X-bit labs

S3 Chrome S27 Graphics Processor Review: Worthy Performance for Its Class? (page 12)

Category: Video

by Alexey Stepin , Anton Shilov

[ 12/29/2005 | 12:11 PM ]

Performance in First-Person 3D Shooters

Battlefield

The Chrome S27 has a high enough speed at the beginning – almost on the same level with the RADEON X1300 PRO and the GeForce 6600 GDDR2, but then slows down to below the level of the GeForce 6600 in 1280x1024. Even the high frequencies of the GPU and memory can’t help here much. S3’s driver probably needs improvement as is also suggested by the hang-up when the level is loaded at the “eye candy” settings. You can still play this game on the S3 Chrome S27 in low resolutions, but the frame rate may bottom out below the comfortable 30fps in some scenes. By the way, a frame rate of 30fps is the playable minimum for any game, but you’ll want an average performance of 50-60fps for comfortable play in first-person 3D shooters.

The Chronicles of Riddick

The new graphics card is surprisingly fast in The Chronicles of Riddick , considering that this is an OpenGL application and only NVIDIA currently has an effective OpenGL driver. The S3 Chrome S27 even leaves the GeForce 6600 behind – the older model with 250 (500) MHz DDR memory. The newer GeForce 6600 GDDR2 is almost as fast the new S3 card in high resolutions. S3’s driver doesn’t support FSAA in OpenGL applications, so there are no “eye candy” results here.