The Register heeft een vertaling van de info die Happy Cat (vage japanse site) gisteren postte over de Intel i820 (Camino) chipset:
The translation of the text which goes with these pix is as follows: "Current Celerons do not use 0.25 micron process but a 0.22-0.23 process instead. The Intel 820 Camino should be announced around May although I can’t say much about it. There is support for SDRAm and 133 Mhz bus (except for i810 which will have the i752 Portola integrated)."
...en de i810:
"The Intel 810 will direct the market for Intel and it integrates the VGA chip and it will be out and sold this summer. "Integrated VGA exists in two kinds for the i810: DVM or UMA (unified memory architecture, using system RAM) or an outside source of memory called DC-100 (UMA is slower and it is also the technique used in the MediaGX while DC-100 is the technique used by SiS which uses external memory like a graphics board).
Zie dit artikel van The Register voor meer info.
Soyo SY-6VZA mobo review
GA-Source heeft een review van de Soyo SY-6VZA socket370 moederplank met VIA Apollo Pro chipset op de site geplant. Hier maar weer een stukke ctrl-v:
One of the reasons I wanted to try this board in particular was to see how well VIA's Apollo Pro chipset compared to Intel's BX and ZX chipsets. In most tests other than Wintune98 it seems that the VIA chipset is around 10% slower than Intel's ZX chipset. In Wintune98, the SY-6VZA actually outperformed my comaprison boards, in some categories by quite a margin. Wintune is somewhat artificial of a benchmark, and not very gaming oriented. Quake 2 and Unreal framerates, as well as 3DMark99 showed the board to be about 10% slower, and these benchmarks are more meaningful for gamers. I tried a wide variety of differing BIOS settings in an attempt to enhance this, and was unable to do better. 10% is not completely horrible, but personally for the few dollars difference I think I would go with an Intel chipset based board such as SOYOs own SY-6IZA, which is based on Intel's ZX chipset. Having looked around a bit, I believe that the performance level that I achieved was pretty much normal for the Apollo Pro chipset in a gaming setting. The price difference between the differing chipsets is not that great, and the money would be better spent on the better motherboard to achieve the performance, rather than a faster processor.
Duke met Megadeth soundtrack
Duke Nukem Forever krijgt een hele heftige soundtrack... Hier wat info van
AGN 3D:Straight from 3D Realms, they have announced that they have been working with the band Megadeth to record the opening theme song for Duke Nukem Forever. "So far, things kick ass, and they are going to record another version of the song soon." 3DRealms is going to release more information regarding the song at a later time. If you are unfamiliar with Megadeth, they are a heavy metal group. One of their most popular songs was Almost Honest which was on the Mortal Kombat: Anhilation movie and soundtrack.hehe...
Creative erkent SP4 driver probs
Het was al langere tijd bekend dat de SBLive onder NT4 ServicePack 4 problemen opleverde, maar met de laatste driver update kan het wel werken. nadeel is dat het een echt update is, en je eerst de oudere drivers moet installeren voor je de update kunt draaien. een hachelijke zaak.
Stemmen gingen dan ook op om Creative te bewegen een nieuwe volledig SP4 compatible driver-pack uit te brengen, zodat we geen risico meer lopen. een Reactie:
Hello, I've found that when the drivers that come with the SBLive! VE are installed under NT4 ServicePack 4 the system cant boot anymore. On your site there was a msg that new drivers have been posted, but no succes. every time I click on the link for the new driver, the only thing I get is that the site reloads. On the FTP site I just can't find the driver specified. Could you please tell me how to get that driver, because for security reasons I need SP4 to be installed. With kind regards,Creatives reactie was (as usual) een volledig standaard briefje
please find enclosed the needed infos: UPDATED DRIVERS FOR WINDOWS NT 4.0
New drivers for Windows NT 4.0 are available for Sound Blaster Live! and Live! Value owners in the Live!Ware update for November. These
drivers support recent advancements in the effects processing of the EMU10K1 audio processor.
Also released is support for Service Pack 4 on single processor systems. Although not supported in this release, Creative is working
[...]
yada yada yada, tuurlijk jongens, maar daar neem ik geen genoegen mee.
I've once succeded in installing the updated drivers. However, the installation of this update is an ABSOLUTE crime. Due to some other problem i had to reinstall NT4 again. After a day and 5 times of reapplying SP4 in the way I was told through the newsgroups, and the way I succeded before, still I don't got my Live back working under SP4. I most sincerely hope you can compile a new and complete driver set that wil work immediately without the trouble I have to go through right now. (based on the november 3rd drivers and therefor the newest.) With kind regards What can I say... ik blijf beleefd... (toch?)
Dear Sir, I agree that as the driver update which resolves the problems with sp4 is dependent on the original drivers and as the original drivers cause the system to blue screen I expect that we will have to release a better installation for SP4 as the procedure mentioned below is less than satisfactory.
We have no information on when Singapore will release a better liveware update for SP4.
kijk... da's meer directe info... niet dat ik er veel aan heb, maar ze beweren er nu tenminste mee bezig te zijn (voorheen was hun beleid gewoon keihard: het werkt zo, dus zoek het maar uit...)
ATI Rage Fury review
Jeremy van AGN3D / AGN hardware heeft de ATI Rage Fury gereviewed. Het ding heeft een Rage 128 met 32Meg SDRAM on board. De performance van de Rage 128 is ongeveer gelijk aan die van de TNT, maar bij het renderen in 32-bits kleur is de ATI beduidend sneller:
As mentioned above by Steve Schick, 32-bit rendering does have an enormous overhead on both the processor and the graphics card. This overhead usually results in frame rates that are decidedly sub par for enjoyable gameplay. In order to fight the enormous strain brought about by 32-bit rendering and keep frame rates high, ATI has optimized their chip extensively for 32-bit use. The end result is a chip that can provide near 16-bit level performance at the 32-bit setting.Het ding heeft ook nog een 32-bits Z-Buffer en built-in hardware DVD acceleratie. De specs zijn goed, maar of de Rage 128 een succes gaat worden valt te betwijfelen (Savage4, TNT2 en V3 worden over een maand gereleased).
Nieuwe Monster Fusion drivers
Diamond heeft een paar nieuwe drivers voor z'n Monster Fusion gereleased. Hier wat nutteloze info van de Diamond site:
This is the Monster Fusion Windows 9x Display Drivers version 4.10.01.0213. Please view FUS95213.TXT for driver installation information.This driver does not support OpenGL or MiniGL (required for Quake or Quake II). For MiniGL applications, please use the MiniGL driver listed below.
NOTE: This driver REQUIRES that your Monster Fusion BIOS be of 1.20b4803 (AGP) or 1.20b4002 (PCI) or higher. To upgrade your board, see the BIOS section below.
De 3,5Meg dikke driver kun je hier downen.
Nascar Revolution review
GA Sports heeft een review van Nascar Revolution op z'n site geparkeerd. Hier een stukkie over de gameplay:
The gameplay on NASCAR Revolution seems to suffer from a severe case of indecision. It’s as if the development team realized that it didn’t want to commit to a racing sim model after all, and therefore stopped halfway. After a full week of driving – with lots and lots of tweaking in between -- I’m still looking for that one combination which will make my driving experience fun, or at least successful. As is, I’m stuck in the zone of the mildly amusing, to put it charitably. "The keys to success in NASCAR Revolution," insists EA SPORTS’ manual, "are identical to the keys to success on the NASCAR circuit." If that’s true, then I better find myself a sponsor quickly, because I may have better luck – and definitely more control -- on the real NASCAR circuit.
Act Labs Force RS review
WickedPC de Act Labs Force RS gereviewed. Met 139 dollar is dit force feedback stuurtje erg sympathiek geprijsd. Hoe zit het met de performance?:
We're quite impressed by the force effects of the wheel, and the solidity of the pedals that were provided. The only thing that really irritated me is when you turn the wheel it makes this "smooth grinding" noise. While you're in the game, the force effects and the sound drown it out, so it's not really that big of an issue, just something to look out for.Meer info in de review van WickedPC.
PSX2 developing onder Linux
Sony heeft Linux geselecteerd als ontwikkeling omgeving voor z'n Playstation 2:
The report is in Japanese, which The Register has a bit of a blind spot, but the story essentially suggests Sony is to offer its development tools for Linux.It's not clear whether the next-generation games console will use Linux as its on-board OS -- Tuesday's launch focused more on the hardware specs. and the PlayStation 2's graphics engine -- but it would certainly be a good choice given the kernel's portability and the fact that the PlayStation 2's nearest rival, Sega's Dreamcast, is based on Windows CE.
Meer info over de PSX2 specs (die best wel vet zijn) vind je bij Sharky Extreme.
CPU Scaling artikel
Eric van Fastgraphics heeft een artikel over CPU scaling en dependency op z'n site gepleurd. Hier intro:
here has been a lot of confusion about something called the CPU scaling of graphics chipsets. Basically what this scaling thing is all about is the increase in framerate which you get with a certain chipset when you move to a faster CPU. So when a given chipset shows much better performance on a Pentium II 400 than on a 233, then we say that it scales up well... Chipsets that don't seem to benefit much from a faster CPU are said not to scale well. So what's the confusion?The confusion is about the way graphics cards are tested. Most hardware reviewers (including me) generally test hardware on the fasted CPU they can get their hands on. But when two cards perform about equal on a high end CPU, then that certainly doesn't have to mean that they will be equally close on a slower CPU.. One might scale down very well, while the other doesn't...
There has been a lot scaling-talk about the nVidia Riva TNT chipset and the Banshee chipset from 3Dfx. The Banshee chipset was supposed to perform better on slower CPU's while TNT would be the choice for high-end systems..
I decided to have a look at a number of cards with the popular chipsets we have today, and test them all on various CPU speeds to compare their scaling..
De rest vind je hier.
Mikroschoft in 4 stukken
The Register heeft een uitgelekt rapport te pakken gekregen waarin aanbevelingen worden gedaan om Bill in 4 stukken te hakken. Hier een stukkie uit dit pretbericht:
A 40 page secret report by the software industry's trade organisation calls for the break-up of Microsoft, should it lose its antitrust case. The Software and Information Industry Association, formerly known as the Software Publishers Association, recommends in the report that Microsoft be broken up into three or four 'Baby Bills' with identical product lines.The status of the report, which was leaked yesterday, is unclear. It seems to have been approved by the Association's board, and is in the hands of the Department of Justice as well as the press. But over the past few years there has been considerable infighting within the Association over the Microsoft issue. Executive director Ken Wasch and much of the board are heavily critical of Microsoft, but Microsoft is the group's largest member, and has fought back hard.
Meer gein bij The Register.
Toenemend support voor PC133
De PC133 standaard krijgt steeds meer support. Eerder heeft Intel al zijn steun toegezegd ivm de lage yields van Rambus DRAMs (waardoor Intel gedwongen werd uit te wijken naar PC133 als tijdelijk alternatief voor Rambus). Hier wat info uit een artikel van EETimes:
A groundswell of support for the PC133 DRAM specification is building in Taiwan and the United States. With Intel Corp. otherwise occupied with the difficult transition to the Rambus memory architecture, a growing number of memory and chip-set companies are working to establish PC133 as an alternative to Rambus in the marketplace.An ad hoc group of companies backing the PC133 device and module specification is scheduled to meet in San Jose, Calif. on Tuesday (March 9) to discuss options. David Pulling, vice president of marketing at Reliance Computer Corp. (San Jose) said "it started out as monthly gatherings at our company, but now the attendance has grown to the point that we are going to move the venue to an outside location." About 120 representatives are expected to attend the meeting.
Pulling said easing the technology into the personal computer space is where much of the group's attention is shifting.
Abit ZM6 review @ SE
Graig, hardware mannetje van Sharky Extreme, heeft z'n review van de Abit ZM6 socket370 moederplank gepost. De ZM6 is het kleine broertje van de BM6, maar heeft zeker een aantal opvallende features die hem onderscheiden van andere 440ZX borden:
Another plus that pertains to the way Abit outfitted the ZM6 comes in the form of a third DIMM slot. This contrasts again to the Intel model for the 440ZX chipset, in that only two DIMM slots are supported.The catch for the third DIMM slot on the ZM6 is simply that no double-sided SDRAM module will function in it. Single sided modules only folks. Also, the 440ZX chipset waves goodbye to ECC SDRAM support as well, and the ZM6 is no different.
Even though the 5th PCI slot and 3rd DIMM slot of the ZM6 aren't up to the specifications most 440BX board buyers are used to, they're welcome additions to the low-end 440ZX board market.
Portable MP3 player van Creative
AGN Hardware heeft wat info over een portable MP3 player van Creative:
reative Labs announced that they will be debuting their new Nomad line of portable digital audio players at this weekendends New York Music and Internet Expo. I had a chance to see the device at last year's Comdex and it looks a lot like Diamond's Rio. The biggest difference will be the price, because Creative said that they want to be the low price leader. Another advantage that the Creative player will have is the fact that longer time to market, means support for USB. That is one of the biggest problems with Diamond's Rio, the amount of time it takes to upload the songs. Creative's player on the other hand should have support for USB out of the box, making it much quicker to upload your favorite music. Expect full specs and more on the player this weekend when Creative releases the info to the world...
Nieuwe FastCard
Er is weer eens een nieuwe versie van dit handige overclock proggie gereleased. De updates in versie 1.10:
v1.1.0 is available for download. Grab it on the downloads page. The installer version now correctly registers TABCTL32.OCX (thank god!!) and is probably the best one to get. It weighs in at 612kb compared to 95kb for the zip, however the installer gives you uninstall capability, shortcuts and the correct version of TABCTL32.OCX correctly registered.New stuff in v1.1.0
- AMD CPU support
- Savage3D support
- ATi Rage 128 Support
Warnings!!
Various code tweaks. Memory footprint is down, memory management is better, tighter loops where possible...etc.
Check it out!!. You may experience some weird probs with the Savage3D stuff. Could a Savage3D owner get in touch so I confirm a couple of things. Methinks I need a hardware sponsor.....
Downloaden kan hier.