SIS. Now buying a brand new video card with decent features is about 80 bucks. I remeber paying 15 to 20 dollars for those old Trident 2D cards. Ha oh well, guess there is no going back.
 

mruffin75

Senior member
May 19, 2007
343
0
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Originally posted by: postmortemIA
Same story again as with DX9 S3 stuff.

I agree. I think we heard all of this before with their DirectX9 parts...

There was some encouragement from the community on hearing about S3's DX9 parts, and the "let's hope their next ones are even better!" comments...

Sounds like it's all happening again...I like the idea of a low-power part (I love ATI/Nvidia, but come on..how about some really low power stuff???), but S3's drivers suck.. They've never been "great" and I don't see why they will be in the future..

 

Peter

Elite Member
Oct 15, 1999
9,640
1
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Isn't it cute how people who /never/ had a recent S3 card in hand can say their drivers suck?

Anyway. 1st generation Chrome core has been in DX9-enabled VIA chipsets for quite a while now - although many low-end boards still use the DX7-graphics north bridges.
 

Laminator

Senior member
Jan 31, 2007
852
2
91
I will never forget them for the Diamond Viper II. You killed the Diamond Viper, you bastards! (Yes, I know there are still Diamond Viper cards out...but back then, Diamond was like eVGA and XFX, not PowerColor or Sapphire, ha ha.)
 

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,397
8,564
126
Originally posted by: Peter
Isn't it cute how people who /never/ had a recent S3 card in hand can say their drivers suck?

Anyway. 1st generation Chrome core has been in DX9-enabled VIA chipsets for quite a while now - although many low-end boards still use the DX7-graphics north bridges.

they seem to have been stable for me, though i haven't used any 3D on this via 775 board yet. however, video playback while scrolling a window seems crappy. dunno whether this is due to the S3 chip/driver or due to the shoddy implementation by ECS. i get a lot more artifacts than i did on my integrated nforce biostar board.
 

nyker96

Diamond Member
Apr 19, 2005
5,630
2
81
die S3 die ... or not. No never had an S3 but I think their stuff are decent for low powered usages tho not gaming for sure. Maybe on board uses their chrome something chipset as I remember. probably runs Vista plenty good this new DX10 part. so I say why not, get them into integrated chipset and we'll all have more to choose from. hopefully they can do a version with H264 accerlation so we can build a HTPC with it to play high def stuff on it that's going to be useful!
 

Peter

Elite Member
Oct 15, 1999
9,640
1
0
Originally posted by: ElFenix
Originally posted by: Peter
Isn't it cute how people who /never/ had a recent S3 card in hand can say their drivers suck?

Anyway. 1st generation Chrome core has been in DX9-enabled VIA chipsets for quite a while now - although many low-end boards still use the DX7-graphics north bridges.

they seem to have been stable for me, though i haven't used any 3D on this via 775 board yet. however, video playback while scrolling a window seems crappy. dunno whether this is due to the S3 chip/driver or due to the shoddy implementation by ECS. i get a lot more artifacts than i did on my integrated nforce biostar board.

... and here comes the next unsubstantiated cliché bash.
 

nemesismk2

Diamond Member
Sep 29, 2001
4,810
5
76
www.ultimatehardware.net
I have always been an S3 fan and I will be more than willing to try out their latest video cards! :)

Here is my S3 video card history:-

16mb Hercules Terminator Beast Savage3D
32mb Foxconn Savage4 GT
32mb Diamond Stealth III S540 Savage4 Pro
64mb Inno3d Savage 2000
128mb Club3D Deltachrome S8

Even better news would be for PowerVR to release a DX10 video card because I loved my Videologic Kyro 2 64mb! :)