Sharky Extreme meld ons ook nog even dat Hercules ook al plannetjes had voor een SLI met niet-3Dfx chips.

Hercules has considered the possibility of doing Non-3Dfx based SLI products. Currently, we're working on a number of other enhancements that we're very excited about as well. Stay tuned...

De voodoo3 wordt nu echt van alle kanten bedreigd door snellere, betere en goedkopere chips....

Intel heeft op het developers forum zijn ideeën bekend gemaakt wat betreft de toekomst van het pc platform. De keywords zijn speed, security, simplicity and style.

Vooral dat laatste is leuk, want pc's zien er traditioneel nogal suf en duf uit.

"The PC is quickly getting redefined," Gelsinger said. "There are more interesting colors than beige."

Shortly after Apple Computer, Cupertino, Calif., unveiled its bulbous, bondi-blue consumer iMac computer last summer, Intel Chairman Andrew Grove was widely quoted as hailing the arrestingly designed new Macs as the future of PCs.

The dancers, wearing the trademark protective suits, showed off unusual and, in many cases, colorful PC designs from companies such as NEC and Ziba Designs. The show included the Aztec, an orange, pyramid-shaped design that Intel showed last year. There were round-shaped computers, tower-shaped systems and several with flat screens.

Intel heeft tevens een nieuwe form factor voorgesteld. FlexATX is kleiner, zodat het wat simpeler wordt om een standaard plank in een afwijkend gedesignde doos te stoppen.

Meer info vind je bij CMP Net.

The Brotherhood Of The CPU heeft ook een K6-III vs. PIII artikel. De mythes rond de pIII worden even op een rijtje gezet :

There were several myths that have surrounded this CPU. The first one was that the serial number would be such a violation of privacy that we would have all our steps monitored, kind of like in George Orwell's 1984. Although spammers will be delighted with the new serial ID, and although it CAN indeed be used for evil purposes, I seriously doubt that our privacy, at least in that sense, is endangered. Another myth regarding the Pentium III is that if we turn off this feature using Intel's own software utility, we're safe. Anyone who is slightly familiar with assembly knows that it's as easy to read the Pentium III's serial number, as it is to turn it on again. Instead of issuing one assembly command, all that needs to be done by a programmer is issue two commands, one to turn the ID on again, and another one to read it.

The Pentium III was also rumored to be totally clock-locked. This however doesn't seem to be true, because we were able to overclock it without a problem (except for that annoying multiplier-lock that has been present since the release of the Pentium II 450Mhz and the 128Kb Celeron series). Our Pentium III sample doesn't seem to be an engineering one, it's only one of those early retail units. Unless there are changes to the second batch of Pentium III's, I seriously doubt that there will be clock-locking. In fact, I was told by an electronic engineer that clock-locking a CPU is very difficult, and expensive, and that Intel would never actually do it.

The last rumor regarding the Pentium III is due to Intel's heavy marketing campaign. Like I previously stated, the Pentium III is not faster than the Pentium II, or the 128Kb Celeron, unless when using the SSE instructions.

Toch geen frequency lock?? Dat weten we denk ik pas zeker als die dingen in de winkel liggen.

Creative heeft nieuwe drivers voor z'n Banshee kaart gereleased. Je kunt ze hier van Creative's site trekken.

De info:

3D Blaster Banshee BIOS & Windows 95/98 Driver Update

3DBB-9XBIO-1-US (Revision 3)

This package contains:

* Latest BIOS Update (v1.03.2d)

* Latest DirectX 6 compliant drivers (v1.08)

* BlasterControl

* GlideSwitcher Utility

This driver corrects the problem of intermittent screen distortions and frequent system lockups for users running Windows 98.

Please refer to README.TXT for installation instructions.

Included drivers:

3DBBW9X.DLL v1.08

BCBSW9X.DLL v1.03

3DBBW9X.DRV v1.08

BNF1032D.EXE v1.03.2d

3DBBW9X.VXD v1.08

Brian Hook (aka Grandmaster B) van id Software heeft z'n .plan geupdate met info over lower end videoplanken onder Quake III Arena:

While differences in fill rate are a source of concern, it's easy enough to scale for fill rate by moving down video modes (320x240 has 1/4 the pixel fill rate requirements of 640x480). Triangle throughput, however, is much more difficult to compensate for since we don't do level-of-detail on the world, and we only do a very coarse LOD on models. Going to a vertex lit model halves the number of triangles rendered in the world compared to lightmapping, which helps both slower graphics cards and slower CPUs.

Gamesmania.com heeft een preview van Driver op z'n site gepoot. Driver gaat een super vet spel worden en wordt ontwikkeld door het zelfde volk die eerder verantwoordelijk waren voor Destruction Derby 1 & 2. Hier wat info uit de sneak peek:

The premise of the game is you are an undercover cop named Tanner and you are trying to break a crime ring that is entrenched in four of the biggest cities in the US: Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Miami.

To do so you are posing as a wheelman for hire. You will be the driver picking up after bank robberies, after casino jobs...After any type of crime you can think of. You are the driver of the getaway car.

The game will be full of underground meetings in garages that show full motion video sequences of mob types handing you a suitcase full of money.

The trick is for you to arrive with the car at just the right time--when the gangs are supposed to come out of the bank, or where-ever the crime is going down. If you come too early you will raise the suspicions of passersby and the police. If you arrive too late, you'll upset the mob and they will kill you.

Onze vrienden van MS.IDG Nepwereld hebben wat info over een bijdrage van Ursie Lambrechts, een of andere D66 rakker, op het forum van de Volkskrant. Lambrechts is het niet helemaal eens met de plannen van opper-onderwijzer/minister Hermans. Hier wat rip-werk uit het nieuwsbericht van Nepwereld:

"Minister Hermans van Onderwijs moet zijn oren niet naar Bill Gates laten hangen en Linux gebruiken als het platform waarop de educatieve applicaties in de Nederlandse scholen draaien." [break]En over kennisnet:[/break] "Ook zint het D66 niet dat minister Hermans alle kaarten zet op een gesloten Kennisnet. "Waarom zoveel geld en energie gestoken in een eigen net, terwijl het Internet al lang bestaat, vrij toegankelijk is en bovendien veel goedkoper? Waarom geen eigen onderwijssite en open verbindingen met het Internet zoals BECTa in Engeland? Een afgeschermd Nederlands Kennisnet zal het echte Internet nooit kunnen evenaren, noch in variatie, noch in omvang", aldus Lambrechts. "

Storagereview heeft een review gepost van Western Digital's nieuwe WDE18300 drive, de eerste van een nieuwe generatie U2W SCSI schijven. Het ding heeft de lekkere opslagcapaciteit van 18,2Gigabijten. Hier wat info uit de review:

s the first of 1999's 7200rpm SCSI drives, the WDE18300 can't yet be contrasted against its direct competitors. We can, however, compare it to the best 7200rpm unit available in 1998- IBM's Ultrastar 9LP. As would be expected, the newer, shinier specs of the WD drive helps it muscle past the venerable IBM. The Enterprise outguns the Ultrastar by about a 16% margin in WinBench 98 tests under Win95. Tests under NT further the gap with the WD drive racing past the IBM by 23% or more.

Meer info + een hele zooi benchmarks vind je bij Storagereview.

U-Geek heeft een artikeltje in elkaar gedraaid met de specs van de AMD K7. Een stukje:..

AMD has high hopes for the K7, claiming that it will be the fastest chip available in floating point and integer operations when it is released. That's quite a statement when you are competing with Xeons and Alphas. In addition, the K7 will feature 3D instructions with a 128-bit pipeline, backwards compatible with the 3DNow! instructions, but faster, to give KNI a run for the money.

De nieuwe versie van 3D Mark 99, 3D Mark 99 MAX is binnenkort voor iedereen te downloaden. In het persbericht staat eigenlijk alles :

Futuremark Corporation Announces 3DMark™ 99 MAX and 3DMark™ 99 MAX Pro - A major update to world's leading 3D benchmark

Futuremark Corporation today, Wednesday, February 24th, 1999, announced 3DMark™ 99 MAX - a content update to the world's most popular 3D DX6 benchmark.

3DMark™ 99 - The Gamers' Benchmark is the world's first forward looking 3D benchmark that is aimed directly at the 3D gaming community. 3DMark99™ MAX strengths this position by adding more complex content and Internet interactivity. With confirmed distribution of over 4.5 million copies 3DMark 99 is the most used 3D benchmark in the world.

The major improvements in 3DMark™ 99 MAX include: · Cutting edge optimizations for AMD 3DNow! instructions · Cutting edge optimizations for Intel Pentium III SIMD instructions · Analysis tools for comparing different processor optimizations · Bump mapping tests · Comprehensive Batch Run feature · Updated Game Content for faster accelerators · Updated for Microsoft DirectX 6.1 · Hardware Upgrade Feature and Internet Interactivity

The benchmark will be available for public download on the 8th of March 1999. Download details are available from: www.3dmark.com.

All existing 3DMark 99 Pro users will be pleased to learn that their license will be upgraded to include the 99 MAX version free of charge.

"Our mission is to make sense out of 3D performance and to do it with style. The release of 3DMark 99 made it easy for the end users to distinguish between good and bad 3D-hardware. With the introduction of the improved Internet tools, such as the upgrade wizard, this process is now easier than ever." says Aki Jarvilehto, Managing Director of Futuremark.

Cutting edge optimizations for both AMD 3DNow! and Intel Pentium III SIMD instructions

3DMark 99 MAX takes full advantage of the new instruction sets available on the Pentium III and allows comparison across the Intel family of processors as well as introducing support for 3DNow! The MAX release is the first benchmark ever to incorporate both cutting edge optimizations to different processors as well as tools for measuring the effectiveness of the optimizations.

Internet interactivity and the Upgrade Wizard One of the most exciting new features is the upgrade wizard. 3DMark 99 MAX users can now click the new Upgrade Wizard to see how other graphic cards would perform if they were installed in their PC's. No other benchmark has EVER offered this level of functionality.

"We are tremendously excited to take benchmarking to a new level. The Internet allows us to offer 3DMark as the ultimate upgrade tool," commented Nathan Harley, Director of Sales and Marketing.

The Upgrade Wizard functionality will come on-line a few days after the release of 3DMark 99 MAX. As the Upgrade Wizard delivers comparison results based upon those submitted, we would really appreciate it if everyone could submit results into the database. This way we can unveil the Upgrade Wizard as quickly as possible.

Available for the Gamers everywhere

3DMark is available for EVERYONE to use. Magazines, web site owners, manufactures can all use and publish 3DMark results without charge. As Futuremark is privately owned you can be guaranteed of completely independent test results. 3DMark offers quality publishers across the world an independent third party testing solution.

3DMark 99 MAX version is also available for distribution on magazine cover disks and from quality web sites. Further details on distribution are available by contacting Futuremark Corporation at press@futuremarkcorp.com.

3DMark™ 99 MAX available for FREE download

Now anyone can evaluate the performance of their PC under DirectX™ 6.1 and witness the benefits of the latest development platform from Microsoft. 3DMark™ 99 MAX and the Pro version allows comprehensive testing and results analysis. These tools are backed up with Internet interaction on the 3DMark™ web site with users able to browse, submit, and compare their results. In addition, there is also the mind-blowing demo mode to show off the awesome power of today's next generation of 3D accelerators.

3DMark™ 99 Professional to include advanced testing features

In addition to the basic benchmarking features in 3DMark™ 99 MAX, Futuremark is also releasing a commercial enhanced version of the software for the demanding professionals.

For further 3DMark™ 99 related information, please refer to www.3dmark.com. 3DMark™ 99 and Futuremark™ are trademarks of Futuremark Corporation, Ltd. MAX-FX Technology™ is a trademark of Remedy Entertainment, Ltd. All other brands and names are property of their respective owners. For more information please refer to www.futuremarkcorp.com .

Geript van Planet Riva.

Er ligt weer een nieuw nummer van PC Zone Benelux in de winkel. De highlights:

Previews:
- Roller Coaster Tycoon
- Hired Guns
- Max Payne
- Tank Racer
- Commando's 1.5 (Beyond the call of duty)

Reviews:
- Delta Force
- Uprising 2
- Actua Soccer 3
- Falcon 4
- M$ ProPilot '99
- Luftwaffe Commander
- Powerslide
- Blood2
- World League Soccer 99
- Alpha Centauri
- Red Baron 3D
- Star Wars Rogue Squadron

Features:
- Beterweters doen het zelf (voetbalmanagersimulaties)

Harde Waren:
- Intel PIII
- Guillemot Maxi TV Video PCI 2
- Thrustmaster Frag Master
- Act Labs Force RS
- Labtec APX-4620 & LCS-2632
- Diamond Monster Sound MX300
- Metabyte Wicked 3D Eye Scream

De review van de Monster Sound MX300 is erg positief. Hier een stukje:

"Kortom in vergelijking met de Live! geeft de MX300 een voller geluid, dat een stuk duidelijker 3D gepostioneerd is. Alleen als je echt veel met muziek wilt werken is de Live, vanwege zijn digitale I/O kaart en zijn vergulde pluggen (minder ruis) beter. Maar dat betekent niet dat de MX300 ongeschikt is voor het maken van muziek, het is echter veel meer een gamers-geluidskaart dan iets anders."

Het maart nummer ligt voor FL14,95 bij de boekenboer, inclusief de cover CD met demo's van o.a. Aliens vs Predator, Actua Soccer 3, Hard Truck en editors voor Half-Life en SiN.

The Register heeft nog wat info over de nieuwe USB2 en ATA-66 interfaces (FRiWO postte er eerder vandaag al wat spul over), door Intel beschouwd als alternatief voor FireWire. Minder leuk voor Apple, want die had gedacht met FireWire net een leuke technologie in huis te hebben. De Appel blijft rotten...

The follow-up to ATA-66, dubbed Future ATA, was said to operate at up to 1Gbps. Intel isn't the only player here, said Gelsinger -- various other companies are working on the specification. "There's no other alternative I can see for in-the-box I/O storage," he added.

[...]He also couldn't resist a dig at Apple, claiming the company's reported decision to charge a royalty for its FireWire intellectual property (see Apple caught charging crafty FireWire fee) had "confirmed our strategy" of "looking at a new version of USB". Apple recent decision to share the rights to that IP with five other key FireWire supporters, Compaq, Sony, Philips, Toshiba and Matsushita (see Apple caves in over FireWire licensing) hadn't resolved the royalty issue, he claimed.

Het complete artikel vind je hier.

Dat Apple een hekel heeft aan alles dat niet volgens de saaie standaard is blijkt wel weer uit dit stukje. De arme man is blijkbaar ontslagen bij Apple omdat hij een vreemde vogel was. Ik heb even een paar van zijn "misdaden" ge-copy-pasted :

Among the floutings of convention cited in Barlow's Apple employee file: developing a pulley system to store his mountain bike above his workstation, listening to Bob Dylan on his headphones while testing software, and taking barefoot walks around the Apple campus to "feel more connected to the creative energy of others."

[snip]

Barlow was first written up in September 1996, when he was cited for "unprofessional and inappropriate personal modifications to his workspace." In addition to taped-up pictures of Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein and R. Buckminster Fuller, Barlow painted a large red question mark on the side of his monitor, scanned and displayed a non-approved desktop screen image of Jim Henson, and replaced his computer's trademarked Apple system beep with a snippet of the John Lennon song "Imagine."

[snip]

Barlow's most recent formal write-up came last Thursday, when his team supervisor caught him doing a headstand.

"I was stuck on this bug I discovered in the new Mac OS X system software that Apple's developing. No matter what I tried, nothing worked," Barlow said. "So I thought to myself, what I need to do is turn my whole approach to this problem upside-down. And what better way to do that than by standing on your head?"

Schandalig wat die man allemaal deed!!

Freak! heeft een artikeltje over gamen onder NT. Hier het introotje :

Here's the situation. You're either a poweruser who uses Windows NT or you're interested in migrating to NT but you also want to play games. So, what are you to do? Can you even run games under NT? There hasn't been much written about it and you know you're local Best Buy sales associate is probably going to be clueless about the matter. I'll try to help dispel some of the myths surrounding gaming under Windows NT since you don't normally associate Windows NT as a gaming platform. I'll take a look at things you should know about running games under Windows NT and what are the best setups for running games under NT. Before we get started I'll give you the super condensed Windows NT history lesson.

Before the advent of Windows NT 4, if you ran Windows NT then you could pretty much forget the idea of running any mainstream games on it. Microsoft's newly born Windows 95 platform was the OS of choice if you wanted to run any real games. Thus, Windows NT took the backseat to its more popular younger brother Windows9x when it came to games and was just seen as the older brother who was serious and dependable but not a lot of fun. Well, times have changed and after being the workhorse for so long, NT is ready to have some fun. The release of Windows NT 4 along with Service Pack 3, the spread of OpenGL popularity, and growing developer support have changed many things.

Let's go over a few things about Windows NT just to refresh everyone's memory.

De rest...

Hardware central heeft een stukje over een MP3-autoradio die op Linux draait (jaja!). Hier een lijstje met specs :

It looks like a sophisticated car radio/CD player, but this box is a specialized Linux-powered computer (driven by a StrongARM 220 MHz processor). In its base configuration which contains a 2.1 gigabyte disk, it stores 35 hours of CD-quality music in a 6" by 5" by 2" unit (that's it -- there's NO trunk-mounted remote box!) And if you're one of the "...people with small cars and large music collections," you might want the high end system -- it has 28 gigabytes of storage giving you 500 albums, or about 7,000 singles, or a full week's worth of listening without repeating any songs. And it will never skip. And, if that's not enough, the software already supports twice that amount of storage once higher-density drives become available!

Als ik een auto had...

Intel heeft het voor elkaar gekregen om een protopy z'n PIII processor op 1002MHz te laten kachelen:

Intel captured the speed record for desktop processors at its developer's forum by showing off a chip that ran at more than 1000 MHz.

Intel showed off a Pentium III desktop prototype that ran at 1002 MHz, a new land speed record for processors, according to Albert Yu, senior vice president of microprocessor products at Intel. The chip was running a computer running a multimedia application featuring underwater seascapes.

This was the first time the gigahertz (one billion cycles per second) frequency has been achieved on a standard microprocessor, Intel said.

IBM has run processors as fast as 1100 MHz, using an experimental 64-bit PowerPC chip.

Meer info in dit News.com artikel.

PC One Tech heeft wat zitten kletsen met een gozer van Hercules, over nieuwe videoplankjes enzo die we de komende tijd mogen verwachten. Hier een plak uit het interview:

What makes your boards better than the rest of the crowded competition?

Because of our hardware testing and qualification procedure, Hercules products typically run at faster core clock speeds. This gives our customers the security in knowing they have the highest performing warranted product. Customers don't need to "get lucky" with another manufacturer to get an overclockable part. Hercules also provides a suite of utilities, Hercules Touch, for truly fine tuning your video performance. Hercules HercuMeter allows users to adjust core/memory clok settings to maximize performance.

Billy van Voodoo Extreme heeft wat Voodoo3 prijzen bij elkaar geraapt:

God knows these prices are going to change (but you can pre-order), but oh well...PSX "scoured" the net in search of some good deals on the Voodoo3(s) - (these are sites that are actually taking pre-orders). Check it:
3000 - agp - 153.95 - www.buycomp.com
2000 - agp - 110.95 - www.buycomp.com
2000 - pci - 110.95 - www.buycomp.com
3000 - agp - 163.95 - www.necx.com
2000 - agp - 118.95 - www.necx.com
2000 - agp - 118.95 - www.necx.com
3500 - agp - 239.99 - www.ebworld.com
3000 - agp - 179.99 - www.ebworld.com 2000 - agp - 129.99 - www.ebworld.com
2000 - pci - 129.99 - www.ebworld.com

The Register heeft nog wat info gepost over Metabyte's zwaar heersende TNT SLI technologie:

The sources claim Metabyte's new technology, believed to be scheduled for an official announcement today or tomorrow (so watch this space), can easily be applied to chip-sets other than TNT, specifically S3 Savage3D (and, presumably, the Savage4) and 3Dfx's Banshee, which is based on Voodoo2 but doesn't support SLI. ®

Zie The Register voor meer stuff...

Op Techweb stond dit stukje over die Russische killer -chip, de E2k. Het lijkt erop dat een gebrek aan geld de chip de das om gaat doen...

Russian supercomputer engineers have developed a microprocessor that -- on paper -- is up to five times faster than Intel's Merced chip, due next year.

The chip, called E2k, was designed by Elbrus International, which has spent the last 40 years doing mostly development for the Russian military establishment.

The CPU design achieves 135 SPECint95 and 350 SPECfp95 benchmarks, well beyond the 45 SPECint95 and 70 SPECfp95 benchmarks for Merced. It runs in a 0.18 micron die at 1.2 GHz with 256K of on-chip L2 cache. It consumes only 35 watts while Merced consumes 60. Through emulation and compiler technology, it's both x86 and IA-64 compatible.

Het hele verhaal.

Sharky heeft een "Hands on preview" van de Diamond Stealth Savage4 met de S3 Savage4 chip. Hier staat de preview maar eerst een voorproefje :

The featureset of the Savage4 is impressive, leaving nothing to chance when it comes to supporting future technology. Sharky Extreme's staff was particularly impressed to see the Savage4's ability to offer Single-Cycle Trilinear Filtering, as well as support for Bump Mapping and Anisotropic Filtering included in the mix.

We also felt that the Savage4's 300MHz RAMDAC controller and support for a minimum amount of 16MB of SDRAM or SGRAM would fit the bill nicely for the gamer on a low-budget who's still looking to run with the big dogs in 1999.

Hardware One heeft een review van de nieuwe Sega Console Dreamcast. Hier een beschrijving van het dingetje :

The packaging is quite straightforward.

The box contains one controller, a user guide, the console itself, and the necessary cables (power and AV) to hook you up.

The Dreamcast console itself is very dense. You would not expect it to weigh as heavy as it did. It even comes with a fan blowing out from the right edge of the console. In front, there are 4 controller ports a la Nintendo 54.

At the back resides the power socket, the AV-plug and, interestingly enough, a serial port, which I suppose plugs to the modem. I was told that the Dreamcast in Japan comes with a modem built-in. I don’t think the Singapore version has that feature.

The controls on the console itself are quite sparse too. The top only has two buttons: for power and eject - and a light too.

I quite missed the Reset button on my old Saturn and I have no idea why this was not there. It can get quite annoying because the only way to reset the machine is to hold down A+B+X+Y and press Start on the controller (which sounds oddly enough like Ctrl-Alt-Del). A sign of Microsoft’s influence? =)

Hier moet je zijn voor de rest...

Planet Hardware heeft een review van de Logitech Formula Force op z'n site geplant. Good vibrations?

Performance varies quite a lot from game to game, I found Need for Speed to have the best force feedback capabilities, but even those weren't very strong with the Wingman Force. I think this is due to the limits of the force feedback API. Maybe the next revision of the API will provide more force, but for now it only feels realistic on small bumps and road textures. Wheel manufacturers can adjust sensitivity levels through hardware or software, looks like Logitech wanted the Wingman to be a bit more subtle than other wheels on the market.

EETimes heeft een artikel over USB 2.0 en ATA-66 2.0. De specs zijn behoorlijk snel dus FireWire mag wel gaan uitkijken... Hier het introotje :

Intel Corp. sent the world of PC peripheral interfaces spinning Tuesday (Feb. 23) when it announced it was working on a version the Universal Serial Bus that could run faster than 200 Mbits/second and on a future rev of the ATA-66 interface that could act as a Gbit/second serial link. The work could effectively squeeze 1394, once groomed as a primary interface for future desktops, into a niche role in tomorrow's PCs.

Work on the so-called USB 2.0 and Future ATA links has been going on for several months before the two projects were publicly announced at the Intel Developers Forum here by Patrick Gelsinger, general manager of Intel's desktop division. Gelsinger said 1394 may become a "niche" technology in tomorrow's PCs, confined to a role as a link to consumer electronics devices.

Less than three years ago, Intel and Microsoft Corp. were still touting USB at 12 Mbits/s and 1394 at 400 Mbits/s as the two primary interfaces for future PC I/O. Asked whether Apple Computer Inc.'s recent royalty claims of as much as a dollar per port against 1394 users had an impact on the decision to eschew 1394, Gelsinger said, "Sure, we were already looking at a new version of USB from a technology and market perspective. [The IP claims] confirmed our strategy."

En de rest lees je hier.

Grandmaster B (Brian Hook, mannetje bij Id Software) heeft z'n mening over de TNT SLI uitgepoept in z'n column op Voodoo Extreme:

I just noticed on SE the pre-release info about Metabyte releasing a TNT SLI rig in the two forms of AGP+PCI or PCI+PCI. Furthermore, Metabyte claims this technology can be easily used on other chipsets, including the upcoming TNT2. So, I am wondering what you think of the whole thing and where does that leave 3Dfx (out in the cold)? This technology was not developed by nVida, but Metabyte. Thus, this clearly illustrates what an OEM and offer to a manufacturer. Something that 3Dfx never counted on, hehe.

GMB's Response: Honestly, I think there is either some serious misinformation or wishful thinking going on. If an actual press release materializes, I'll take it more seriously. The article itself had some questionable comments (I don't recall Carmack making claims of 25% speed improvements for SSE) and flat out inaccuracies ("256K x 256K" and "2000K x 2000K" texture size limitations...you mean "256x256" and "2048x2048"? And SLI configurations should not have any bearing on CPU performance since the work is done at scan out time, i.e. by the hardware).

And the conjecture about Q3A frame rates was WAY out there -- guessing framerates for an unreleased game on unannounced hardware is, well, stupid

hmm...ja...wachten dus op de officiële pr van Metabyte. Kijk in de tussentijd voor meer info bij Grandmaster B.

Sharky Extreme heeft dit hele kleine beetje nieuws over de release van de Mattrox G400 :

Sources close to Matrox Graphics have revealed that their next generation processor, called the G400, will be previewed for the first time at CeBit '99 in Hanover, Germany (March 18th). Initial release dates of cards based off of the chipset are for Q2 of 1999. No more details are available at this time.

Dat was alles...

Microsoft zet zichzelf weer eens voor paal in de rechtzaal.

A Microsoft demonstration of how easy it is for OEMs to customise the Windows desktop shown yesterday was in breach of Microsoft's OEM licensing agreements. Or at least, it was if the OEM isn't one of a handful of top PC manufacturers.

Microsoft showed the video to accompany the testimony of OEM licensing chief Joachim Kempin, who argued earlier this week (Kempin testimony) that Microsoft's OEM customers have a great deal of freedom to install whatever software they like on their machines. The vast majority of Microsoft OEM customers do not however have this degree of flexibility in their contracts.

The fact that some OEMs have secured this flexibility is itself an issue in the antitrust case. In the months before the DoJ filed against Microsoft, the company relaxed the terms of some of its contracts. Permission to modify the online services folder, for example, was initially granted to Gateway, and then extended to other companies, although Microsoft had initially said that Gateway was a 'special case.' This is not quite how Kempin puts it in his written testimony. In spring of last year, he says, Microsoft allowed seven companies, "Acer, Compaq, Dell, Gateway 2000, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Packard Bell/NEC) to make two modifications to the initial Windows 98 startup sequence … Microsoft permitted these seven OEMs to replace the registration wizard in the initial Windows 98 boot sequence with products that provide a single unified end user experience and register the customer jointly with both the OEM and Microsoft … Second, Microsoft permitted these seven OEMs to add their own software for customers to sign-up for Internet access with one or more ISPs selected by the OEMs and to have that software run automatically prior to any customer opportunity to use the standard Internet Connection Wizard feature of Window 98."

En hier heb ik het gevonden.

AOpen heeft 2 nieuwe moederborden aangekondigd. Het zijn beide low-budget Socket370 moederborden. De plankjes zijn gebaseerd op de Intel 440LX chipset. Hier wat reclamepraat uit de aankondiging :

For capable performance, both the MX3L and AX3L support 300-to-400MHz Intel Celeron (PGA370) processors. Likewise, both the MX3L and AX3L utilize Intel 440LX AGP chipsets, and include 3 DIMM sockets to allow users to install either high-performance SDRAM or more cost-effective EDO memory. A maximum of 768MB can be installed with either motherboard.

A new and surprising benefit is on-board sound. The MX3L and AX3L integrate an ESS Solo 1 sound chipset, which eliminates the need and cost of adding a soundcard. Furthermore, it keeps an expansion slot open for an additional add-on card.

For use within a networked environment, AOpen integrates several key management features into both new motherboards. This includes support for Wake-on-Modem, Wake-on-LAN, Wake-on-RTC Timer, and Wake-on-keyboard/mouse. Furthermore, AOpen provides hardware monitoring and a resetable fuse to provide additional protection against power surges from peripherals.

Both the MX3L and AX3L motherboards meet ACPI standards, and are Microsoft Windows 95/98, CE, NT 4.0, PC 97/98, Novell, and FCC/DoC certified.

Anand heeft een review van de Shuttle HOT-681Z. Net zoals de HOT-681 is dit ook een Socket370 plankje, alleen op de 681Z zit de ZX chipset. Voor de rest zijn borden zo goed als identiek.

Since the HOT-681Z uses the same PCB as the HOT-681, the board layout is obviously identical. Shuttle's classic 4/3/1 (PCI/ISA/AGP) slot configuration is pretty good for a Socket-370 board, but many users would probably still prefer the 5/2/1 option. The ATX specification is followed virtually to the letter with the 681Z, giving it an excellent layout.

All HDD/FDD connectors are located where they should be, right at the front of the board, so that no cables are forced to run over the CPU and/or memory. The ATX power connector is right next to the FDD connector at the corner of the board, right where the ATX specification says it should be and helping to minimize cable clutter even further. The board a standard ATX format, but is extremely short - just a bit longer than an ISA slot - and should just fine in any ATX case..

Nine 1000uF capacitors are located immediately around the CPU socket with a few smaller ones located around the DIMM slots. The layout of the HOT-681 also places a CPU fan connector directly adjacent to the CPU socket, with another fan connector on the open side of the AGP port to allow for easier access when blindly plugging in fans into your already filled system.

De review.