Chrome 440 GTX graphics card offers improved gaming performance and Dual-Stream Hi-Def video

Fremont, California, May 30, 2008 - S3 Graphics, a leading provider of graphics and visualization technologies, today announced its latest S3 Graphics Chrome 440 GTX desktop cards. Boards are now available at online retail affiliate GStore, with future shipments by key European partners in addition to multiple retail partners in Asia.

The Chrome 400 GTX is the latest addition to the S3 Graphics Chrome 400 series, delivering exceptional graphics realism and stunning HD multimedia performance in optimized desktop and media PCs. Based on the low profile PCI Express® Gen 2 graphics card specification, the Chrome 440 GTX is ideally suited for PC users who wish to enhance their PCs to provide dual-stream Picture-in-Picture (PiP) 1080p Blu-ray Disc™ playback with the latest DirectX 10.1 / OpenGL 2.1 unified shader architecture. The Chrome 440 GTX uses the latest GDDR3 memory for optimized memory bandwidth and native HDMI connectivity for the latest digital displays.

The S3 Graphics Chrome 440 GTX outperforms the current market leader in its class by over 15%(1) in 3D benchmarks and rendered frames-per-second in the most popular DX10 and DX9 games.

"S3 Graphics has once again brought to market another high performance product to complement our growing portfolio of segment leading graphics and video technologies," said Dr. Ken Weng, General Manager of S3 Graphics. “The multimedia-rich Chrome 440 GTX has tremendous value by providing an immersive ‘digital consumer’ experience for gaming and home entertainment.”

The S3 Graphics Chrome 440 GTX gives users the perfect balance of leading DirectX 10.1 3D performance, high-quality dual-stream Blu-ray Disc playback, and advanced display connectivity using a high-speed, 64-bit, energy-efficient DDR3 memory bus interface. Display connections allow HDMI with audio, dual-link DVI (DVI-D/DVI-I), and an optional CRT connector for enhanced productivity using configurable multiple display settings for smooth image details at higher resolutions.

The Chrome 440 GTX incorporates a higher performance ChromotionHD™ 2.0 video processor unit (VPU), advanced filtering, and cutting edge post-processing to perform ultra smooth decoding of MPEG-4/AVC (H.264), MPEG-2, VC-1, WMV-HD, and AVS video for Blu-ray™ content and a movie-going experience. To further enhance operation for home theatre applications that demand cool-and-quiet operation, the Chrome 440 GTX features PowerWise™ technology for a power smart design to maximize heat dissipation without compromising performance or features.