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S3's Chrome 500 graphics processors handle Blu-ray, HD video
Movin' on up in the world, are we S3? Just a month after the VIA-owned S3 Graphics returned to the scene with its Chrome 400 line of discrete graphics cards comes this, the predictably named Chrome 500 series. The new line is capable of handling Blu-ray / streaming HD video playback and provides support for DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 3.0 applications. You'll also find a built-in Dolby 7.1 digital surround sound processor, GPGPU (General Purpose GPU) technology, ChromotionHD (which offloads video processing from the CPU) and compatibility with DisplayPort / HDMI / DVI (with HDCP). The first off the blocks is the 512MB Chrome 530 GT (pictured), and the bargain-bin-styled $44.95 should work wonders given the economy.
VIA-owned S3 Graphics crashes the GPGPU party
We know the past couple years haven't been kind to VIA-owned S3 Graphics -- market share has declined, and NVIDIA and ATI keep introducing fancy new technologies, making it tough to keep up. That said, we're inspired by S3's ardent attempts to stay relevant in an industry that won't easily make room for small competitors. The latest case in point: the company has released a photo-editing app to demonstrate the newly-programmed GPGPU (general-purpose computing on graphics processing units) functionalities of its DirectX 10.1 Chrome 400 line of discrete graphics cards. S3 claims its hard work has produced an HPC environment that can be used to reduce processing time for scientific and other applications from days to seconds -- we'll believe it when we see it, but you've gotta admire the tenacity.[Via CustomPC]
Intel exec says NVIDIA's CUDA will be a "footnote" in history
NVIDIA execs have been talking smack about general-purpose CPUs for a while now, and it looks like Intel's ready to do some talking of its own -- speaking to CustomPC, Intel SVP Pat Gelsinger said that general-purpose GPU computing initiatives like NVIDIA's CUDA would be nothing more than "interesting footnotes in the history of computing annals." According to Gelsinger, the lack of a viable new programming model has held back similarly different architectures like the PS3's Cell because "years later the application programmers have barely been able to comprehend how to write applications for it." That's certainly an interesting point, but we'd say Gelsinger's not really taking stock of the big picture here -- fully utilizing the power of the GPU is the whole point of CUDA, after all, and OS developers like Apple are pushing OpenCL as a way to make GPU acceleration easier to for developers to access. Still, Intel has already said that discrete graphics are on their way out as hybrid tech like Larrabee enters the scene, and Gelsinger basically repeated the party line, saying that and "evolutionary compatible computing model" will be the "right answer long term." Those are some fightin' words -- it's going to be interesting to see how these competing chip strategies play out as other entrants like AMD's Fusion slowly make the scene as well.
ATI to announce "Stream Computing" on September 29
Fresh off its approved merger with AMD, ATI apparently has some tricks up its sleeve and will reveal its hand at a special event in San Francisco on September 29. ATI is hyping something called "Stream Computing," which uses GPGPU (general purpose graphics processor units) to run normal code on graphics hardware. GPGPU (couldn't they have come up with a better acronym?) is something that's been bouncing around the computer science community for a little while now, and may be on its way to becoming feasible -- The Reg says this technology has the potential to kick up performance by a factor of 10 and possibly as high as 30 in some computing applications (like, say, running a huuuuge freakin' Excel 'sheet). Now that may be true, but it's like those floating point specs that Apple is always parading around -- those numbers may hold water in the lab for very specific applications, but mere mortals probably won't see that performance difference anytime soon.
