Making the most of S3 - two S27 video cards in the MultiChrome mode
Date: 10.05.2006
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S3 Graphics has not only produced a full-fledged product but also presented its own technology for merging performance of two video cards, named the MultiChrome. As is easy to guess, the prefix "Multi" just implies the possibility of joint operation for several merged video cards. For now, we can state with absolute confidence that at least two video cards can be operated in the MultiChrome mode. The matter of consolidating performance of more than two video cards by S3 Graphics is still open, but in my view there aren't any obstacles for that. Let me explain why.
Engineers at S3 Graphics addressed the task of consolidating performance of two video cards pragmatically (in the good sense of that). All what is needed to produce the MultiChrome mode from two Chrome series video cards is two onboard PCI-E slots running at the same speed, that is, in the symmetrical mode. Of course, since S3 Graphics is a subsidiary of VIA, it is recommended to use the MultiChrome mode on motherboards built on the VIA K8T900 chipset. As we had already the chance to make sure - those who will follows this recommendation will not lose in 3D performance at all. Owners of other motherboards that support PCI-E slots in the symmetrical mode don't have to rush about either. The MultiChrome works fine with other chipsets and without any tricks like modified drivers. For instance, on our test bench where ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe is used, the MultiChrome mode was enabled without problems and the test results didn't make any difference from those produced with VIA K8T900. Once again, S3 Graphics has proved our surmise that video cards don't have to use the native chipset to be able to operate in the mode of merged performance. Who knows whether such simplicity to chipsets will stay on from S3 Graphics if the company will ever take a position on par with ATI and NVIDIA. Time will tell. But for now let's take a closer look into MultiChrome on our customary test bench
 As I already stated, to enable the MultiChrome mode, the PCI-Express slots should be first switched to the symmetrical mode. In our test bench that means switching from 16+1 to 8+8. That done and video drivers installed, on the S3Config3D tab there appears the "MultiChrome" option together with the possibility to select options for OpenGL and Direct3D.
 Then, to enable the MultiChrome mode, it suffices to select the "Enable MultiChrome" option and press the "Apply" button. After that, a message asking to confirm enabling the option will be displayed. We press "Yes" and get the MultiChrome up and running. On the screenshot, you can see options selectable for the MultiChrome mode. Unfortunately the option of selecting the rendering turned out to be disabled. Therefore, we were unable to forcedly select a certain frame rendering mode - AFR or SFR - and had to rely upon the driver's intelligence in choosing the most suitable mode automatically. These are the conditions in which we were running the tests. As regards the full-screen anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering, this time as well we decided not to enable these options due to the same reasons as described for testing a single Chrome S27 video card.
Test setup
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PCI-E
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CPU
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MB
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Memory
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OS
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WinXP + SP2 + DirectX 9.0c
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PSU
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We used S3 Graphics drivers of version 15.18.05l (dated April 12, 2006)
Below are the results for testing two Chrome S27 video cards in the MultiChrome S27 mode as compared to the same but single video card. The video cards were running at the nominal frequencies.
3DMark
Half-Life 2
DOOM3
F.E.A.R.
As you can seem the boost gained through merging two Chrome S27 video cards is there and quite substantial. In order to give a better estimate of the relative boost, we are bringing in an assembled diagram in which the performance boost percentage gained due to MultiChrome as compared to that of a single video card.
 Well, we have never seen that before. The 88.5% performance boost is really something unheard of! Of course, 3DMark'05 is synthetics where everything is possible, but the figure is anyway impressive indeed. In real applications, the performance boost proved somehow lower, but also on par. However, there were some surprises. We saw no performance boost in Half-Life 2. Interestingly, the video card usage indicator which can be enabled on the S3Config3D tab showed that in Half-Life 2 only one card was operating. So the results don't make difference from those for a single video card. I presume it is related to incorrect behavior of the video driver which did not decide which rendering mode to choose. Perhaps, with the manual rendering mode selected we would have produced a different pattern of results. However, this feature is still disabled in the drivers.
Summary
On the whole, despite some flaws, we must admit that MultiChrome is a real working technology that demonstrates a superb result! What is especially interesting is that even in the MultiChrome section at the official web site of S3 Graphics there are figured which prove lower than those which we produced during the tests. Indeed, this modesty is worth of imitation.
As was expected, the S3 Graphics Chrome S20 series chips do not pretend for the title of a new king of 3D graphics market. At the same time, it offers a sufficient set of characteristics to become quite an everyday thing as part of home-based and office systems, value "digital homes", whatever TV-boxes. By the way, I presume no one will be surprised to see that with the start of a mass production of VIA C7-M processors and S3 Graphics Chrome S25/S2 graphics, the VIA EDEN platform will acquire "the second wind" and will be able to take a place of more dignity.
Finally, a few of words on the future prospects. Presumably, engineers at S3 Graphics are already busy developing a new generation of their 3D processors. There is every reason to assume that the high enough potentials inherent to the current generation of chips, namely, in the possibility of support for clock speeds as high as 700 MHz and even more, in the flexible memory interface, in the modern HDTV Chromotion 3.0 video engine will let S3 Graphics in future improve these advantages and claim of itself as an "equal inter pares" on the market of 3D graphics. Why not?
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