Chrome S2X Engineering Samples & new informations
Written by Stefan
Thursday, 08 September 2005
Charlie Demerjian from The Inquirer today wrote, that engineering samples of the upcoming Chrome S2X graphic chip were shown to him at the headquarter of S3 Graphics in the timeframe of the Intel Developer Forum (IDF). He was also allowed to test the chips by himself.
Because the IDF took place at the end of August, you can take the information from this, that S3 has fullfilled his own plans to have engineering samples since July. So they seem to fullfill their new roadmap (we reported). Charlie Demerjian in ske way confirms this, because he promises the availability before Christmas.
Another interesting point is that S3 Graphics states that Chrome S2X will be the highest clocked graphic chip in the market at the time when it becomes available. Therefore you can assume at least 700 MHz - probably even more.
At HEXUS.net there is also an interessting article about Chrome S2X, but no further news except that S3 Graphics has invested in some new hig-end emulators - which of course is very important for the development of Destination Films.
Furthermore there is an interview with Ken Wang, the General Manager of S3 Graphics. He gives some informations about the future plans ad od the current developements. He also indirectly announces that S3 Graphics will attack the hig-end market in the future
At Zol.com.cn there is a news report about Multi-G and they also mention that Chrome S2X will be manufactured in a 90 nm process at Fujitsu. This is surprising because S3 Graphics has used TSMC so far and the two market leaders ATi und nVidia are also using TSMC. But Fujitsu produces the Efficeon CPUs of Transmeta for quite a long time now and it is possible that the process of Fujitsu is better but that they just can't produce enough chips for ATi and nVidia .
This are all very good indicators that this time S3 Graphics can keep its own schedule and reach the targets.
Sources:
The Inquirer: S3 aims at the mid-range
Hexus.net: S3 Graphics Announces Chrome20 Series
Hexus.net: Interview with Ken Weng, S3 Graphics General Manager
Zol.com.cn: "S3 Chrome20 series support similar SLi technology?" (chinese)
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