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S3 Graphics Begins to Sell Latest Graphics Cards in the USA.

S3 Graphics Initiates Selling Chrome 4 Graphics Boards in the U.S.

[03/20/2008 05:10 PM]
by Anton Shilov
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S3 Graphics, a fully owned subsidiary of Via Technologies, has started to sell its latest graphics cards in the U.S. The new S3 Chrome 430 GT graphics adapters cannot fight offerings of ATI, graphics product group of Advanced Micro Devices, or Nvidia in the mainstream market segment, hence, S3 concentrates exactly on entry-level market. But will it be successful?

The USA-based S3GStore started to sell own-branded S3 Graphics Chrome 430 GT graphics cards with 256MB of GDDR2 memory for the price of just $59. S3 claims that the new Chrome 4-series graphics chips support DirectX 10.1 feature-set in addition to decoding of high-definition video content encoded using H.264, MPEG2-HD, VC-1 or WMV-HD codecs. The company did not disclose whether the Chrome 4-series also support hardware post-processing of high-definition video.

The developer of the new graphics chips claims that Chrome 4-series can boast with relative energy efficiency thanks for design peculiarities as well as Fujitsu's 65nm fabrication process.

The new S3 Graphics Chrome 430/440 chips support DirectX 10.1, OpenGL 2.1 capabilities and feature Chromotion HD 2.0 video engine. The new family of graphics processors sports unified shader architecture, but it is unknown how many shader processors the Chrome 4-series chips have. The novelty has 64-bit memory controller, which means that it will hardly have decent performance in 3D video games. S3 Graphics' new Chrome 4 chips are compatible with PCI Express 2.0 bus and supports various display interfaces, including HDMI, dual-link DVI, DisplayPort, HDTV, and D-sub. The graphics card for $59 only sports dual-link DVI and D-Sub connectors.

S3 graphics claims that its Chrome 430 GT graphics solutions deliver "20% higher performance" in 3D video games compared to rivals in the same price-class, ATI Radeon HD 3450 and Nvidia GeForce 8400 GS, which are hardly intended for gaming.

Even despite of truly low performance, the offering by S3 Graphics could fight for a considerably larger share of the market if it was sold by several makers of graphics cards as well as retailers. Unfortunately, S3 only sells Chrome 430 GT graphics cards with 256MB of GDDR2 memory itself and only via its online store. Nevetheless, the company seems to be relatively optimistic regarding its new product due to its low price.

"S3 Graphics has once again delivered an outstanding product, leveraging our graphics, video, and power savings core competencies. The feature-rich Chrome 430 GT challenges the current discrete graphics landscape, bringing new functionalities previously seen only on high end desktops, bringing new meaning to the terms 'affordable gaming' and 'home entertainment',"said Dr. Ken Weng, general manager for S3 Graphics.

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Comments currently: 5
Discussion started: 03/20/08 06:06:16 PM
Latest comment: 03/24/08 10:54:32 AM

[1-5]

1. 
This little writing is so biased it makes me want to take my own shit and eat it.

wow. Go to a good school and go learn how to write good papers, then come back and write without your bias crapshit that you spewed into the article.
[Posted by: Joz | Date: 03/20/08 06:06:16 PM]
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2. 
Like what you wrote is really classy. :)

I think that X-bit Labs' assessment of this card is correct. It's a low end card that's not good for modern gaming. See the review here: http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdiy.y sky.com%2Fvga%2F484%2F8040484.shtml&langpair=zh%7Cen& mp;hl=en&ie=UTF-8

It does look like it's fine for older titles, and is competitive at the low end. Unfortunately it's not in stock at the store, so it's not possible to buy it. So I guess I have to agree again with X-bit Labs, that there's need for people to be able to buy the card for it to succeed.
[Posted by: ET | Date: 03/20/08 10:05:56 PM]
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3. 
Performance is important. But it is second to driver quality. Previously s3 hardware, regardless of their performance, were garbage. What good is a card that is 20% faster than another if it has problems in 20% of your games??
[Posted by: NAT functionality? | Date: 03/20/08 10:11:40 PM]
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4. 
Sad fact about S3 is that they rely on all their sales being made by

1)people who lack the tech knowledge to understand that these cards are junk, even at their price point, compared to Nvidia and AMD/ATI

2) bottom feeder PC manufacturers, who don't care what lies they have to tell to sell their systems, so long as the components inside were bought at rock bottom prices

If S3 had any quality whatsoever, Intel would have bought them out. If even a company as desperate (in the graphics field) as Intel won't touch a supposed significant player, you know that company has nothing to offer.

BTW, S3 cynically touts DX10, which as we all know, isn't even required for Aero in Vista. So what value does that tick-box feature bring to the table, when DX10 and Vista has a major negative impact on 3D performance, even for powerful cards?

Even where S3 may have limited hopes of valid impact in very limited areas, S3 is always a dollar short and a day late. S3 once had a good portfolio of 2D video decode IP, but it never manages to beat Nvidia or ATI in even this area. The two big boys are already accelerating hidef video decoding in their low end cards now, and this particular feature will add no more value by the years end than desktop 2D does now.

[Posted by: zak | Date: 03/21/08 07:07:27 AM]
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5. 
Probably wouldn't be a bad card for a budget machine that will see some casual gaming. It may be better than intel integrated graphics, but that's not saying much. From the bench marks on the link posted by ET there it I can't say I would be compelled to buy it over AMD's new integrated graphics chipset especially if I was going to build an HTPC system. No I would only consider going with this if I already had an intel system with Intel Graphics.
[Posted by: Megamanx00 | Date: 03/24/08 10:54:32 AM]
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