Ars Technica bestaat de laatste tijd regelmatig aandacht aan Linux. Nu hebben ze ons verblijd met een review van KDE (X window manager) gepost:

Personally, I believe that KDE 1.1 is a modestly extensible, quick, and stable environment, and I think you'll see from this review that KDE is putting a face on Linux that's bridging the gap between so-called established, "easy to use" OSes--like Windows and the MacOS--and Linux, the mythically evil, CLI-based realm of pain and suffering. If you're new to Linux, perhaps you could look forward to the day when KDE holds you back. If you're comfortable with Windows' GUI, KDE is certainly not going to make you claustrophobic.

Volgens The Register zit er dankzij overproduktie weer beweging in de SDRAM prijzen. Afgelopen jaar waren de prijzen asociaal stabiel (in juni vorig jaar 460 piek voor een reepje van 128Mb en nu hangt de prijs nog steeds net boven de 400). Hier wat info van The Register:

Prices of 64Mb/PC100 memory modules are continuing to drop daily, a memory distributor said today.

And that follows a trend over the last two or three months where the price for a module has dropped from £90 to £60, according to Alan Stanley, UK MD of French memory company Dane-Elec.

Er staat ook nog wat bij over Direct Rambus, die pas volgend jaar in volume geproduceerd zullen worden.

Review-zone heeft een big-ass overclockers guide gepost. The A-Z of Overclocking geeft praktische tips en background info voor de beginnende overklokken. Check'm out hier.

Planet Riva heeft een artikel gepost waarin 16-bit en 32-bit rendering met elkaar vergeleken worden. Zoals bekend doet de Voodoo2/Banshee/Voodoo3 alleen 16-bit, voor TNT hooligans een leuke reden om 3Dfx af te zeiken:

One hotly debated issue in 3D graphics today is the importance of higher external rendering bitdepths, especially lately when comparing 3dfx architecture to just about everything else on the market (Matrox G200 and G400, ATI Rage 128, S3 Savage 3D and Savage4, and NVIDIA RIVA TNT and TNT2). The purpose of this article is to dispel any myths regarding claims by various manufacturers and investigate the real differences between the two different rendering bitdepths.

Ook Creative heeft nieuwe TNT drivers klaargezet voor WinNT:

* Solves video display problem with Virtual Desktop when screen display is set to a higher resolution (eg. 1900x1200) outside active viewable area. * Fixes screen flickering when running Windows Mystify screensaver in 256 colours Nieuwsgroep: [break] ...en Windoos 95/98: [/break]* Supports OpenGL screensavers * Allows real-time shadow effects in games which support this feature, such as Unreal * Solves video syncronisation and misaligment problems in BlasterControl. * Includes latest BlasterControl help files

Het spul kun je hier neerhalen.

Diamond heeft nieuwe drivers voor de Viper V550 gaar gebakken. Je kunt ze halen op de V550 driver page bij Diamond. Hier een plak info uit de readme:

Features Added
------------------
Added 2D and 3D performance enhancements
Optimizations for AMD's 3DNow! Technology
Support for Intel's Pentium III Processor

Problems Addressed
------------------
Addressed reported "Freeze" issue when using AOL 4.0
This driver resolves compatiblity issues with installing Diamond Drivers over IE5.

Known Limitations
------------------
Reported DTV 2000 issues are being investigated

Alweer een oude klassieker waarvan een opvolger met met 3D verpakking wordt uitgebracht: Prince of Persia 3D. De gamer die al een tijdje meeloopt herinnert zich vast nog wel het eindeloze rondstuiteren en doodvallen met onze Persische held. Gamespot UK heeft een preview van Prince of Persia 3D in elkaar gedraaid. Hier wat info over deel 3, die naar verwachting in oktober gereleased zal worden:

The idea is that you're not taking the Prince exploring in a free roaming 3D interactive world, rather that within a detailed and expansive series of 3D levels you have to surmount a series of quite clearly defined obstacles between you and your immediate destination. Fundamentally, you will know that you have to get from A to B within a level to progress - the catch is that between you and that door (or whatever), there are four guards, a collapsing floor, three spike traps and so on. NPCs in the game are not there to chat with you, they're there either to give specific pointers as to a puzzle up ahead, or to give you a hard time. Nothing more. No, you wouldn't be trying to make pixel perfect 3D jumps before the screen flipped across as was always the joy of the previous 2D games, but nor will you be wandering around vast empty levels, Dark Forces-style, searching for hidden buttons to open secret doors.

Anand heeft een reviewtje geschreven over een moederbord waar een slot-1 en socket 370 processor op kan.

Today, the major source of debate happens to be over the Socket-370 Celeron processor. Intel has once again proven the lack of a dire need for the journey over to Slot-1 with the introduction of another socket based CPU interface that is curiously similar to that of the old Socket-7 standard. Socket-370 is becoming increasingly popular, and by decreasing the supply of Slot-1 Celeron processors, Intel is attempting to steer the entire low-cost market in the direction of Socket-370. Although the Socket-370 processors aren't any different from their Slot-1 counterparts in terms of performance, they do happen to cost considerably less to manufacture, theoretically causing a drop in the final retail price of the CPUs, unfortunately this isn't the case due to the supply/demand for the chips. In any case, many users are weary of a commitment to Socket-370 now, as they may want to pursue an upgrade to a Pentium III in the future when prices drop down to a more manageable level, unfortunately with the design of the interface, a Socket-370 motherboard is pretty much limited to Intel's Socket-370 Celeron processors, eliminating a great percentage of the high-end solutions from your future upgrade path.

Je kan hem Hier lezen.

Alex van Sharky Extreme heeft een review geschreven over deze plank.

3dfx's (now with a little 'd') next generation chip set, the Voodoo3, has already been previewed to death (literally!) at the Sharky Extreme laboratory of 'overclocking excellence' (Pentium Pro-sized fans and all). But with all the fusssurrounding the low-yields at 183MHz and the resultant unreliability and instability issues, it's easy to forget that there are indeed THREE version of the Voodoo3. The 3500 will not be shipping for a while yet but the 166MHz version (the 3000) and the 143MHz version (the 2000) are much more successful in terms of yields and thus closer to being released. The focus of this article is the Voodoo3 2000 AGP, which will be pitched to entry level end users as a low cost 2D/3D solution. Not long after you read this, the Voodoo3 2000 AGP will actually be available for purchase and hence we've been given a full retail version (a Rev. B) for review purposes. The board itself (pictured below) is actually straight off of STB's FAB line in Mexico and not a 'pre-production' board from 3dfx. A PCI version of the 2000 will also be available, which we'll test for you at a later date.

Op JC's PC News'n'Links vond ik een linkje naar een artikeltje over de K7 en de Kryotech Cool K6-III 600. De tekst is in het Japans maar de plaatjes zeggen veel.

Ohja er staan ook nog plaatjes van de Rise CPU...

Ik was wat aan het ronddobberen op Anand's BBS alwaar ik een thread tegenkwam waarin een paar Winstone99 resultaten voor de K7-500 en K7-600 genoemd worden. Er is geen enkele reden om aan te nemen dat deze info betrouwbaar is, maar de cijfers zien er realistisch uit en het is mooie info om hier ff te posten:

"The Winstone numbers are just rumours. There is a recent one, I should mention, involving a K7-600 scoring 47, but that's just a rumour, too."

"I believe the rumored numbers of 41@500MHz and 47@600MHz for Winstone 98 under Windows 98. A theoretical scale from the 500MHz score would yield a score of around 49. The 47 seems reasonable."

"FYI, The rumoured 41.6 Winstone result was reported to have been obtained on the following configuration:

AMD K7 clocked at 500MHz, 200 MHz bus

128 MB SDRam (unknown brand)

6.4GB Quantum Fireball ST 5,400 rpm

STB Nitro 3D Graphics Card

According to the same report, on a similar configuration, a PIII@112x4.5=504 MHz obtained 34.3 business Winstones 98."

Als het waar is en een K7-500 haalt 41,5 Winstones, dan is K7 dus echt vet veel sneller dan een PIII. Het gaat hier om Winstone benchmarks, dus niet een simpel synthetisch CPU benchmarkje. Ter vergelijking: een PIII-500 doet rond de 34,9 Winstones en een PII-400 doet er 31,4 (11%, het verschil tussen K7-500 en PIII-500 is 19%!).

CGO heeft een review geplaatst van Superbike World Championship. Hier is wat stuff:

In all honesty, this game doesn't strike you with a dazzling first impression. The gods, as they say, live in the details, and this game does tend to sneak up on you as you play. Take the graphics engine for instance. The tracks are nicely done, but are barely on par with current F1 sims. It's when you take a really close look at the detailing on the bikes and riders that you notice. It goes from the fanatical detailing on the bikes to the riders' personalized helmets and leathers. The default "helmet cam" view takes a little getting used to, but it authentically imitates the view through the rider's eyes as he moves around the bike. The biggest problem is the typical lack of peripheral vision. While there is a "glance back" feature, glancing slightly to either side is impractical at best. Much too often you'll find yourself battling over a corner side-by-side with another rider with no idea how much clearance you have or if you're being cut off.

Overall, the audio is acceptable but weak. The game does an excellent job of trying to capture the distinct character of each motorcycle's engine, from the Ducati's loping gait to the Kawasaki's frentic wail. The problem is that they sound very synthesized, creating a distinctly cartoonish quality. One thing that motorcyclists will quickly note is the lack of roaring wind noise in the rider's helmet. This makes it much more difficult to intuitively sense your speed around the track.

Lees hier verder.

WinAmp 2.10 is uit. Hier zijn de features:

• New preferences system
• New install screen stuff (with easier configuration)
• Improved CDDA plug-in, with auto-play
• Improved MPEG audio decoding (blip reduction, ID3v1 URL, Shoutcast URL, Shoutcast 1.1 title streaming)
• Improved MOD/XM/IT rendering (64 bit mixing, sample declicking, less loader bugs, etc)
• Totally new output driver (faster and more compatible)
• Language package support
• Windows font support w/ International characterset capability (optional)
• Better filetype registration (with options to register on start, etc)
• Desktop Icon and Quicklaunch adding
• Customizable DSP/Vis plug-in directories.
• Playlist editor has more intuitive moving
• Winamp Browser (for context-sensitive content)
• A TON of bugfixes (if you've been getting GDI errors this should fix)

Gamers Central heeft een review van Resident Evil 2 geplaatst. Hier zijn wat clips:

Resident Evil 2 is the sequel to the smash hit Resident Evil, in which you played Chris Redfield running around an old mansion on the outskirts of Raccoon City, desperately trying to uncover the secret behind the Resident Evil. Now it's time to grab your kit once more as either Leon, a cop, or Claire, a reporter, and save the entire city from a new, more powerful, more terrifying, Resident Evil. That's right - in Resident Evil, a house full of people were infected with the T-Virus - this time, the whole city is infested...

The story behind Resident Evil 2 (RE2) is indeed excellent. Having never played much of the original Resident Evil, I was immediately drawn in by the dramatic storyline told on the box, the amazing graphics and the emphasis on pure horror ...At last, I thought, a game that is going to be truly heart pounding! The thought of running around an apocalyptic city, being hunted by hordes of gruesome zombies with only a trusty pistol for defense thrilled me: so much so that I went out and immediately bought the game.

These requirements would often mean seriously compromising on graphic quality. However, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that even in the lowest resolution I could be treated to some superb artwork and genuinely well drawn sprites. With a 3D card, the graphics of RE2 have to be seen to be believed - they are, quite simply put, awesome! Every shadow carries with it a dark warning; every bloodstain on the pavement chills you to the bone; every abandoned vehicle reminds you of the fate of this doomed city. Capcom has done a marvelous job with the graphics of RE2, improving significantly over RE - no detail has been left untouched.

Via Coolinfo vond ik deze Powercolor Dreamcode Mainboard review @ Dimension 128.

Hij wordt het 'Integrated gamer's Mainboard' genoemd. Check even wat stukjes uit:

Powercolor isn't an extremely well known company in the US, although it has been very successful in a number of European markets. They have a series of graphics adapters and sound cards, and more recently launched the "Dream Festival" series of integrated mainboards, aimed primarily at gamers. D128 has the opportunity to look at the Powercolor Dreamcode, which is a Slot-1 BX mainboard aimed at gamers with integrated RIVA TNT and Yamaha 3D audio.

Another reason some folks don't like integrated boards is that they traditionally ship with sub-par components on board. Would you be interested in an integrated board if it had an old-generation graphics chipset onboard? I don't think so. Powercolor's board comes with nothing less than an AGP capable RIVA TNT with 16MB SDRAM. As for sound, this board features the Sensaura 3D sound of Yamaha's YMF-724 GX sound chip. And all of this on a high-quality BX mainboard. So I dare say that this board is certainly attractive to those building a new Slot-1 system, especially gamers.

Besides the integrated components, the Dreamcode is pretty much a standard, up-to-date BX-based Slot-1 mainboard. Its features include support for up to 768MB SDRAM in its three DIMM slots (support for 256MB DIMMS), support for the latest processors like the Pentium III, and fully selectable FSB speeds using DIP switches. The Front Side Bus speeds supported by the board are the standard 66, 75, 83, 100, 112, 133MHz. I was satisfied to notice that the board doesn't mind running 66MHz FSB CPUs on 100MHz FSB at all.

The first thing one should notice about this board is that it has no AGP slot, and only 3 PCI slots, and one ISA slot. The reason for this is that a lot of space is taken up by the integrated RIVA TNT (which is an AGP version), and the Yamaha sound chip. If you have a lot of PCI cards, such as Voodoo 2 cards, SCSI adapters, video capture devices, etc, 3 PCI slots are probably not enough for you. However, I'm willing to bet that 95% of computer owners don't need more than three PCI slots on their mainboard, so I think that three PCI slots is a fair compromise for an integrated board. What I do regret however is the lack of an AGP slot. It is conceivable that somewhere down the line you would want to install an alternative graphics card and disable the onboard TNT, but the Dreamcode offers no such possibility.

Lees hier verder...

Op Coolinfo vond ik een stuk dat gaat over het gebruik van rubber in microchips. Best wel interressante stuff lijkt me:

Bell Labs has developed a high-tech rubber stamp that could be used to print features as fine as microchip circuits without some of the constraints of traditional chipmaking technology. The technique has its roots in traditional chip manufacturing methods, but enables people to put circuitry on unconventional materials such as glass or plastic, said John Rogers, a physical chemist at Bell Labs, the research arm of Lucent.

Possible uses of the new technology could be large flexible screens that could be unrolled and attached to a wall, or fiber optic cables that could be tuned to transmit just the right frequency of light, Rogers said. The technique begins the same way as traditional chipmaking, where ultraviolet light is used to etch tiny patterns on silicon wafers. Next, a liquid silicone is poured across the silicon surface and solidified by baking it at a low temperature. The rubber then can be peeled off, coated with special ink, and used to stamp the pattern on other surfaces.

While the technique could be used to create ordinary chips, it's not realistic, at least in the short term, that the research technique could displace conventional silicon chip manufacturing methods, Rogers said. The stamp itself, as well as the mold used to create it, can be used over and over, Rogers said. Using Bell Labs' chipmaking equipment, features the size of 0.02 microns can be etched and reproduced accurately in the rubber stamp. However, because the ink used spreads some when the rubber stamp is used, the ultimate feature size is restricted to about 0.2 microns, Rogers said. In contrast, future editions of Intel's Pentium III chip due in August will have a feature size of 0.18 microns.