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
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
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
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 | ||||||
Stream processors |
Shader units |
Shader cluster |
||||||||||
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
model | Month year | Graphics processor (GPU) | Graphics memory |
TDP ( watt ) |
Others | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Type | Chip clock (MHz) |
Shader clock (MHz) |
Size ( MB ) |
Clock rate (MHz) |
Type | ||||
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:
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 |
Notes :
- The specified performance values for the computing power via the stream processors, the pixel fill rate, the texel fill rate and the memory bandwidth are theoretical maximum values. The overall performance of a graphics card depends, among other things, on how well the available resources can be used or fully utilized. There are also other factors that are not listed here that affect performance.
- The specified computing power via the stream processors refers to the use of both MUL operations, which is not achieved with graphics shader calculations, since further calculations have to be carried out. In these calculations, the computing power of the stream processors is therefore lower.
See also
- S3 Savage family
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ WinFuture: S3: New graphics chips as an alternative to Nvidia & AMD , Roland Quandt, February 15, 2008 ; Retrieved December 7, 2016 .
- ↑ Test: S3 Chrome 430 GT at computerbase.de
- ↑ computerbase.de