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S3
DeltaChrome S8 Drivers |
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Still A Bit Immature |
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After working almost
exclusively with ATi and NVIDIA powered video cards and
drivers over the past few years, we were eager to take a
look at what S3 had in store with the DeltaChrome's driver suite.
Unfortunately, we weren't very impressed with their general
design and overall layout.
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S3Tray Plus |
Chromotion |
D3D |
OpenGL |
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Displays |
Gamma |
Refresh |
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Color |
Info |
Rotate |
After installing the v15.08.09b
drivers, we were greeted by a simple "S3" icon in our system
tray, which was probably the best part of these drivers.
By using the S3Tray Plus icon, users can access any of the
driver panels in a single click, which made it very quick
and easy to tweak the card or enable a certain feature, like
anti-aliasing for example. What we didn't like about
the drivers, however, was the overall design, interface, and
layout. The color scheme used bright contrasting
colors, that seemed to clash and was tough on the eyes.
The graphics, icons and fonts used on the logos also struck
us as looking "chunky" and dated. All of the features
functioned properly though, and we didn't run into any noteworthy
problems, it's just that the driver interface is simply in need of a
major overhaul in our opinion. Under the Direct3D
panel, we found that these drivers only offered up to 2X
anti-aliasing with Direct3D apps, and the AA feature was
missing from the OpenGL tab altogether. Anisotropic
filtering was available on both tabs, all the way up to 16X,
in 1X increments, however, which should allow for some
really fine tuning.
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In-Game Screenshots With The S3 DeltaChrome S8
Nitro |
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How
Does She Compare? |
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S3 DeltaChrome S8
No AA or Aniso
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S3 DeltaChrome S8
2X AA
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S3 DeltaChrome S8
No 8X Aniso
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S3 DeltaChrome S8
2X AA + 8X Aniso
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ATi Radeon 9600 XT
No AA or Aniso
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ATi Radeon 9600 XT
2X AA
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ATi Radeon 9600 XT
8X Aniso
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ATi Radeon 9600 XT
2X AA + 8X Aniso
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GeForce FX 5700 U
No AA or Aniso
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GeForce FX 5700 U
2X AA
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GeForce FX 5700 U
8X Aniso
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GeForce FX 5700 U
2X AA + 8X Aniso
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Before we got to
benchmarking the DeltaChrome S8 and S8 Nitro, we spent some
time gaming and evaluating their in-game image quality with
a variety of applications. The screen shots above were
captured from the same exact frame (1300) in the AquaMark3
benchmark. First we took a shot with no anti-aliasing
or anisotropic filtering whatsoever, then we enabled 2X AA
(the max setting available with the DeltaChrome), then 8X
anisotropic filtering and lastly we enabled AA and Aniso
concurrently. With the Forceware v56.56 drivers, the
Catalyst 4.2s and with S3's v15.08.09b drivers, all three of
the cards produced a an almost identical image at default
settings. Which is a very good sign considering the
relative age of the DeltaChrome. With 2X AA enabled the Radeon 9600 Pro and
DeltaChrome produced the sharper images when compared to the
GeForce FX 5700 Ultra. With 8X anisotropic filtering
enabled, the DeltaChrome seemed to produced the cleanest
image in our opinion. Let's zoom in a bit and take a
closer look...
S3 DeltaChrome S8
No AA
300% Zoom
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Radeon 9600 XT
No AA
300% Zoom
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GeForce FX 5700 U
No AA
300% Zoom
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S3 DeltaChrome S8
2X AA
300% Zoom
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Radeon 9600 XT
2X AA
300% Zoom
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GeForce FX 5700 U
2X AA
300% Zoom
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With the image
enlarged by 300%, we can get a better view of how each card's 2X
AA algorithm effected the jaggies in the scene. Bounce
between each shot, and it's clear the 5700 Ultra's 2X AA
isn't in the same league as either S3's super-sampling
technique or ATi's multi-sampling approach. The jaggies in the DeltaChrome and Radeon 9600 XT images are
less pronounced, but at a setting this low, its tough to get
terribly excited. It's at 4X AA or higher that the jaggies and
shimmering really start to disappear, but unfortunately 4X
AA isn't an option with the DeltaChrome at the moment..
S3 DeltaChrome S8
No Aniso
300% Zoom |
Radeon 9600 XT
No Aniso
300% Zoom |
GeForce FX 5700 U
No Aniso
300% Zoom |
S3 DeltaChrome S8
8X Aniso
300% Zoom |
Radeon 9600 XT
8X Aniso
300% Zoom |
GeForce FX 5700 U
8X Aniso
300% Zoom |
We also zoomed into a portion of the scene with only anisotropic
filtering enabled. In this scenario, it is much more
difficult to define which card has the 'best' anisotropic
filtering. In our opinion, the GeForce FX 5700 Ultra
produced the most realistic looking image, with a general
sharpening of the texture with smoother
transitions between contrasting colors. The S3
DeltaChrome produced the sharpest overall image, with more distinct
transitions. And the Radeon 9600 XT fell somewhere
in-between the two. In the end, it's probably a matter
of personal preference. What we can say is that S3's aniso algorithm works well, which
again is good news considering
the beta state of the hardware and drivers we tested.
The Test System, AquaMark3 & Halo |