X-bit labs

The DeltaChrome S4 Pro: S3 Graphics' Entry-Level Offspring

Category: Video

by Alexey Stepin , Tim Tscheblockov, Anton Shilov,

[ 07/14/2004 | 05:29 PM ]

S3 Graphics has finally uncovered its graphics processor for entry-level market segment that will be opposed to integrated chipsets along with low-end graphics cards. The DeltaChrome S4 Pro inherited all the capabilities found in the more advanced S8 chip, but is it enough to become the king of the entry-level market?

Table of contents:

• S3 DeltaChrome S4 Pro Chip Under Investigation
  
• Closer Look
  
• Unique DeltaChrome Features: S3 Duo Rotate
  
• Unique DeltaChrome Features: HDTV, DVD, MPEG4 Playback
  
• DeltaChrome S4 Pro: Market Positioning
  
• Testbed and Methods
  
• Performance in First-Person Shooters:
  
• Call of Duty
  
• RTCW: Enemy Territory
  
• Unreal Tournament 2004
  
• Painkiller
  
• FarCry
  
• Highly Anticipated DirectX 9.0 Game 1
  
• Performance in Third-Person Shooters
  
• Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
  
• Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
  
• Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
  
• Performance in Simulators
  
• IL-2 Sturmovik: Aces in the Sky
  
• Colin McRae Rally 04
  
• 3D Real-Time Strategy Games
  
• C&C Generals: Zero Hour
  
• Performance in Semi-Synthetic Benchmarks
  
• Final Fantasy XI Official Benchmark 2
  
• Performance in Synthetic Benchmarks
  
• Futuremark 3DMark03 build 340
  
• Conclusion
  

Introduction

Despite the numerous announcements of the DeltaChrome graphics processors, we still do not feel the presence of S3 Graphics in the desktop graphics market. We tried searching for any offers of the kind with the help of Xbitlabs.Dealtime.com, PriceWatch.com and PriceGrabber.com, but all in vain: we found not a single offer connected with DeltaChrome. Moreover, this graphics processor was simply absent in the list of search results. The situation seems to be a little bit better in Europe and Asia, as S3 Graphics based products seem to be available for purchase, although you will still have to overcome a number of difficulties on the way to getting this solution in possession.

We get the impression that the company is not at all interested in pushing its products to the store shelves. In fact, this pretty categorical statement is not quite correct: do not forget that getting to the desktop graphics market requires a lot of effort and financial investments. And all this is very unlikely to pay back within a short period of time. That is why the intention of S3 Graphics to “return” to the market deserves certain credit.

However, besides, retail sales the DeltaChrome architecture also has one more interesting prospective: this solution has every chance to become a part of the integrated chipsets, since S3 Graphics actually belongs to one of the largest chipset developers: VIA Technologies Company. The new graphics core is exactly the component that VIA Technologies currently needs more than anything else for its new integrated solutions. So far they are using the pretty outdated UniChrome graphics core, which dates back to the times of S3 Savage, and looks absolutely uncompetitive especially against the background of such integrated graphics rivals as Intel Graphics media Accelerator 900, ATI RADEON 9100 IGP and NVIDIA nForce2 IGP. This is exactly why the development and introduction of the new graphics core is so important for VIA nowadays.