14 DAY TRIAL // S3 Graphics has just introduced its next-generation of Chrome 500 graphics processors, coming to build on the company's successful product family that delivers one of the most power-efficient GPU architectures on the market. The new series of discrete graphics solutions comes with a PCI Express 2.0 interface, just like all of the latest high-end graphics on the market, and provides support for the latest Blu-ray playback, streaming HD video, Microsoft's DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 3.0 applications on both Windows and Linux operating systems.
"S3 Graphics has built upon the success of the Chrome 400 Series with another GPU line that fulfills user demand of a superior visual experience and product that extends beyond just graphics," said Dr. Ken Weng, GM for S3 Graphics. "Our latest Chrome 500 supports features that surpass those found in higher end products, like high quality HD video support. This truly is a power-efficient multimedia / multi-application processor that delivers."
Some of the features of the new line of graphics cards include, as already noted, support for Microsoft's DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 3.0, which will enable computer users to enjoy some of the latest gaming applications on the market. In addition, the S3 Graphics Chrome series comes with built-in GPGPU (General Purpose GPU) technology, which can benefit applications that deal with image processing, video transcoding, game physics and others. Also, as with all of the latest graphics cards released on the market, the latest line from S3 Graphics comes built on a PCI Express 2.0 bus technology, providing a high bandwidth for performance-demanding applications.
As part of the just announced Chrome 500 series, a new graphics card has also been released, the Chrome 530GT, which has been designed to provide an excellent Blu-ray viewing experience, integrating HDCP-capable DVI-I and HDMI ports. The card's power consumption specifications, of 25W, make it an ideal choice for an HTPC. Moreover, it comes with a GPU clock speed of 625MHz and 512MB of 62-bit DDR2 memory, which has been set to work at 500MHz.
Regarding pricing and availability, the company has revealed that the new graphics card is now available for a low price of $44.95 on the GStore online retail outlet.