S3 Announces Addition of Diamond Fire GL1 Accelerator to Compaq's Graphics Excellence Program.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 2, 1999--

S3(R) Incorporated (Nasdaq:SIII) today announced the addition of the award-winning Diamond Fire GL1(TM) professional graphics accelerator as a "specialty" solution offered through Compaq Computer Corporation's (NYSE:CPQ) Graphics Excellence Program.

As part of Compaq's product portfolio of specialty graphics solutions, the Diamond Fire GL1 accelerator has successfully completed platform compatibility testing in Compaq's qualification lab and is available for integration in Compaq Professional Workstations through Compaq's distribution channels.

"The Diamond Fire GL1 accelerator is a mid-range professional solution designed to deliver price-performance graphics to NT workstations," said Ed Huang, director of S3's Professional Graphics Business Unit.

"Featuring multi-threaded OpenGL drivers and optimizations for Intel's Steaming SIMD Extensions, the Diamond Fire GL is a perfect graphics hardware complement to Compaq's Professional Workstation products."

"Through the Graphics Excellence Program, we are able to provide our customers with greater flexibility in the selection of the graphics solution that best fits their needs," said Jeff Wood, Manager, Graphics and Options, Compaq Workstation Division.

"With its high-performance 2D/3D graphics acceleration, the Diamond Fire GL1 is a welcome addition to the program and we are pleased to be further expanding our graphics product portfolio."

Featuring IBM's first graphics chipset for the Windows NT platform, the Diamond Fire GL1 accelerator delivers the first 256-bit engine for Windows NT and brings powerful graphics performance to NT workstations. Available in PCI and AGP configurations, the Diamond Fire GL1 comes with 32MB of memory and is priced at $995.00 estimated retail price.

The Diamond Fire GL1 accelerator includes software settings for various ISV applications as well as a full suite of software drivers for the top 3D graphics applications. Additional information about the Fire GL brand of professional graphics accelerators is available at www.firegl.com.

About S3 Incorporated

Building on the technology, distribution and brand strengths of its Communications, Multimedia and Professional Graphics divisions, S3 is committed to delivering targeted products for the Personal Computer and Consumer/Internet Appliance markets.

Rounding out its PC silicon offerings, S3's recent acquisition of Diamond Multimedia adds consumer brands such as the Viper(TM) and Stealth(TM) series of graphics accelerators, the Rio series of Internet audio appliances, the Supra(TM) series of modems, and the HomeFree line of home networking products.

Except for historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, such as S3's ability to sell product through Compaq's Graphics Excellence Program, are forward-looking statements that are subject to risk and uncertainties, including market acceptance of the products, the impact of competitive products and other risks detailed from time to time in S3's SEC reports, including its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 1999. S3 is a registered trademark of S3 Incorporated. The S3 corporate logo and Fire Gl1 are trademarks of S3 Incorporated. Other marks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners.