86C801

Launched: 1993
Bus: ISA 16-bit
RAMDAC Speed: 80 MHz or 110 MHz

The 86C801C was a great-performing SVGA chipset. The reference design required the use of 70ns DRAM memory chips as a minimum. Some video card manufacturers including Diamond, Metheus, Mirage, Nth, Orchid and VideoSeven opted to go for faster 60ns memory on their boards. Most '801 cards came with 1 MB onboard with the option to expand it to 2 MB (the maximum) later on.

The chipset supported 72 Hz refresh rates at resolutions of 800x600 and lower, and a 70 or 72 Hz refresh rate at 1024x768.

Found on the following:

• SPEA/Video 7 Mirage
• Diamond Stealth 24
• MiroCrystal
• Video7 WIN.PRO
• Orchid Fahrenheit VA
• STB Systems Powergraph X-24
• Actix GraphicsEngine 32 Plus
• Focus 2 the Max TrueSpeed
• Genoa WindowsVGA 24+
• Metheus Premier 801 ($299 in Apr 1993)
• Mirage Storm 1280/256
• Nth S3 Advantage

86C805 / 805i

Launched: 1994
Bus: VESA Local Bus
Chipset: 86C805i
RAMDAC: Sierra STG1700J-13Z (32K/64K)
RAMDAC Speed: 135 MHz
Memory: 2 MB
VESA Standard: Yes, v1.2
FCC ID: -
BIOS Dates: 07/08/94
Known BIOS Versions: 1.02.01

The 86C805 was essentially the VESA Local Bus version of S3's 86C801 chipset. It supported up to 70ns DRAMs.

The 86C805i can be found on:

• ELSA Winner 1000 ISA

Vision864

Launched: 1992
Bus: VESA Local Bus, PCI
Chipset: 86C864D (VLB) or 86C864P (PCI)
RAMDAC: ?
Memory: 512 KB, 1 MB?

Found on the following:

• Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM 2 MB (VLB)
• Genoa Phantom 64 2 MB (PCI)
• Number Nine GXE64 2 MB (PCI)
• Elitegroup VideoImage VI-930

Vision868

Launched: 1994?
Bus: ?
Chipset: 86C868
RAMDAC: ?
Memory: 512 KB, 1 MB?

Found on the following:

• Leadtek WinFast S250
• UMAX Maxmedia Graphic 68D
• Number Nine 9FX Motion531
• Elitegroup VideoImage VI-931

911

Launched: 1991
Bus: ISA 16-bit, VESA Local Bus
Chipset: 86C911 "Carrera"
RAMDAC: ?
Memory: 512 KB or 1 MB

The 86C911 was discontinued in early 1993, replaced by the 86C924.

Found on the following:

• Orchid Fahrenheit 1280
• Orchid Fahrenheit 1280 Plus (FCC ID: DDS7EF892-32-FGA)
• Elitegroup VideoImage VI-911

924

Launched: 1992
Bus: ISA 16-bit, VESA Local Bus
Chipset: 86C924 "Carrera"
RAMDAC: ?
Memory: 512 KB or 1 MB

The 86C924 was the successor to the 86C911, launched 2 years earlier. It was fully software and hardware backward-compatible with the '911, but now added 24-bit colour. It has a 16-bit data path to memory, so it supports up to 1 MB of VRAM and a maximum resolution of 1024 x 768 with 256 colours, or 1280 x 1024 with 16 colours.

At launch they were comparably-priced to newer 86C801-based SVGA cards, even though '924 boards used more expensive and faster VRAM. Despite this, their performance was outpaced by the newer '801 boards.

Found on the following:

• Advanced Integration Research Aview 2 and 2E
• SixGraph Wizard 924
• Colorgraphic Twin Turbo Accelerator
• Linwen/Gaintec GXA
• PCG Photon 70/70 Deluxe

928

Launched: 1993
Bus: ISA, VESA Local Bus, and PCI
Chipset: 86C928D (ISA) or 86C928P (PCI)
RAMDAC: Brooktree 467
Memory: 1 MB?
FCC ID: -

The Vision928 chipset can be found on the following cards:

• Number Nine GXE level 12 (VLB) (2 MB 70ns VRAM)
• Xionics XIP-VIEW 1600i (1MB)
• Actix GraphicsEngine Ultra (1 MB, 80ns VRAM)
• Artist Graphics WinSprint 900 Lite (1 MB, 80ns VRAM)
• Diamond Stealth Pro (1 MB, 60ns VRAM)
• ELSA Winner 1000 (1 MB, 80ns VRAM)
• Metheus Premier 928-4M (4 MB, 70ns VRAM)

Vision964

Launched: 1994
Chipset: 86C964P
RAMDAC: Brooktree 485 or Texas Instruments 3020
Memory: 2 MB / 4 MB
Bus: PCI / VLB
FCC ID: H85-PLS964P

Maximum non-interlaced resolution 1600 x 1200. Max colours at this resolution = 65,536 (at 1024 x 768 the chipset supports 16.7 million colours).

Rebranded versions of the Vision964 were sold as:

• Diamond Stealth 64 PCI
• ELSA Winner 2000 Pro VL-4 / 2000 Pro PCI
• miro Crystal 20SV VLB
• Number Nine GXE64 Pro
• SPEA Mercury P64 VL
  

Vision968

Launched: 1995?
Bus: ?
Chipset: 86C968
RAMDAC: ?
Memory: 512 KB, 1 MB?

Found on the following:

• VideoLogic GrafixStar 700
• Genoa VideoBlitz 3AV
• Diamond Stealth64 Video 3200
• Actix GraphicsEngine Ultra 64 AV
• Hercules Graphite Terminator Professional
• Number Nine 9FX MK.II
• Spider Tarantula 64 MK.II
• CardExpert Cardex Genesis/V PRO

ViRGE

Launched: 1995
Chipset: 86C325
Memory: 2 MB or 4 MB EDO
Bus: PCI
Ports: 15-pin DSUB

Key features:

• 55 MHz core clock
• 55 MHz memory clock (64-bit bus width)
• Runs the original S3 ViRGE chipset - the 86C325
• Memory can be expanded from 2 MB to 4 MB (giving a game ~14% performance improvement)
• 135 MHz RAMDAC

This card has excellent DOS compatibility via its Trio 64+ engine with 135 MHz RAMDAC. The 3D feature set is quite rich for its time and price, but performance is inadequate. The ViRGE series introduced S3's "S3D" technology, which was supposed to be an API that game developers could specifically use to draw out the power of the ViRGE - unfortunately only about 20 games were ever written to take advantage of S3D. When Direct3D took off, proprietary API support was dropped in favour of a single open one.

One advantage of the 86C325 is that it can be overlocked by 50% and still remains very cool.

Click here for a picture of a 2MB S3 ViRGE.

It was also sold by other manufacturers as:

• ELSA Victory 3D (Part #KJGVICTORY3D) - 4 MB
• Diamond Stealth3D 2000 - this card is great in DOS and has Windows 3.11 drivers, but best resolution in Win98 is 1024 x 768 x 16-bit.

Tip: To speed up DOS games, try the S3VBE20 and S3SPDUP utilities if the specific games support VBE 2.0 and/or are compatible with S3SPDUP.

ViRGE/VX

Launched: 1996
Chipset: 86C988
Core Clock Speed: 52 MHz
Memory: 8 MB
Memory Speed: 52 MHz
Bus: PCI

The ViRGE/VX clocked its core at 52 MHz (lower than the original ViRGE), but the card got dual-ported RAM so was able to read from the frame buffer without preventing communication to the graphics chip. The ViRGE/VX on average runs approx 6% faster than the original ViRGE, so this is still a slow card. Still, in 1996, the ViRGE and ViRGE/VX made up about half of all 3D cards on the market.

Key features:

• 52 MHz core clock
• 8 MB 60ns memory as standard
• 52 MHz memory clock (dual-port RAM access)
• 220 MHz RAMDAC

It was also sold by other manufacturers as:

• Diamond <product?> - 8 MB
• STB Velocity 3D - 8 MB

Tip: To speed up DOS games, try the S3VBE20 and S3SPDUP utilities if the specific games support VBE 2.0 and/or are compatible with S3SPDUP.

ViRGE/SMX

Chipset:
Memory: 4 MB
Bus: AGP 3.3V

Comes with 15-pin DSUB and a DFP (Digital Flat Panel) output port. The image above is a Gainward-branded version, model 9811-11A.

ViRGE/DX

Launched: 1997
Chipset: 86C375
Memory: 2 MB or 4 MB EDO RAM
Bus: PCI
Ports: 15-pin DSUB


The ViRGE/DX and ViRGE/GX was launched just one year after the first generation of ViRGE chips and cards. The DX is the budget one whilst the GX was almost identical but supported synchronous memory. Both cards are limited to 4 MB and both have a 170 MHz RAMDAC. However, S3 made significant updates to the 3D engine - perspective correction is separated so it no longer causes unncessary clocks on the pipeline, and they implemented a new texture filter which was able to sample from different mip-maps.

On average the DX is ~40% faster than an original ViRGE. Sadly, this is still not on par with other 3D cards available in 1997.

Key features:

• 55 MHz core clock (some 3rd-party versions run as low as 45 MHz)
• 4 MB EDO RAM

It was also sold by other manufacturers, some with empty memory sockets ready for expansion from 4 MB up to 8 MB, others with 8 MB soldered directly onto the board, and others again with sockets populated with memory. Here are some of them::

• Sparkle SP-325A - 4 MB
• 4 MB Virge DX - 4 MB sockets populated

Tip: To speed up DOS games, try the S3VBE20 and S3SPDUP utilities if the specific games support VBE 2.0 and/or are compatible with S3SPDUP.
Tip: For Windows 98, use S3 drivers over the default ones that come with Windows.

ViRGE/GX

Launched: 1997
Chipset: 86C385
Memory: 4 MB EDO RAM
Bus: AGP

The ViRGE/DX and ViRGE/GX was launched just one year after the first generation of ViRGE chips and cards. The DX is the budget one whilst the GX was almost identical but supported synchronous memory. Both cards are limited to 4 MB and both have a 170 MHz RAMDAC. However, S3 made significant updates to the 3D engine - perspection correction is separated so it no longer causes unncessary clocks on the pipeline, and they implemented a new texture filter which was able to sample from different mip-maps.

The GX has a small performance improvement (5-10%) on the ViRGE/DX. Sadly, this is still not on par with other 3D cards available in 1997.

The picture above is of an STB Systems-branded version, called Nitro 3D/GX.

Key features:

• 75 MHz core clock
• 4 MB EDO RAM - can use either SDRAM or EDO of same frequency

As with most ViRGE series cards, the GX was also OEM'd:

• Compaq OEM - no expansion module but gains through use of SGRAM

Tip: To speed up DOS games, try the S3VBE20 and S3SPDUP utilities if the specific games support VBE 2.0 and/or are compatible with S3SPDUP.

ViRGE/GX2

Launched: 1997
Chipset:
Memory: 4 MB
Bus: AGP

Click here for another pic of the ViRGE GX2 .

Despite being their flagship product, poor software drivers and poor performance compared to the competition meant this card was a commercial failure. Similar performance to ATI's Rage IIc.

Key features:

• 0.35 micron technology
• 66 MHz core speed
• 99 MHz memory speed
• S-Video and RCA TV out ports

It was also sold by other vendors as:

• ACorp ViRGE/GX2

Tip: To speed up DOS games, try the S3VBE20 and S3SPDUP utilities if the specific games support VBE 2.0 and/or are compatible with S3SPDUP.

ViRGE/MX

Launched: 1997
Chipset: 86C260
Memory: 2 MB
Bus: AGP
Ports: ?
Price: ?

The ViRGE MX chip was designed as a low-power version of the ViRGE/GX2. This was aimed at the mobile (laptop) market, although some MX chips found their way onto other vendors cards, presumably because it was a cheaper variant of the GX2 thanks to its lower clock speed.

The MX was succeeded by the ViRGE/MXi which integrated 2 MB of 85 MHz DRAM into the chip for even greater power efficiency.

Key features:

• 0.35 micron technology (8 million transistors)
• 135 MHz RAMDAC speed
• 55 MHz core speed
• 83 MHz memory speed

These chips tended to run a RAMDAC at 135 MHz, whilst memory speed was at 83 MHz and the core ran at 55 MHz. Compared to the GX, an MX is approximately 11% faster.

The premium Toshiba Tecra 750DVD (1998) came with an embedded ViRGE/MX 3D graphics controller.

For MX drivers, it's recommended to use a OEM Compaq driver v3009.

Trio 3D/2X

Bus: AGP 2x
Memory: 4 MB or 8 MB
Core Clock: 81.5 MHz

The Trio 3D/2X came with 4 MB or 8 MB of RAM.

Vogons member sliderider said this of the Trio 3D/2X: "The Trio3D was kept in production long past it's expiry date. You could still buy new cards or find it on motherboards even when you couldn't buy dedicated Savage cards anymore. I had a machine a long time ago with Trio3D video on board and I couldn't play a single game with it. They did 2D functions reasonably well, had a high degree of software compatibility, got along reasonably well with other hardware and were cheap, which is why OEMs kept buying them, but the 3D was worthless. Dedicated Trio cards are more a novelty than anything else. For games you're going to need a lot more power."

Vogons member muses "Trio 3d is Virge rebranded as business accelerator. It fixed the blending bugs of Virge. The 2x version has its own drivers and can do better in some geometry tests, so I think small improvements happened. Direct3d games are rendered more or less correctly, but it does not have the clocks of Virge GX2 and falls behind by 10-15%. At some point wirebond packaging limits memory interface speed, but I guess Trio 3D was about lowest price possible.
When judged by market share and longevity, the Virge was probably best 3d architecture ever. Suck it up performance enthusiasts."

Finally, Vogon user noshutdown' says this of the Trio 3D: "you are mostly correct, the trio3d is based and improved on the design of s3virge.
there are several versions of s3virge:
virge: original "standard" version
virge vx: supports 8mb vram but slower clock, all other virge supports only 4mb.
virge dx: improved and overclocked virge
virge gx: based on dx but supports sdram/sgram
virge gx2: agp version of gx
trio3d: further improved on gx2

as a result, trio3d can run 3dmark01 while virge can't. however, a third party opengl wrapper for virge based on s3d can't run on trio3d, guess its driver may have dropped s3d support and attempted to support d3d instead. ��

in general, i never considered s3virge or trio3d as a real 3d card, as neither of them could support opengl. the rendition1000 is from the same year as s3virge but outperforms it by times."

Trio 32

The Trio 32, as the name implies, is a cut-down version of the Trio 64, with a narrower 32-bit DRAM interface.

Unsure if S3 released a card of their own with this, but the Trio 32 chipset can be found on the Diamond Stealth SE graphics card.

Trio 64 V2/DX

The S3 64 V2/DX was launched in 1997.

Chipset: 86C775
Memory: 2 MB or 4 MB
Bus: PCI
Price: ?

The Trio64V2/DX was essentially the same card as the ViRGE/DX, but used the 86C775 instead of the earlier 86C375.

S3's Trio was essentially their range of fully integrated solutions (with graphics core, RAMDAC and clock generator all on a single ASIC) based upon the earlier Vision 864 and 868 accelerator chipsets. Like the 868, the 64V+ has a video acceleration engine that can perform YUV to RGB color space conversion and horizontal linear filtered scaling. Unlike the Vision964/968, the Trio chips do not support VRAM, and are limited to FPM DRAM and EDO DRAM only. The 2D graphics hardware was later used in the ViRGE.

The Trio64V2 improved on the 64V+ by including vertical bilinear filtering. The 2D graphics core was later used in the ViRGE/DX and ViRGE/GX. Like the corresponding ViRGE chips, the 64V2 also came in /DX and /GX variants, with the latter supporting more modern SDRAM or SGRAM. The final version, called the Trio3D, was effectively the 128-bit successor to the ViRGE/GX2.

The picture above is actually of a rebranded Trio 64 V2/DX, in this case a VideoLogic GrafixStar 410.

More Images

Trio 64V+

Introduced: 1995
Chipset: 86C765
Bus: PCI
Memory: 1, 2 or 4 MB
Memory Package: 40-pin SOJ
Price: ?

The S3 64V+ was launched in 1995. Like the 868, the 64V+ has a video acceleration engine that can perform YUV to RGB color space conversion and horizontal linear filtered scaling. Trio chips do not support VRAM, and are limited to FPM DRAM and EDO DRAM only.

Savage4 / Savage4 Pro

Introduced: 1999
Memory: 8 MB (4, 4 LT), 32 MB (Pro)
Bus: PCI, AGP 4x
Core Clock: 143 MHz (Pro), 125 MHz (4), 110 MHz (4 LT)
Memory Speed: 125 MHz (non-LT), 110 MHz (LT)
RAMDAC Speed: Up to 300 MHz
Price: £79 ex.VAT (Diamond Stealth III S540, Dec 1999)

The Savage 4 LT ("Lite"?) was clocked lower than the standard Savage4, at 110 MHz for the core and memory. Most Savage4s are clocked at 125 MHz, and the Pro at 143 MHz. There was also an "Extreme" that got a core clock running at 165 MHz.

The Savage4 can be thought of as a bug-fixed Savage3D - good specs on paper, but turned out to be a commercial failure. Drivers were awful, but they did support OpenGL and Direct 3D.

There was also the Savage 4 Pro+ chipset, found on the Diamond Stealth III S540 card. This featured AGP 4x support (settable via some jumpers on the board), a 300 MHz RAMDAC and 32 MB of SDRAM. It was considered Diamond's budget offering at its launch in late 1999 (after Diamond's takeover of S3).

The Savage4 chipset was also used by the following cards:

• Creative 3D Blaster Savage4 - 32 MB SDRAM, 300 MHz RAMDAC (£59 ex.VAT, Dec 1999)
• Number Nine SR9 - 32 MB SDRAM, 300 MHz RAMDAC (£67 ex.VAT, Dec 1999)

Savage3D

The Savage3D was launched in 1999.

Chipset:
Memory: ?
Bus: AGP 2x
Price: ?

It was designed to provide Voodoo 2 performance in 3D rendering for a much reduced price. In benchmark testing, Savage3D outperformed Voodoo 2, and scored almost the same as 3Dfx other card, Voodoo Banshee.

Since Savage3D only has the one texturing unit, Voodoo 2 still does better when used with multi-texture fills. Furthermore, it does not fully make use of AGP 2x, with poor AGP transfer performance compared to Matrox G200 which makes full use of the AGP 2x greater bandwidth.

Key features:

• 125 MHz core clock - close to being overclocked (causes some triangle drawing errors at this speed)

The Savage3D chipset was also released on:

• Hercules <product name?> - 110 MHz core clock

Savage 2000

Having purchased Diamond Multimedia in 1999, the Savage 2000 was born.