S3 Graphics Shows Off Dual-GPU Graphics Card

From X-bit Labs: S3 Graphics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Via Technologies, plans to demonstrate a dual-chip graphics card at Digital Signage Expo 2010 later this month. The graphics card will carry two S3 Chrome 5400E graphics processing units (GPUs) and will be aimed at advanced multi-display applications, where it will challenge ATI Eyefinity technology with support of eight displays.

S3 Graphics Chrome 5400E X2 graphics card, which is designed for various multi-display digital signage applications is able to output up to four full-HD (1080p, 1920x1080, progressive scan) video streams to up to eight monitors thanks to PanoChrome technology. The graphics card comes with built-in Genlock support for synchronized source timing.

The Chrome 5400E X2 graphics card will hardly be able to compete with available high-end graphics boards based on ATI or Nvidia GPUs in terms of performance, however, its relatively low power consumption may allow the novelty to compete against ATI Eyefinity technology on the digital signage and embedded markets since ATI Radeon HD 5800 graphics processor supports “only” six monitors and is pretty power hungry. Needless to say that at present the market of advanced high-definition digital signage products is very limited, even though it will grow rapidly in the coming years.

The Chrome 5400E is one of the latest embedded graphics chips from S3 Graphics. The GPU supports DirectX 10.1/OpenGL 3.0 functionality and features built-in audio core with 7.1 output support via HDMI. The chip also features dual high-definition video decoders that support hardware acceleration of H.264 (MPEG4 AVC), MPEG2 HD and VC-1 formats as well as high-def video post-processing capabilities. Besides, the Chrome 5-series graphics processing units feature PowerWise technology for reduction of power consumption.

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