X-bit labs

S3 GammaChrome S18 Pro Graphics Adapter Review (page 19)

Category: Video

by Alexey Stepin

[ 04/19/2005 | 07:19 PM ]

Conclusion

The performance of our GammaChrome sample turned to be higher than that of the RADEON X300, but lower than that of the RADEON X600 PRO. In some cases the new card was faster than the X600 PRO, though. The value solution from S3 performed well in the video tests, ensuring a low CPU load even during playback of files in the WMV HD format. So, the GammaChrome S18 Pro has a high potential, and that’s nice.

The graphics card on the new GammaChrome S18 processor from S3 Graphics didn’t perform well in our today’s tests probably because of the early driver version and, probably, because of a few issues with the card design. As a result, the device was sometimes unstable – some games would freeze the system soon after their launch. We also saw the display mode reset to 640x480@4bit in 2D applications a few times.

As you may see from our benchmark results, the GammaChrome solution appeared relatively unstable in some tests. A graphics card turned out incompatible with a number of games, so it will be difficult for it to win the hearts of many users this way, no matter how technologically advanced it may be. I am pretty sure that the graphics cards manufacturers would rather prefer to wait until S3 Graphics finalizes this product before the GammaChrome comes to shops. It is of course possible that the problems are only peculiar to our sample of the card, and that the mass production solutions will run better and faster, but we can’t yet reject our suspicions about the early drivers.