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Technology Stocks : S3 (A LONGER TERM PERSPECTIVE) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ski who wrote (11842)	8/27/1998 9:20:00 AM
From: mark doubiago	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 14577

See IBM Cobra here: direct.ibm.com No mention of graphics card, though it does 4M of video memory.

To: Ski who wrote (11842)	8/27/1998 8:55:00 PM
From: Synapsid	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14577

The new ATI chip is absolutely monstrous. The feature set seems to be just right for OEM customers, with top-class DVD, 3D and Rage Pro pin-compatibility. I would congratulate you, Ski, but ATI is keeping its mouth shut about performance...not a single pixel rate figure is mentioned. I just wonder whether they know how their production silicon will perform. Super-Scalar sounds nice, but does it work? It is different from the Savage3D because it offers both 64-bit memory version (Rage 128VR), comparable to the Savage3D, and a true 128-bit version (128GL). Moreover, the 64-bit version (128VR) supports Double-Data-Rate SGRAMs, which deliver almost twice as much memory bandwidth as regular SGRAM devices as used by the Savage3D. Also, it is pin-compatible with certain versions of the Rage Pro. Like the Savage3D, ATI uses 0.25 micron process technology. That's the big question. Does ATI have a good fab? Will it have good yield? Do they still depend on S3-owned USC? Also, ATI will be at an advantage if DDR-SGRAMS become cheap and plentiful (if not, I just wonder how a 64-bit Rage 128VR would perform against the Savage3D). I couldn't help making a little table with "hot" 2D/3D accelerators and their memory architecture. Memory Bus width Bandwidth Min. Memory Size Savage3D (SGRAM) 64-bit 1.0 GB/s 2 MB Savage3D (SDRAM) 64-bit 0.8 GB/s 8 MB ATI Rage 128VR (SGRAM) 64-bit 1.1 GB/s 2 MB ATI Rage 128VR (DSGRAM) 64-bit 1.6 GB/s 2 MB ATI Rage 128VR (SDRAM) 64-bit 0.8 GB/s 8 MB ATI Rage 128GL (SGRAM) 128-bit 1.6 GB/s 4 MB ATI Rage 128GL (SDRAM) 128-bit 1.6 GB/s 16 MB RIVA TNT 0.35u (SGRAM) 128-bit ~1.6 GB/s 4 MB RIVA TNT 0.35u (SDRAM) 128-bit ~1.6 GB/s 16 MB 3Dfx Banshee (SGRAM) 128-bit ~2.0 GB/s 4 MB 3Dfx Banshee (SDRAM) 128-bit ~1.6 GB/s 16 MB RIVA TNT 0.25u (DSGRAM) 128-bit ~3.2 GB/s 4 MB Certainly no shortage of fast chips. I think OEMs are getting a bit confused about the memory though.