S3 Graphics Interview
More DeltaChrome Info Straight From the Source...

By, Marco Chiappetta
April 13, 2004


7) If you had to pick one specific feature of the DeltaChrome architecture to evangelize to the enthusiast community, what would it be?

Nadeem: Hi-Def DirectX-9 has been our Tag line for the DeltaChrome family of products and it really does live up to that statement! Enjoying some of todays hot games on a big screen TV with surround sound is an amazing experience. DeltaChromes eight pipelines work even more efficiently when resolution is increased which is important when using 720p and even 1080p resolutions.



8) Does S3 plan to implement some sort of mechanism for users of your products to report bugs, or request new features? Something along the lines of ATis Catalyst Crew program.

John: Currently we are working with our ISV partners on reporting any bugs or issues with our current and legacy hardware. We are in discussion on an option to use our current Partner's Portal (FTP) to allow our OEM customers to report bugs to us. I think it not unlikely that this feature will make it in some form to end users via our website.



9) What is S3s stance on application specific driver optimizations?

Nadeem: We do not support or endorse any benchmark optimizations which do not benefit other applications. If we find that we can improve the performance for real applications or game engines with some specific optimization we will certainly roll those changes into our general releases as long as there is no negative impact on general quality or compatibility.

 

10) Does S3 plan to support Linux or 64-Bit versions of Windows in the future?

John: We already have a working 64-bit driver that is being tested internally in our Q&A test group. There is already limited Linux driver support for some of our legacy GPU product family such as Savage4 (394-398), Twister (380, 381, 387) & Savage/MX-/IX (290-299) on our driver page at http://www.s3graphics.com/Drivers.html. Support for Linux drivers on DeltaChrome and future S3 Graphics products will be announced in near future.

 

11) With the High Definition output and image processing capabilities of the Delta Chrome, it seems like a natural for a combination HD TV Tuner/3D Gaming card, similar to ATis All In Wonder product line. Are any products like these planned on your roadmap and if so, will we see a High Def DTV tuner integrated a product like this?

Nadeem: We have announced the OmniChrome which is a full DirectX9 multimedia solution based on DeltaChrome S4 Nitro. It features the same HDTV output and also component input for video capture. The OmniChrome also features a NTSC or PAL TV tuner. Were pretty exciting about this since it does mark the start of a whole range of products which will compete with ATIs AIW line.



12) Whats on the horizon for S3, in terms of enthusiast 3D Graphics? Are there any NV40 or R420 killers planned or is S3 targeting more main-stream mid range products?

Nadeem: Its always very desirable to make super high end chips and I can tell you our engineers are always pushing for us to support such projects we can make monster chips just as good as the next guy. So the problem is not one of technical capabilities as much as strategy. We want to make products which are affordable and provide high value if we had made a monster-GPU we would have had to amortize its R&D costs over the rest of product line. I suspect most folks who are buying mainstream products dont know that they are subsidizing the price of those huge fans with graphics board attached.

 

Thanks for your time Nadeem and John!  We appreciate the insight youve given us here. Best of luck to you and S3 in the months ahead!

Nadeem & John: Thank you for hosting questions which we're sure many of your viewers' have voiced in the last review.


We'll keep you posted on future developments and product launches with S3 Graphics, DeltaChrome and beyond.  Stay tuned here for details in the months ahead.

 

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