DeltaChrome’s ultra efficient design doubles the competition’s 3D pipelines in the same silicon area, delivering premium 3D graphics performance and stunning Hi-Def™ HDTV display and Chromotion™ programmable video engine effects to every level of the desktop market

Fremont, California, 13 March 2003 - S3 Graphics, Inc., a leading supplier to the 3D graphics accelerator market, today announced the full DirectX 9.0-compatible 3D graphics product family for the desktop market, with aggressive pricing on this design efficient range aimed at driving market adoption of DirectX 9.0 technology and enhancing the 3D graphics and visual display experience across the board.

The DeltaChromeF1 series will serve the high end 8-pixel pipeline performance segment, bringing impressive performance metrics to the premium and gaming desktop space with up to 256MB of video memory; for the mainstream segment, characterized by 4-pixel pipeline designs from the competition, DeltaChromeS8 will dominate with a full 8-pipe architecture providing a clear price/performance advantage, while the cost effective, cutting edge DeltaChromeS4 series brings sophisticated DirectX 9.0 performance at previous generation prices. All DeltaChrome desktop products have on-chip Hi-Def HDTV-out and the revolutionary Chromotion Programmable Video Engine to ensure ultimate visual output quality.

"With DeltaChrome, S3 Graphics is providing our customers and ultimately end-users with affordable DirectX 9.0 compatible hardware at the appropriate time," said Dr. Gerry Liu, Vice President of Marketing at S3 Graphics, Inc. "We are adding value to every segment of the desktop market with DeltaChrome. For the high end, we make the superior 8-pipe 256MB DirectX 9.0 class graphics affordable; for the mainstream, we are packing incredible graphics computing power with our 8-pipe architecture; and for the value segment, we offer true DirectX 9.0 for all users."

"Microsoft is thrilled with the strong support of S3 Graphics and their DeltaChrome desktop graphics processors," said Dean Lester, General Manager of Windows Graphics and Gaming Technologies. "Our standard programmable pixel shader technology combined with DeltaChrome's features such as HDTV-out will result in serving the broader gaming community with a wide variety of solutions."

DeltaChrome desktop products feature 0.13 micron wafer technology to make practical application of DirectX 9.0 possible given the very large transistor counts involved, and to ensure lower power consumption. With DeltaChrome, S3 Graphics has successfully increased the efficiency of design to save up to 50% in silicon area compared to other DirectX 9.0 implementations.

About S3 Graphics DeltaChrome

The S3 Graphics DeltaChrome display core is the most efficient and sophisticated ever to be designed for the demanding PC market. The 8-pixel pipeline, each 128-bit, 3D engine boasts an amazing 2.4 Giga-pixels per second fill rate for a truly immersive 3D experience in 3D applications, while the programmable Pixel Shader 2.0+ and Vertex Shader 2.0+ implementation in hardware is above and beyond Microsoft DirectX 9.0 requirements. The ground-breaking Advanced Deferred Rendering™ technology dramatically increases the efficiency of the 3D engine for maximum performance beyond standard z-culling technology, and the programmable floating point render target and blending will set a new standard for accuracy and quality in 3D effects for a surreal gaming experience. Moreover, PicturePerfect™ full-screen anti-aliasing technology will reward the end user with an elegant realistic image for all connected displays.

All DeltaChrome products include the industry's first integrated Hi-Def HDTV encoder for true high definition display devices up to an incredible 1080 progressive lines of resolution. Real computing and Internet content can be viewed in all its glory when an HDTV capable device is connected directly to the DeltaChrome family of products. Moreover, when combined with the new Chromotion programmable video engine, the result is picture perfect on your HDTV.

The revolutionary Chromotion programmable video engine technology in DeltaChrome will allow flexibility and quality not previously achievable. Chromotion enables the processing of compressed and raw video streams as well as ingenious post processing for film-like video from any video source such as MPEG-2/4, webcasts and WMV8/9. Support for Microsoft VMR front-end processing for pixel adaptive de-interlacing, programmable video scaling and video compositing as well as traditional video overlay support ensures future-proof video for the end user. For the professional video graphic artist, Chromotion offers real time video filter effects for creative muscle.

About the S3 Graphics DeltaChrome Desktop Series
The S3 Graphics DeltaChrome desktop series can be summarized according to the three distinct market segments targeted: Performance, Mainstream and Value.

DeltaChromeF1: Performance Series
World's first 0.13 micron 8-pipeline GFX engine
Up to 256MB of memory
DirectX 9.0 compatible
Native HDTV-out
Chromotion Programmable Video Engine

DeltaChromeS8: Mainstream Series
A true 8-pipeline GFX engine
Up to 128MB of memory
DirectX 9.0 compatible
Native HDTV-out
Chromotion Programmable Video Engine

DeltaChromeS4: Value Series
The lowest cost DirectX 9.0 solution on the market
Up to 128MB of memory
DirectX 9.0 compatible
Native HDTV-out
Chromotion Programmable Video Engine



About S3 Graphics, Inc.

S3 Graphics, Inc., a VIA Technologies joint venture company, is a leading supplier to the 3D enabled PC graphics market it pioneered. Today, S3 Graphics ships low power, high performance, Commercial Grade 3D graphics sub-systems to top tier notebook manufacturers. In addition, S3 Graphics integrates market-leading chipset technology from VIA Technologies, Inc. into shared memory architecture products for the high volume, value PC market. Headquartered in Fremont, California, S3 Graphics has a long-term commitment to top performance, quality and state-of-the-art features for desktop and mobile applications. Additional information can be found at the Company’s website at http://www.s3graphics.com.