Tip de redactie

Firingsquad over upgrading

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 21:110 reacties, bron: webmagix

Thresh's Firingsquad heeft weer een retegoed artikel over upgrading in elkaar gezet. Teveel info om er iets zinnigs uit te citeren, dus hier de intro:

Computer parts nowadays are getting better and cheaper by the minute. It's no wonder more and more people are considering taking the plunge and upgrading their systems, with little to no prior knowledge of how to do so. Thankfully, the Internet is abound with websites dealing with hardware, and one doesn't need to travel far to find what he's looking for.

By the same token, you'll find yourself neck-deep in reviews before you know it, on the latest 3D video cards, 64-bit PCI sound cards, and fancy new CPUs. While that's great in terms of knowing what hardware is currently the best on the market, it may not be helpful in your quest to upgrade your system. In fact, it may be somewhat detrimental to most "newbies," as they assume (incorrectly) that a system is mainly comprised of a video card, sound card, and a CPU. So how does it all fit together?

That's what we're going to go lay out for you in this guide.

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Diamond MX300 review

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 21:070 reacties, bron: Hardware One

Weer eens een review van Diamond's MX300. Hier een wat stuff over hoe ze er bij Combatsim.com over denken:

Yet it appears that the MX300 does all of its 3D positional signalling through only the front speakers, leaving the rear output speakers to sort of fill the void behind the player. But for totally immersive gameplay, four speakers and a subwoofer are definitely worth the investment. Pop on a set of headphones and it's near to heaven!

BTW: met de MX300 die ik anderhalf week geleden bij Compusa bestelde (voor 50 dollar) is nog erg weinig gebeurd. Tijd om Compusa een kick in de kont te geven :D.

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Harddrive Guide

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 21:030 reacties, bron: Hardware One

PC Powerhouse heeft een harddrive guide in elkaar geborduurd. Rotational Speed, Aeal Density, Seek Times: al dat soort leuke grappen komen aan bod. Hier de intro:

I'm not going to tell you how hard drives work, or how each component of a hard drive looks and works. If you really want to know just what a hard drive does and/or works, check out Seagate's Hard Drive FAQ or IBM's tutorial about Hard Disk Drives. The Storage Review has also posted excellent material on hard drives you might want to check out.

     Hard drive performance is probably the single area that PC users don't seem to care about. When looking for a new drive, size and cost are generally the two biggest concerns, and some hard drive reviews will give you numbers like cost-per-megabyte as a guide to determine which drive is best for you to purchase. However, the performance of your drive can make a big difference in determining the overall speed of your system. Just because two drives are UltraDMA/ATA-4, doesn't mean they have the same performance. Several factors play an important roll in determining the performance of a hard drive, and that is what I cover in the following section.

Zie ook hun Seagate Cheetah en IBM Deskstar 14GXP reviews waar ik eerder vandaag wat nieuws over postte.

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Rendition V3K / V4K info

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 20:550 reacties, bron: webmagix

Bjorn van Bjorn's 3D World heeft wat lopen chatten met Chris Dunphy van Rendtion en heeft daar bij interessante info over de Renditon V4K los weten te peuteren. De V4K maakt geen slechte kans nu grote fabrikanten zoals Diamond niet meer hoeven te reken op 3Dfx (ivm STB merger).

Hier een stukkie uit Bjorn's interview:

hat do you think will be the most important "feature" for the v3/4k to succeed - features or plain performance?

'98 was a downhill slope. '99 will be uphill. and we will rule the next millennium. Sustained fill rate should blow others away , thanks to the embedded memory.

- Well, neither the v1k or the v2k made the impact that you could expect. Instead people went with the Voodoo1 and then the Voodoo2. Do you think that with the V4k vs the Voodoo3 it will change - that people will not only go for speed anymore but this time will take things like image quality and other features more seriously instead of only going for the fastest speed?

- Well, we're hoping to take away the speed argument - it's going to be real hard for anyone to keep up with the amount of pixels you can pump through an embedded memory architecture.

You talk almost only about embedded memory. Does this mean that the next product from Rendition, regardless if it's a v3/4/4ek, will use embedded memory or will we see a "normal" chip first with an embedded version to follow later?

- If anything comes to market based on the 3000 generation, that will most likely be the last part we make without at least some level of embedded memory.

En er is nog veel meer, op Bjorn3D.com.

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Impeaching Bill (G.)

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 20:430 reacties, bron: OSNews

Ik kwam via OSNews bij deze best wel grappig column met een leuke oplossing voor het Mikroschoft probleem: 'Impeaching Bill' . Een stukje:

reak up Microsoft? "Too unfair," some say. Restrict trade? "A violation of free enterprise," others cry. Split operating system from applications? "Too difficult," others pine.

I have a solution. Let the punishment fit the crime. What's the charge? Unbridled ambition. Pure aggression. Growth without appropriate restraint.

So what's the suitable punishment? Give them a taste of "growth through attrition" and "success through reduction." Let someone like former DEC CEO Robert Palmer take over the helm of Microsoft.

Palmer, a man whom many former DEC employees blame for DEC's eventual demise, took a bleeding company and "healed" it by slicing off all parts that bled. Of course, all the cutting led to more bleeding, which demanded more cutting. So, by the time the "healing" was done, DEC was little more than an immobile torso, deprived of most of its assets and going nowhere fast. At that time, Palmer declared the patient "healed" and sold off the carcass for dog food.

Needless to say, you wouldn't consider bringing even the most bothersome stray cat to a veterinarian who practiced the "healing arts" in this manner. Yet Palmer walked away with a reported $40M (US) for his efforts. Who would have guessed that prowess in butchering would be that profitable?

But, consider the effects of such techniques upon Microsoft. Let the "fat" be trimmed from the company. "Refocus" the corporation on "core competencies." Eliminate "redundant" and "unessential" activities. Make it the model for such "enlightened" business activities.

De andere helftp mag je hier halen.

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C400 overclocking info

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 20:170 reacties, bron: webmagix

Overclockers.com heeft wat info over het overklokken van de C400A. Hier het advies van Joe Citarella (die de site daaro runt):

C300a is fading fast so what to do? My $.02: If you're looking to upgrade an existing system, go for the C400a - At a minimum 400, 6x75 almost guaranteed and a good shot at 6x83; rarely 6x100 even with extraordinary measures. Building new - Go for the new ABIT BX6-2 and the C400a slot version - ABIT has tamed the PCI bus so 75 and 83 can be had without PCI overclocking. Buying a socket board for the socketed versions traps you long term into the socket world - future slot 1 products are out of reach.

Short on cash? C366a. Other options? Still love the Deschutes PIIs - particularly PII300 SL2W8 @450 and long shot PII333 SL2WY @500 - unfortunately discontinued. Outlook? If Intel does not buslock, overclocking is heading for speeds in the 500-800 Mhz regions - WOW!

Vooral dat stukje over de 75 en 83MHz busspeed is interessant. Ik wist niet dat de BX6-II gebruik maakt van een asynchrone PCI bus. Ideaal bij overklokken (Abit blijft rouleren :D))

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Unix verliest van NT in workstation markt

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 20:090 reacties, bron: Slashdot

Sunworld heeft een artikel over een rapport van IDC waaruit naar voren komt dat Unix terrein aan Windoos NT heeft verloren op de workstation markt.

A bulletin released by International Data Corp. (IDC) reveals 22 percent growth of workstation shipments in 1998 over 1997, with volume reaching 2.3 million units. However, due to a huge increase in shipments of cheaper "branded" Windows NT workstations (workstations marketed explicitly as workstations, not high-end desktops) as a fraction of total units, revenues actually declined by 3 percent to $14.7 billion over the same period, said IDC.

Hewlett-Packard was the overall leader in unit shipments (21 percent), followed by Dell (16 percent). While Sun was the overall leader in revenue (23 percent), followed by HP (22 percent), its hold on the lead may be in jeopardy, because of the rising popularity of NT workstations.

"The lower cost of high-performance, Intel-based Windows NT systems brought workstation capabilities to a much broader set of users than has historically been the case with Unix workstations. The result has been a significant increase in units ships, but a modest decline in overall workstation revenue," said Tom Copeland, Director for IDC's Workstation Research group.

[...] None of this is good news for Unix, says IDC, because it means NT is encroaching rapidly on Unix's enterprise strongholds.

"With more branded NT workstations shipping than Unix workstations in 1998, NT is driving the growth in the workstation market. NT workstations have surpassed the start-up phase and have become mainstream in the workstation market," said Copeland.

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Digitaal watermerk voor MP3tjes

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 20:040 reacties, bron: Slashdot

Een groep Web music giganten hebben een techniek aangekondigd waarmee .mp3 files van een digitaal watermerk voorzien kunnen worden. CNN heeft er een artikel over, waarvan hier een stukje:

On Monday morning, Liquid Audio, MP3, CDnow and a collection of record labels and other companies announced they were forming a coalition to watermark digitally distributed music.

The move is touted by the coalition's organizers as a step toward the day when music labels see value in adopting the Internet as a legitimate distribution channel, but critics argue that short of complete distribution security, the record industry will never be brought into the Internet fold.

The group of companies, dubbed the Genuine Music Coalition, promises a technology that will designate authorized MP3 audio files with a logo, marking them as the certified property of legal distributors. Coalition members readily admit that this deal will not single-handedly pull the record industry off the fence and into large Internet investments. The only thing that could do that, jokes MP3 CEO Michael Robertson, is "a million zillion dollars."

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Sony sued Connectix

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 19:520 reacties, bron: TheRegister

Sony is niet blij met de Playstation Emulator van Connectix, waarmee playstation games op de Mac gedraaid kunnen worden (de Mac heeft namelijk niets beters - in tegenstelling tot het superieure pc game platform ). Kun je dus eindelijk gamen op je appel, begint-ie weer te rotten:

Sony Computer Entertainment and its US division, Sony Computer Entertainment America, are suing Connectix over its Mac-based PlayStation emulator, Virtual GameStation (VGS), according to Japanese news agency Kyodo.

[...] Connectix's argument is that the VGS' was engineered without recourse to Sony intellectual property, Sony has no case against it. That said, the company originally suggested that since Sony only makes money from games, not consoles, Connectix could hardly be sued for damages relating to lost earnings.

However, according to the Kyodo report, Sony has finally concluded that it does have a case against the developer. The suit, filed at the San Francisco Federal District Court, alleges Connectix has violated not Sony's intellectual property rights but its copyrights, too.

Meer stuff bij The Register

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Alpha prijzen vet lager dan Merced

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 19:480 reacties, bron: TheRegister

De Alphaatjes gaan nu super goedkoop de deur uit bij Samsung. Minder prettig voor Intel, want de prijs van de Merced staat in geen verhouding met die van de Alpha. Zie dit artikel bij The Register (wie anders?):

Alpha partner Samsung is now selling fast processors for as little as $250, it has emerged.

According to confidential documents seen by The Register, .25 micron 533MHz Alphas will ramp to high volume in spring. They currently cost $250/1000.

And when the 800MHz Alpha is released later on this year, it will also be priced at the $250 volume mark.

Intel is expected to price its Merced processor, sampling in June and expected next year, at over $1,500.

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450MHz PPC G4 volgende maand

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 19:450 reacties, bron: TheRegister

Motorola zal volgende maand de nieuwe PowerPC G4 presenteren, met vooralsnog een snelheid van 450Mhz. De G3 was dik, de G4 is vetter (maar dat mag ook wel aangezien alles op een Mac 2x trager gaat):

Motorola looks set to debut its next-generation PowerPC processor, codenamed G4, processor at next month's 1999 IEEE International Solid-state Circuits Conference, to be held in San Francisco.

At the same time, IBM will unveil a 580MHz PowerPC 750 (aka G3) based on Silicon-on-insulator technology, according to US newswires.

The G4 will be introduced at 450MHz and will be the first PowerPC to contain Motorola's AltiVec vector processing instruction set extensions, rivals to Intel's Katmai instructions. Reports suggest the copper-based chip (the first Motorola has offered; fellow PowerPC producer IBM began shipping copper CPUs last September) will contain 10.5 million transistors at 0.18-microns.

En de rest van het verhaaltje staat hier bij The Register.

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Ook Hyundai werknemers in staking

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 19:420 reacties, bron: TheRegister

Een gezellige boel daaro in Azië, want werknemers van Hyundai hebben die van LG en Daewoo gejoined en zijn nu lekker met zo'n allen aan het staken (sorry - ik vergeet hier bijna de ernst van de zaak ). Hier maar weer wat info van The Register:

Reliable reports said that Hyundai workers had joined those at Daewoo and LG Semicon and are on strike.

Hyundai workers came out in strike in sympathy with LG workers, the source said.

That is not likely to go down well in the United States. It seems that practically every worker in the peninsula has gone on strike.

Even the newspapers seem to be on strike.

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Mikroschoft aan top in FT500

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 19:390 reacties, bron: TheRegister

Bill is er in geslaagd om met dat bedrijfje van 'm aan de top te komen van de FT500, een door de Financial Times bijeengeraapte ranglijst van de grootste bedrijven van de wereld. Onze vijanden bij Mikroschoft staat nu dus bovenaan:

The latest FT500 listing clearly shows Microsoft’s move to first position, from fourth last year. This is as much a reflection of the overall changing face of the FT’s league table.

IT stocks have risen across the board, with companies such as Cisco, Lucent, MCI Worldcom and AOL all jumping up the ranking.

[...]Bill Gates is keen to point out that’s all he’s doing: capitalising on the state of the market. It remains to be seen, however, how long the market tolerates this sort of capitalisation.

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Yahoo koopt Geocites

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 19:350 reacties, bron: TheRegister

Niet hardware/gaming related maar misschien wel interessant aangeziend de halve wereldbevolking een homepage bij Geocities heeft. Geocites wordt dus overgenomen door Yahoo. In één klap de grootste online communit. The Register heeft er wat info over:

Speaking to analysts earlier today, Tim Koogle, chairman and CEO of Yahoo!, said: "This is a substantial and strategic acquisition that will culminate in a powerful and complementary alliance.

"Through this acquisition, we are accelerating our global leadership position by combining two of the Web's strongest brands and most heavily used services into one powerful offering."

With more than 3.5 million sites and a user base of more than 19 million people, GeoCities has built up one of the Web's largest online communities.

According to Nick Gibson, an analyst at Durlacher, the deal is all about being able to say who has the largest user base.

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Diamond Rio MP3 review

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 19:250 reacties, bron: AGNhardware

TheTechs.net heeft een review van Diamond's Rio mp3 playertje. Om het reviewen leuk te houden hebben ze een paar groffe testen op het apparaatje los gelaten:

I took the Rio and proceeded to throw it up in the air several times while listening to it. Unlike my Discman, which, exposed to such abuse, might do something crazy, the Rio was stone cold and consistent. It never once skipped, and there was absolutely no damage to anything whatsoever, physically or internally (that was to be expected).

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600MHz PIII en meer op IEEE99

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 19:210 reacties, bron: AGNhardware

C|Net News.com heeft een artikel over wat we volgende maand op de IEEE99 conferentie in San Jose en San Francisco allemaal mogen verwachten:

At the 1999 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference next month, Intel will discuss a 600-MHz version of the upcoming Pentium III chip, while IBM will disclose a new breed of PowerPC chip based on a cutting-edge production technique and a 600-MHz processor for server computers. The three-day conference in San Francisco and San Jose starts on February 15.

Advanced Micro Devices, meanwhile, will take the technical wraps off the K7, due in the second half. The chip is expected to best the Pentium III in a number of crucial respects and could give AMD the performance lead, according to, among others, Microprocessor Report editor Keith Diefendorff.

[...]BM will discuss a 580-MHz PowerPC chip design based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology. The PowerPC architecture is used in Apple Computer's Macintosh computer line as well as a variety of other devices. IBM's SOI process protects transistors with an oxidized layer of insulation, creating a "blanket" that reduces harmful electrical effects that sap energy and hinder performance.

Verder staat er nog wat spul over PowerPC's van Motorola, 256Mbit flash chips en 1 gigabit SDRAM van Samsung. Lees hier voor de rest....

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IBM Deskstar 14GXP

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 19:150 reacties, bron: AGNhardware

Nog een harddisk review bij PC Powerhouse, ditmaal van de meer beschaafde IBM Deskstar 14GXP UDMA schijf (snel voor arme stakkers - zie ook hun Seagate Cheatah review. Hier wat algemene info:

The IBM Deskstar 14GXP is the latest hard drive from IBM to use UltraDMA/ATA-4 technology. The 14GXP seriescomes

in capacities of 10.1GB (containing four drive platters inside), 12.9GB and 14.4GB (both of which have 5 drive platters inside). Using IBM's latest storage technology called giant magnetoresistive (GMR) head technology, the Deskstar 14GXP drives can store up to 3.38GB per disk, allowing over 10 gigabytes of data to fit into a tiny 3.5-inch drive.

Ze hebben de prestaties van het ding vergeleken met die van de Seagate Cheetah. Handig dus als je een keuze moet maken tussen EIDE en SCSI.

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Seagate Cheetah review

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 19:110 reacties, bron: AGNhardware

PC Powerhouse heeft een review in elkaar gepleurd van de belachelijk snelle (en dure) Seagate Cheatah Ultra Wide SCSI schijf. Het ding draait op de prettige snelheid van 10.000rpm:

It seems as if Seagate is always on the cutting edge in drive technology, and their Cheetah line is no different. With a 10,000RPM spindle speed, 1 megabyte of cache, and Ultra Wide SCSI connector, this is one fast drive.      All of this speed does come at a cost, and in the Cheetah's case that price is heat. The drive runs so hot that after just a few minutes of normal opperation the drive becomes unbearable to handle. My suggestion to anyone who wishes to buy a Cheetah drive (or any drive that runs at 10,000RPM or faster), invest in a hard drive cooler. Sure it's another $20 or $30 but it's worth it in the long run.

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Simcity 3000 review

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 19:060 reacties, bron: AGN3D

Simcity 3000 is daar een The Techs hebben een review. Erg veel info staat er in niet in deze review, wel wat stuff over de graphics:

he graphics are very much improved from all the other Sim City’s. I have to admit that they are the best I have seen from a game of this type. You can zoom in and see bikers, cars buses, everything you would normally see in a real city. I did this in normal mode and it worked very well, but when I put it in 3dfx and it turned out horrible. The graphics slowed down a heck of a lot. It was skipping frames and fraction of a second lock ups. It might have just been a glitch my system, I don’t know.

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Starwars: Rogue Squadron review

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 19:050 reacties, bron: AGN3D

Warzone.com heeft een review van Starwars: Rogue Squadron in elkaar geknutseld. Het verhaal:

n Rogue Squadron you take on the role of Luke Skywalker, somewhere in between movies one and two (Episode IV and V to be correct) as he flew with the legendary Rogue Squadron. Right away I was a bit let down. Being a fan of the Rogue Squadron books written by Michael Stackpoole I was hoping to play a fictional character in the Rogue Squadron where Wedge Antilles was in charge. But once I started playing this game I could care less if I was Austin Powers.

Fear not as Wedge and several other notables to rabid Star Wars fans like myself appear in the Rogue Squadron lineup. They fly missions with you and do a pretty decent job of helping you out. The game itself is comprised of 16 missions, all broken down into four chapters. The missions all vary in objectives and take place in different locations and notable characters from both sides will reappear over the course of the game.

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Speed Busters review

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 19:020 reacties, bron: AGN3D

Playdevil.com (een belgische site) heeft een review van Speed Busters gepost. Een stukje over de tracks in het spel, die nogal heftige lijken te zijn:

But an other thing where this game really can be proud of are the gorgeous tracks. They are absolute brilliant. There are 6 tracks, all different in location and you also have a mystery (hidden) track. From the sunny California, the snowy Colorado to the Sahara based Nevada and the impressive Canada; the tracks are just awesome. What can I say more? Oh yeah, every lap in a track ain't the same. Hugh? Well, every track is highly animated. For example, when you ride the California track you will drive through Hollywood. During lap 1 nothing really happens but when lap 2 begins you will notice that the shark (probably Jaws) will try to kick your ass. And that a dinosaur (probably the T-Rex seen in J.P) will try to grab your car and throw it away. So ... try to avoid those living creatures will you? :-). I found it

very creative from the Ubi Soft boys to include such things and I just want to say one thing to them: Thanks for the effort!

When selecting your track you can also enable the mirror and weather option. The weather option makes it possible to change it before you actually race. You want a rainy, cloudy, sunny or a dusk track? No problemo because everything is possible in Speed Busters.

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Sports Car GT first look

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 18:510 reacties, bron: Voodooextreme

GA Sports heeft een preview van Sports Car GT van Electronics Arts. Hier wat algemene info over het spel:

Players can choose from over 45 licensed cars including super-charged versions of the BMW M3 and the Saleen Mustang. Each of the cars looks and handles like their real-life GT counterparts. Additionally, racing enthusiasts have the option of upgrading and tuning these cars for optimal performance.

Racing occurs on authentic tracks from North America and Europe. Gamers can choose to race on the twisty Laguna Seca track or dare to overcome the labyrinthine Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Each of the tracks are accurately modeled to give players a highly realistic and immersive racing experience.

Sports Car GT features highly rendered 3-D graphics which helps bring the racing experience to life. Special effects include various weather conditions such as rain which affect gameplay. Racers can also select which time of day they wish to compete. In addition the game includes a real time feature which allows players to race up to 24 hours.

Voor de screenshots moet je even verder kijken...

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Skywell Magic TNT review

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 18:470 reacties, bron: Voodooextreme

Tweak3D heeft een review van de Skywell Magic TNT. Het ding heeft niet geheel onverwacht een TNT aan boord. Hier wat spul over de prestaties:

The performance of the Skywell Magic TNT was just as high as expected. In almost all cases, performance was very close to that of other TNT cards. The OpenGL performance was almost exactly the same as tests I had previously done with an STB Velocity v4400 card. Like I said before, this was expected, so I had no reason to complain.

However, the Direct3D performance with 3DMark 99 Lite was not as high as anticipated. Although it was very close, I was expecting the card to hit at least 2800 3DMarks using 640x480. I thought the 800x600 score would reach at least 2300, but it was well over 100 points shy.

I believe the reason for less than perfect Direct3D performance was based solely on the drivers. So I ran all the tests again, this time using NVIDIA's v.48 reference drivers. This was to prove that with TNT based cards, the actual card is not as important as the drivers.

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Unreal 221 tech update

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 18:430 reacties, bron: Voodooextreme

Tim Sweeney heeft op de Unreal tech page wat info geparkeerd over de ontwikkeling van Unreal 221, die met een verbeterde OpenGL ondersteuning voor TNT gebruikers een vette performance boost in het voorzicht heeft:

nreal 221 development continues, with quite a lot of new features slipping into this version.

Right now, Mark Poesch (the lead programmer of Wheel of Time) is visiting us here in Raleigh, merging in some of the improvements the Legend team has added into the Unreal engine for WoT and Legend's upcoming Unreal level pack.

I'm working on Unreal's OpenGL support, and will soon get a version of the code to the 3D hardware makers who have some driver issues to work out.  The Riva TNT is currently the fastest and most stable card, with the ATI Rage 128 looking very promising, especially in 24-bit color.

I'm also extending the Unreal installer which shipped with the 220 patch, turning it into a full-blown installation program for future patches, shareware versions, and retail versions.  I'm also contemplating extending it to support Unreal mods, which could then be distributed in a self-contained format (.uzip?) which Unreal automatically knows how to install.  This would put cool mods just 3-4 mouse clicks away from users who are browsing mod sites like Unreal Resources, a great improvement over the current process of "download a file, run PkZip, extract the .utx files to the Unreal\Textures directory, extract the .unr files to the Unreal\Maps directory, run Unreal, then try to figure out how to launch the mod".   This has the potential to bring mods to a much wider audience.

While I don't enjoy the painful and redundant task of writing an install program, I see it as worthwhile because it's such a critical piece of a game--especially one which is supported by an online community and third-party licensees.

Niet te vergeten ook nog wat spul over Unreal Tournament:

97%> The rest of the team is hard at work on Unreal Tournament, and we're really happy with the way the game is shaping up.  Unreal was such a huge, multi-faceted project that we weren't able to focus on deathmatch as much as we would have liked.  Unreal Tournament, with its identical gameplay style between single-player and multiplayer (the only difference being bots vs. human opponents) has given us a far more opportunity to polish the gameplay and the look-and-feel.

-Tim Sweeney

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Creative Labs QII OpenGL drivers

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 18:290 reacties, bron: Voodooextreme

Ik zag op Voodoo Extreme dat Creative Labs een bak met nieuwe Quake II OpenGL drivers gereleased heeft voor z'n Voodoo2 en Banshee kaarten:

Today we're releasing an optimized GL driver for Quake II for both the 3D Blaster Banshee and the 3D Blaster Voodoo2.  It's the same file for each, but each product has its own download page:

For the Banshee:

http://www.soundblaster.com/graphics/3db-banshee/drivers.html

...and for the Voodoo2:

http://www.soundblaster.com/graphics/voodoo2/drivers.html

Optimizing GL drivers for Quake II is a bit of a black art, and it was tough to improve on 3Dfx's already excellent work. Our driver won't give all users a framerate increase, and on some hardware platforms, you're actually better off sticking with the 3Dfx ICD or miniGL driver. To give you an idea on the relative performance of the drivers on various systems, we've put together a set of benchmarks

While this driver can also be used for Half Life, the original Quake, or other games which use an ICD or miniGL driver, our testing and optimization work has been concentrated on Quake II. You may run into problems if you use our driver with other games. Of course, you're welcome to experiment, but we recommend that you download this driver only if you're a Quake II player

This driver is a production of the Americas division of Creative Labs. It's intended for hardcore Quake II tweakers, and we can't offer phone or e-mail support. As always, great places to post your benchmark results or compare notes with other players are the 3D Blaster Voodoo2 and 3D Blaster Banshee newsgroups on Creative's news server

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3DNow bug in IDT Winchip-2

Door Femme Taken, 28 januari 1999 18:250 reacties, bron: webmagix

JC heeft info over een bug in de IDT's 3DNow implementatie. JC heeft een pagina over deze bug in elkaar gezet, waarvan hier een stukje:

Okay, I've been holding onto this one for quite a while because I don't want anyone to get into trouble over it, but it's kinda important. Apparently, there's a bug in IDT's implementation of 3DNow! in their Winchip2. It's not incredibly damaging, you wouldn't notice it in your game playing , but it's there and should be addressed. I tried emailing IDT with info on it but wasn't acknowledged, so I'm trying this more public route to get the knowledge to them. Pop over to this page on the bug and either spread the word or try to tell IDT yourselves!

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