S3 Chrome

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S3 Graphics' Chrome series of graphics accelerators arrived in 2004 with the DeltaChrome line of chips. They are designed to be used as discrete, mobile, and integrated graphics solutions.

[edit] Overview

In 2004, VIA attempted to re-launch the S3 Graphics name with updated discrete hardware, but performance was still far adrift from NVIDIA and ATI Technologies. However, the low power requirements and high-definition output of the Chrome range make it attractive for small form factor scenarios.

The Chrome series, excluding perhaps the unreleased Savage XP/AlphaChrome, supports Direct3D 9 with full pixel shader 2.0 support.

S3's AcceleRAM technology is similar to ATI's HyperMemory and nVIDIA's TurboCache, where system RAM is used as the video card's memory, but there is also a small amount of local memory on the video card itself acting as a cache.

Furthermore, the MultiChrome technology is equivalent to ATI CrossFire and nVIDIA's SLI.

[edit] Models

Chronological order

Chip	Release	Die process	Core clock	Pipeline¹	Vertex Shaders	Memory clock	Memory interface	Notes
Savage XP (AlphaChrome)	6/2002	0.15						DDR SDRAM. Unreleased.
DeltaChrome S4 Pro	mid 2004	0.13	300 MHz	4/4/4	2	300 MHz	128 bit	Shader Model 2
DeltaChrome S8	mid 2004	0.13	300 MHz	8/8/8	4	300 MHz	128 bit	Shader Model 2
DeltaChrome S8 Nitro	mid 2004	0.13	315 MHz	8/8/8	4	315 MHz	128 bit	Shader Model 2
DeltaChrome S8 ULP	mid 2004	0.13	200 MHz	8/8/8	4	300 MHz	128 bit	Shader Model 2
GammaChrome S18 CE	3/2005	0.13	400 MHz	4/4/4	4	300 MHz	128 bit	Shader Model 2
GammaChrome S18 PRO	3/2005	0.13	300 MHz	4/4/4	4	300 MHz	128 bit	Shader Model 2
Chrome S25	11/2005	0.09	600 MHz	4/8/8	4	400 MHz	32-64 bit	PCIe. DDR1 or DDR2. AcceleRAM.
Chrome S27	11/2005	0.09	700 MHz	4/8/8	4	700 MHz	128 bit	PCIe. DDR1, DDR2, or GDDR3. MultiChrome