14 DAY TRIAL // S3 Graphics, a low-end graphics processing unit developing outfit and a subsidiary of Via Technologies talks about the release of a line of products compatible with the latest graphics API from Microsoft, the DirectX 10. The incoming chips are named Chrome 4 and they are expected to hit the market by the year's end and while this move will allow S3 to revive some of its graphics cards business it will not mean a triumphant return to the global discrete graphics market.
The VIA division planned a next generation of graphics chips as a two fold marketing and manufacturing maneuver, as the company will release two graphics processing chips, the Chrome 460 and the Chrome 430. The 430 variant will be produced with the 65nm fabrication technology and it will supposedly feature DirectX 10.1support, while the Chrome 460 model will be built using the 90nm process and it will be fully compatible with Microsoft's DirectX 10. Apart from the compliance with the latest graphics API the two Chrome chips will also come with integrated and native support for HDMI connector as well as HDCP and of course they will provide native support for the PCI Express 1.0 interface.
Manufactured by Fujitsu foundries, both S3 Graphics chips are already in the verification test stage and mass production is expected to start just before the end of the year according to the news site digitimes that was cited by xbitlabs. Aimed at mainstream and entry level markets and users not demanding the highest level of graphics performance, the S3 new generation of graphics processing units has just about no chance of gaining a better position on the discrete cards' market as its main competitors Nvidia and AMD/ATI are far ahead it and they change their products every six or so months while S3 needed two whole years in order to come up with a new design.
S3 Graphics may still produce low-end video processing solutions that are mainly aimed at integration with products developed by its parent company VIA Technologies like chipsets and central processing units which are aimed at low-cost and power effective multimedia computer systems.