At Comdex Fall, Las Vegas, SiS officials some unveiled a number of technical details about the next-generation graphics processors from SiS that will be called the Xabre II. The newcomer seems to be a lot more powerful compared to its predecessor and will be able to compete with midrange solutions from ATI Technologies and NVIDIA in the first half of next year, according to SiS. Therefore, the Hsinchu-based integrated circuit developer will continue to fortify its positions on the graphics market in 2003.

SiS confirmed that the Xabre II VPU is to support the DirectX 9.0 features. Unfortunately, they decided not to go in-depth and to provide more concrete information on the features and capabilities of the product. They admitted that Vertex Shaders 2.0 and Pixel Shaders 2.0 are supported, though, declined to point out if vertex shaders are supported by hardware, or, just like with Xabre GPUs, are simulated by central processing unit. SiS Xabre II VPU features 8 rendering pipelines with one TMU per each, just like the RADEON 9700 and the GeForce FX, the features SiS calls “Octapipe”.

The unit is due to come in the first half of next year and some sources even allude that the part will be unveiled in February, but I should make it clear that at the moment there is no official information about this matter. SiS said that they will manufacture the Xabre II using advanced 0.13 micron fabrication process. Given that other companies usually have a number of difficulties with this technology, SiS may also postpone its part a bit.