Specifically aimed at penetrating the demanding OEM system integrator market while also appealing to the aftermarket gaming audience, the new chip wears many hats. It also eliminates the major complaints and reservations gamers had with the Savage3D, while offering a good deal more performance at the most aggressive price on the market.

The new S3 part has been named the Savage4, very appropriately as its foundational roots can be traced back to the earlier Savage3D chip.

Sporting the most comprehensive list of features out of any of the next-generation 2D/3D accelerators announced thus far, the Savage4 seeks to please everyone, and from the look of it succeeds.

The Savage4 chip will be offered in two flavors: "GT" and "Pro".

The Savage4 GT chip will serve as the entry level part, and will support up to 16MB of on-card ram and will operate at a speed of 125MHz.

It's expected that the Savage4 GT will be presented to OEMs like Diamond, Elsa, Hercules, and others, at a price of just $22 each in 10,000 unit blocks. This price is approximately 35 to 40% cheaper than the nVidia TNT 2 part is expected to be offered at in the same quantity amount.

The Savage4 Pro is the high end option of the Savage4 lineup, and will up the maximum amount of on card ram support to 32MB, while operating at a higher speed of 143MHz. Priced to OEMs at just $25 in 10,000 unit blocks, the Savage4 Pro makes the possibility of a 143MHz 32MB AGP accelerator under $140 more real than previously believed.