S3 MultiChrome dual-GPU technology tested

S3 Graphics has been making a slow, sustained push for respectability since the arrival of its first Chrome-series graphics processors in 2003. That push continued with the introduction of the updated Chrome S27 GPU last fall, and at that time, S3 hinted at a new wrinkle in its plans. Like ATI and NVIDIA, S3 would be introducing a multi-card graphics capability, dubbed MultiChrome.

The time has come for MultiChrome to make its formal debut, and our friends at Tech Report have already put up an article detailing how well it performs. Has S3 succeeded in doubling up on Chrome S27 GPUs for nearly twice the performance?

It's unfortunate to say S3 is still behind the major players especially because single card performance of current Chrome GPUs is targeting the low-end. Multichrome does offer a considerable boost however, not doubling but delivering as much relative gains as SLI and Crossfire do.

Unless S3 is ready to unveil some faster GPUs during 2006, I must remain skeptical about the use of dual graphics cards in the low-end (that also applies to NVIDIA and ATI cards), unless you are upgrading of course.