Discussion about S3's DeltaChrome

[Asuka]

Perhaps we could bring this as a short article about the DeltaChrome and link here for discussion?

The first details about S3's new DX9 graphics chip, the DeltaChrome, have now been released by the Inquirer (and also other sites).
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=11629

Other than actual top-notch hardware, the DeltaChrome uses a core originally designed for mobile applications, drawing only as few as 5W! :o
So, unlike the competition from Ati and nVidia, it will not require any additional power supply.

Here's a short run-down of the intended target audience for the new DeltaChrome chips and their direct competition.

Enthusiast
http://www.theinquirer.net/images/articles/chrome1.gif

Mainstream
http://www.theinquirer.net/images/articles/chrome2.gif

Value
http://www.theinquirer.net/images/articles/chrome3.gif

S3's top chip will not directly compete with the "kings", the Radeon 9800 Pro/GeForce FX5900 Ultra, but rather for the cards one class below. A wise decision, as they might overdo themselves in aiming for a too high goal.

Now, if they can also deliver a convincing driver, Ati and nVidia are apparently in for a good bit of competition - especially in the Mainstream area, where they come up with twice as much pipelines as the competition, which could prove as a healthy performance advantage over the other two. But also the other two chips are nothing to laugh at and will put up a tough fight, as long as stable and performant drivers can be delivered.

Add to this the additional features of the DeltaChrome chip, like the hardware support for font aliasing and other nifty XP goodies, the Chromotion engine which allows for realtime application of filters to video streams, harware rotation, native Hdtv output support and 10-bit color precision, then S3 has a chip that might indeed enable them to a coup d'état and establish themselves as the third power next to Ati and nVidia.

[Gast]

Fuck Nvidia and ATI we need more competition anyhow, it just can get better. I hope S3 makes teh big money this time :)

[Kampf Ameise]

was bedeutet den " i second that"

da stimme ich zu ?

sorry for threadraping :D

[Asuka]

Original geschrieben von Kampf Ameise
was bedeutet den " i second that"

da stimme ich zu ?

sorry for threadraping :D Indeed, Mr. Fighting Ant =)

How did you like my article ???

[zeckensack]

Nice :)

It bothers me a bit that the Inq underrepresents Radeon 9800's bandwidth and otherwise, besides the wattage, doesn't really offer anything new. These are just paperspecs and they have been around for quite some time now.
That's a little lacking in substance for my tastes ?-)

I won't correct your language glitches now, unless you really want me to do that :)

[Asuka]

Original geschrieben von zeckensack
Nice :)

It bothers me a bit that the Inq underrepresents Radeon 9800's bandwidth and otherwise, besides the wattage, doesn't really offer anything new. These are just paperspecs and they have been around for quite some time now.
That's a little lacking in substance for my tastes ?-)

I won't correct your language glitches now, unless you really want me to do that :) Language glitches? Where ???

[zeckensack]

Here goes:
Perhaps we could bring this as a short article"publish" is more adequate. "bring" is a false friend.
There are constructs involving "we bring you sth" which are valid, while a bit kludgy. However, just "we bring" is not.
Other than actual top-notch hardware, the DeltaChrome uses a core originally designed for mobile applications, drawing only as few as 5W!
Multiple glitches. Suggestion:
"In contrast to [other?] current top-notch hardware, the DeltaChrome uses a core originally designed for mobile applications, drawing only as little as 5W!"

<...> stable and performant drivers<...>Germanism. "high performance" would be fine and "efficient" really hits it on the head.

S3 has a chip that might indeed enable them to a coup d'étatEnable so to sth isn't right. This requires another verb.
"enable them to do a <...>" or "enable them to perform a <...>" or even "enable them to land", strike (:D), etc, would be better.

[patermatrix]

Original geschrieben von zeckensack
"In contrast to [other?] current top-notch hardware, the DeltaChrome uses a core originally designed for mobile applications, drawing only as little as 5W!"


Unlike other current [...] should be correct as well. And it sounds better... :P :D

[zeckensack]

Original geschrieben von patermatrix
Unlike other current [...] should be correct as well. And it sounds better... :P :D He used "unlike" in the next sentence. Repetition is bad ;)

[patermatrix]

Original geschrieben von zeckensack
He used "unlike" in the next sentence. Repetition is bad ;)

Argh, shame on me! Didn't read the whole post.

btw
sorry 4 :spam:

[Ailuros]

Pardon the hair splitting, but which moron compiled those specs in the first place?

GFFX5800

4 rendering pipelines
2 TMUs / pipe
1.6 GPixels/sec
3.2 GTexels/sec
12.8 GB/sec memory bandwidth

9800

8 rendering pipelines
1 TMU / pipe
2.6 GPixels-Texels/sec
18.56 GB/sec memory bandwidth

[Asuka]

Original geschrieben von Ailuros
Pardon the hair splitting, but which moron compiled those specs in the first place?
Well, as it was posted on the Inquirer, probably the Inquirer guys...

Germanism. "high performance" would be fine and "efficient" really hits it on the head."efficient" doesn't imply high performance - it's too ambiguous, as it could mean lots of things, e.g. small file size yet full features (code efficiency).

[Tigershark]

I think "high performing" pretty much looks like the expression we`re looking for, as "high performance" sounds somewhat... umm... static.

[Pappy]

As "Zeckensack" already said: There are just some paperspecs. Although it seems like, that these card do have some power, but when I remember the time before NV released the NV30...on the paper she looked like a Ferrari but never managed to do better than a Volkswagen...

I actually doubt it, that the guys from S3 are able to create decent drivers right from the start. This will be another problem. But I am really looking forward to see the first benchmarks and the first comparison of four totally different graphic cards.

[Tigershark]

Yeah, sure.

I mean, basically we all kinda know that S3 will probably never be able to really throw out a high-performance card. We all still remember the delays they had the years past. But, as You already mentioned, competition is good - even if it`s only paper-based competition, because it shows that there`s not only 2 players left in the graphics market.

[Asuka]

Original geschrieben von Tigershark
Yeah, sure.

I mean, basically we all kinda know that S3 will probably never be able to really throw out a high-performance card. We all still remember the delays they had the years past. But, as You already mentioned, competition is good - even if it`s only paper-based competition, because it shows that there`s not only 2 players left in the graphics market. Oh come on... Don't go saying they're dead before they actually tried. Let them have a shot at it and well's see afterwards if they can do it or not.

btw: It would be nice if you used proper apostrophes ' instead of accents ` =)

[Tigershark]

Original geschrieben von Asuka
Oh come on... Don't go saying they're dead before they actually tried. Let them have a shot at it and well's see afterwards if they can do it or not.

btw: It would be nice if you used proper apostrophes ' instead of accents ` =)

Oh, I don't. As I already mentioned, this is by far not the first time S3 seems to have a high-performance graphics card - on paper. Remember Savage2k, Savage 4, Savage XP ? Defective T'n L, catastrophic drivers, horrible IQ...
I won't believe no good news from S3 anymore before there are no actual reviews that prove their claims.

[DrumDub]

Original geschrieben von Tigershark
Oh, I don't. As I already mentioned, this is by far not the first time S3 seems to have a high-performance graphics card - on paper. Remember Savage2k, Savage 4, Savage XP ? Defective T'n L, catastrophic drivers, horrible IQ...
I won't believe no good news from S3 anymore before there are no actual reviews that prove their claims.

you forgot to mention the 3d-decelerator s3 virge... ;D

the best thing s3 ever came forward with has been S3TC...

and for some time the savage-line has been quite good in the cheap notebook market segment (sounds cheesy) concerning 3d gaming...