Making the most of S3 - two S27 video cards in the MultiChrome mode
Date: 10.05.2006
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S3 Chrome S27
Now let's see what the top-end S3's video card Chrome S27 looks live. We received the video card to our lab just in the very option it is available on sale (in the US retail, of course).
The appearance of the front side of the box is strict and concise. It has a black background, a "S3 Graphics" logo, and a list of major advantages of the video card.
The reverse side of the box contains a more detailed description of the video card's features, with a substantial part devoted to the HDTV support and Chromotion Video Engine features - hardware engine embedded into the chip which improves the video playback quality.
The package bundle is rather modest - a drivers CD, a HDTV-out cable, a DVI/D-Sub adapter, and a small leaflet on video card's installation - a Quick Installation Guide.
The video differs in compact size, and half of the PCB is closed with a radiator of formidable dimensions, with a heat pipe running over to the reverse side of the PCB.
As was expected, on the reverse side of the video card there is the second half of the radiator.
To facilitate understanding of the cooler's design, let's bring in its photo taken when dismantled. As is seen from the photo, the heat pipe is positioned in a semicircular depression of the radiator and is closed on top with an aluminum lid. A similar structure is used also in the second half of the radiator. When installing on top of the video card, the radiators are fastened to one another with screws via reach-through holes in the PCB.
As is usual, the most interesting is hidden under the radiator. On the front side of the PCB we see a video chip and 4 memory chips. The semitransparent silicone drops act as restricting poles used to prevent splitting of the GPU chip on installing a radiator.
On the reverse side under the radiator, there are contact pads for 4 additional memory chips, that is, it is possible that video card versions with doubled memory capacity may emerge.
The core of the video chip is amazing for its tiny size. On the other hand, it is no wonder because the chip is made following the 90-nm process technology and contains a relative small number of functional blocks. The nominal operating frequency of the core is 700 MHz, which is an absolute record for video cards to date (for frequencies set by video card manufacturers). However, even 700 MHz for the core is not yet a limit. We'll be talking about the overclocking a bit later.
The video card uses 256 MB of DDR3 video memory assembled of 4 Samsung chips of 1.4 ns access time, which is equivalent to 1400 MHz operating frequency. That is the frequency the memory runs by default. As was mentioned earlier, the PCB used allows easily doubling the video memory capacity to 512 MB whenever necessary.
At that, we stop introducing to the exterior of Chrome S27 and move on to the tests.
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