X-bit labs

S3 Chrome S27 Graphics Processor Review: Worthy Performance for Its Class? (page 16)

Category: Video

by Alexey Stepin , Anton Shilov

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

F.E.A.R.

The improved shader code compiler and the longer maximum length of an instruction seem to affect positively the performance of the new GPU from S3. In this shader-heavy game the Chrome S27 left behind the 8-pipelined RADEON X700 and the complex-shader-optimized RADEON X1300 PRO, and the new GeForce 6600, too. Of course, the clock rates contribute a lot to this result, especially in high resolutions. None of the participating graphics cards can give out a playable frame rate in this game, though, so the numbers are of purely theoretical interest to us.

Project: Snowblind

The S3 Chrome S27 follows behind the GeForce 6600 GDDR2 in this test, and is also outperformed by the RADEON X700 in 1280x1024. Even in the “eye candy” mode the new graphics card is as fast as 36-40fps – the performance hit from super-sampling is compensated by the fast memory this card is equipped with.