I'd never buy one myself since t doesn't have SM3 support and performance is likely to be too low. However it might be good for somebody looking for a cheap system who does only casual gaming. But these people need stable, BUG FREE, drivers more than anybody else. Did S3 have good drivers for the DeltaChrome? They've promised good drivers in the past and failed to deliver, why would it be any different this time?

I'm curious... why do you need SM3.0? Whose KoolAid have you been drinking? Let me guess. It wouldn't be Nvidia, would it?

I was talking to some of the people from S3Graphics at the GDC show in San Fran last week (held at the Moscone center) and judging from their comments, this S18 chip should emerge as healthy competition to the ATI X600Pro. If the S18 runs at core clock of 500Mhz and memory clock of 400Mhz, it could easily achieve a 3DMark05 score of 1700 or more. Although 3Dmark05 is a synthetic benchmark, that kind of performance is not sloppy at all. They even said they're seeing FarCry frame rates of between 23 and 29fps depending on the "demo scene". Also, they claiimed the OGL performance is quite a bit faster than it was on the Deltachrome family. all in all, I am impressed with this product; if they can ship the 128MB version for less than $119, I would be seriously interested in buying it.

Looks good!

I would buy it in favor of any ati or nvidia card, because of the video features.

I dont care of FSAA ou AF, i dont bother turning them on, on my 9700 card, but the compatibility with games is very important.

Nvidia and Ati are nearly at the perfection point when it comes to drivers. Theres no need for any other competition. BSOD's for me are a thing of the past.

Excellent vid-out features! Sounds like the card i need for my system... but where to buy?

"where to buy"?
ah, good question. And this is really the bane of S3Graphics' existence. They cannot ship their products in volume because of their inability to win a 'name brand' card manufacturer as a customer. If every one of these gfx card companies continues to give them the cold shoulder, they will forever remain a wallflower.

hello

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does xbit have a card to review or does s3 still need to send a sample?

I wish they will be done susscesful as nvidia and ati card. good luck S3