S3 Chrome

S3 Chrome refers to several 3D graphics chips and technologies from S3 Graphics . The Chrome family is an attempt at a comeback from S3 Graphics in the graphics market dominated by Intel , ATI and Nvidia .

Desktop chips

DeltaChrome

Graphics card with DeltaChrome S8 chip (Club-3D CG3-S86TVD)

At the beginning of 2003 , the first attempt at a comeback was announced with the DeltaChrome S8 and S4 (both AGP- 8x interface). The chips are based on the Columbia project, which has been in development for a long time, and are full-fledged DirectX 9 chips with pixel and vertex shader version 2.0.

However, it was not until the middle of 2004 that the first graphics cards were available. Due to this long delay, DeltaChrome was not very successful, but achieved a respectable success because of its good image quality (especially the anisotropic filter ).

GammaChrome

As early as the end of 2004 there were rumors about the successor to the DeltaChrome, which was then presented as GammaChrome in early 2005 . Originally, three variants - S14, S18 and S19 - each with different models were planned, of which only GammaChrome S18 came on the market in different versions. However, it took until the middle or end of 2005 for graphics cards to come onto the market.

Technically, the GammaChrome is closely related to the DeltaChrome, but some bugs have been removed and the interface has been changed to PCI Express .

Chrome S20

In the fall of 2005 , S3 Graphics announced that the GammaChrome S19 and S14 had been discontinued in favor of the new Chrome S20 family. On November 3, 2005, the first two representatives came onto the market with the Chrome S27 and S25.

These two chips are also based on GammaChrome and DeltaChrome, but the Chrome S27 is clocked at a remarkable 700 MHz, the highest clock rate of a graphics chip to date.

With MultiChrome , two or more Chrome S27 graphics cards can be operated simultaneously to increase performance.

Chrome 400

In early 2008 , S3 Graphics announced a new line of graphics chips for laptops and desktop solutions. Among other things, this generation should be able to display high-definition content with good quality and low power consumption and, according to S3, will be on the same level as an Nvidia Geforce 8400 in terms of performance .

The features of the chip include the 65 nm manufacturing process, DirectX 10.1 and a connection via PCI Express 2.0.

The first market-ready model in this series is the Chrome 430 GT, while a faster version, the Chrome 440 GTX, was introduced only a little later. According to a test by ComputerBase , the performance of the 430 GT is actually in the range of the low-end chips from AMD ( ATI Radeon HD 3450 ) and Nvidia ( GeForce 8400 GS ). The power consumption is also almost identical. Two of the graphics cards can communicate with each other directly via the PCI Express bus and thus increase performance.

Chrome 500

S3 Chrome 540 GTX with 256MiB Ram

In the winter of 2008, S3 Graphics introduced another series of graphics chips for the desktop with the Chrome 500 series. The successor to the Chrome 400 series includes a first model with the name Chrome 530 GT , but the changes to the predecessor are not yet known. The first pictures show a similarity to the Chrome 440 GTX; according to S3, the performance should be comparable to that of a Radeon HD 4350 .

The DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 3.0 interfaces are supported, the connection is via PCI Express 2.0.

Graphics processors

Overview of graphics chips from the S3 Graphics Chrome series
Graphics chip	production			units						DirectX / OpenGL version	Video processor	cutting stelle
	Process (in nm)	Transistors (in millions)	The face (in mm)	ROPs	Unified shaders			TAUs	TMUs
	Process (in nm)	Transistors (in millions)	The face (in mm)	ROPs	Stream processors	Shader units	Shader cluster	TAUs	TMUs
DeltaChrome S4	130	?	92	4th	?	?	1	?	4th	9.0b / 2.0	Chromotion	AGP 8x
DeltaChrome S8	130	?	92	8th	?	?	1	?	8th	9.0b / 2.0	Chromotion	AGP 8x
GammaChrome	130	?	92	4th	?	?	1	?	4th	9.0b / 2.0	Chromotion 2.0	PCIe
Chrome S20	90	?	92	4th	?	?	1	?	8th	9.0b / 2.0	Chromotion 3.0	PCIe
Chrome 400	65	196	85	4th	?	?	1	?	4th	10.1 / 3.0	ChromotionHD	PCIe 2.0
Chrome 500	65	?	85	4th	?	?	1	?	4th	10.1 / 3.0	ChromotionHD	PCIe 2.0

IGPs

UniChrome and UniChrome Pro

Under the name UniChrome, the graphics core developed as Zoetrope ( AlphaChrome / Savage XP ) has been integrated into a large number of chipsets from VIA Technologies . These IGPs are primarily intended for office PCs and are essentially not suitable for 3D games.

Technically, UniChrome is a DirectX 7 chip, but without a hardware T&L unit. The difference between UniChrome and UniChrome Pro lies in an improved video engine ( Chromotion engine ).

Chrome9 HC

In autumn 2005 , the VIA K8M890, the first IGP with the Chrome9-HC graphics core (also known as DeltaChrome IGP ), was presented. This IGP solution is based on the DeltaChrome and thus offers full DirectX 9 support. It is to be expected that the Chrome9-HC graphics core will be integrated into many future VIA-IGPs, as the Aero surface of Windows Vista requires a DirectX-9-capable graphics card.

Model data

Overview of graphics card models of the S3 Graphics Chrome series
model	Month year	Graphics processor (GPU)			Graphics memory			TDP ( watt )	Others
model	Month year	Type	Chip clock (MHz)	Shader clock (MHz)	Size ( MB )	Clock rate (MHz)	Type	TDP ( watt )	Others
DeltaChrome S4	07/2003	DeltaChrome S4	325	-	256	325	128 bit DDR	?	-
OmniChrome	?	DeltaChrome S4	?	-	256	?	128 bit DDR	?	DeltaChrome S4 + ViVo function
DeltaChrome S8	07/2003	DeltaChrome S8	300	-	256	300	128 bit DDR	?	-
GammaChrome S18 Pro	03/2004	GammaChrome	400	-	256	200	128 bit GDDR2	?	-
Chrome S25	11/2005	Chrome S20	500	-	256/512	400	64/128 bit GDDR2	?	MultiChrome
Chrome S27 LP	11/2005	Chrome S20	500	-	128	400	128 bit GDDR2	?	MultiChrome , low profile
Chrome S27	11/2005	Chrome S20	650	-	128	650	128 bit GDDR3	?	MultiChrome
Chrome S27	11/2005	Chrome S20	700	-	256	650	128 bit GDDR3	?	MultiChrome
Chrome 430 GT	03/2008	Chrome 400	625	900	256	500	64 bit GDDR2	?	MultiChrome
Chrome 440 GTX	05/2008	Chrome 400	725	1200	256	700	64 bit GDDR3	?	MultiChrome
Chrome 530 GT	11/2008	Chrome 500	625	900	512	500	64 bit GDDR2	?	MultiChrome
Chrome 540 GTX	02/2009	Chrome 500	800	1200	256	850	64 bit GDDR3	?	MultiChrome

Notes :

The specified clock rates are those recommended or specified by S3 Graphics. However, the final specification of the clock rates is in the hands of the respective graphics card manufacturer. It is therefore quite possible that there are or will be graphics card models that have different clock rates.
The date indicated is the date of the public presentation, not the date of availability of the models.

Performance data

The following theoretical performance data result for the respective models:

Theoretical performance data S3 Graphics Chrome series
model	Computing power via the stream processors ( GFlops )	Pixel fill rate of the graphics processor (MPixels / s)	Texelfüllrate of the graphics processor ( MT / s)	Data transfer rate to graphics memory ( GB / s)
DeltaChrome S4	-	1300	1300	10.4
OmniChrome	-	?	?	?
DeltaChrome S8	-	2400	2400	9.6
GammaChrome S18 Pro	-	1600	1600	6.4
Chrome S25	-	2000	4000	6.4
Chrome S27 LP	-	2000	4000	6.4
Chrome S27	-	2600	5200	10.4
Chrome S27	-	2800	5600	10.4
Chrome 430 GT	29	2500	2500	8.0
Chrome 440 GTX	38	2900	2900	11.2
Chrome 530 GT	29	2500	2500	8.0
Chrome 540 GTX	38	3200	3200	13.6