S3 Chrome 460: PCGHX member showcases prototype of never-released DX10 graphics card
S3 Graphics worked on the Destination 2 and 3 GPUs in 2007, but only released two graphics cards based on the lower-performing D3 design. Many years later, community member Loeschzwerg came across an evaluation sample of the S3 Chrome 460 with D2 GPU. Before tests can be carried out, however, the card must first be repaired.
In 2007, S3 Graphics developed two different GPUs for the Chrome 400 series. The graphics processor known as Destination 3 (D3) with approx. 196 million transistors and DirectX 10.1 feature set was created in the 65 nm process at Fujitsu and was used for the Chrome 430 GT and Chrome 440 GTX models released in 2008. In terms of performance, the Chrome 430 GT duel with the low-budget solutions Geforce 8400 GS and Radeon HD 3450, the Chrome 440 GTX took on Nvidia’s Geforce 8500 GT. However, both S3 graphics cards were practically only available as imports in German-speaking countries.
The graphics chip Destination 2 (D2) would have ranked higher in terms of performance, was considered ready for publication in 2007 and was still produced in the 90 nm process, also at Fujitsu. However, the planned Chrome 450 and 460 models never saw the light of day. Community member Loeschzwerg in the PCGHX forum underlines that development was well advanced uploaded artwork. The collector of rare graphics cards has come into possession of a prototype, specifically an evaluation sample. However, the graphics card is not yet functional; Löschzwerg hopes to be able to breathe life back into the S3 card by replacing several electrolytic capacitors and a blown SMD capacitor on the back of the board. The model is apparently equipped with 256 MiByte DDR2 RAM from Qimonda and 2× DVI and 1× S-Video. The single-slot cooler and the lack of additional power sockets indicate low power consumption, according to the PCI Express specification a maximum of 75 watts.
A notice: PCGH Extreme is the community for PC screwdrivers. On August 20, 2007, the PC Games Hardware Extreme Forum opened its doors to interested readers for the first time on the occasion of the Games Convention 2007. In the beginning the forum was run parallel to the old PCGH forum and its content was almost exclusively about overclocking and case modding. Since 2008, PC Games Hardware Extreme has been the only forum for all PCGH community members, covering a wide range of topics. Since launch, over 520,000 topics and over 10,100,000 posts have been created by more than 200,000 registered users. The Folding@Home association has been very active for many yearscommunitywho together provide computing power against diseases such as cancer.
Reference-www.pcgameshardware.de