Ars Technica heeft op de frontpage nog wat info over de K7/PIII benchmarks die The Register een paar dagen geleden postte. Deze reactie heeft Ars van Slashdot gevist:

This is a fake benchmark perpetrated by a guy who called himself AcermanPS. He lurks around at a Thai webboard called www.pantip.com at tech-exchange section. He claimed to be working for Acer in Singapore but his IP address comes from Kasetsart University in Bangkok, Thailand. He is the same guy who, a few months ago, claimed that he can overclock Celeron 300A to 600 MHz using only a fan. When pressed, for details, he defaulted with no proof whatsoever.

Check deze vreemde foto's van een PII die in de casing van een PIII zit. De cpu zat in een Compaq systeem dus misschien is dit een soort OEM versie? Heel vreemd...

Check out the pics below. Assuming the pics are legit, this move makes sense, since the old PII packaging was cumbersome and expensive, anyhow. I imagine these new PIIs could be very overclockable, if the processor core is exposed like it is in the PIII--not under a metal cap like the Celerons.

The Tech Zone heeft een review gepost van de MSI 6163 moederplank. Net zoals de Abit mobo's heeft de 6163 Softmenu ("CPU Plug & Play") en voltage tweaking. Serieuze concurrentie voor Abit?

Being able to adjust the core voltage was what made Abit the number one choice in overclocking motherboards. Most CPU requires a voltage bump to become stable at it's new speed. Before, only Abit motherboards had this feature. Now the MS-6163 has it too.

Here are the results of my overclocking test:
- Celeron 366 - 100% stable at 458Mhz
- Pentium II 300 - 100% stable at 527Mhz
- Pentium II 350 - 100% stable at 480Mhz
- Pentium III 450 - 100% stable at 560Mhz

There is no doubt about it. The MS-6163 is every bit as stable as the Abit BH6/BX6-2. I did not have any problems overclocking any of the CPUs.

3DSoundsurge heeft een artikel geschreven over een QSound sound technology. So wat is QSound?

There has been much focus lately on Creative and Aureal's 3D sound cards but as we mentioned several weeks ago in our feature on Sensaura there are other companies that license 3D sound technology used for soundcards. Another such company is QSound. QSound's calls their 3D sound technology Q3D, which they introduced in 1991. QSound doesn't sell chips using the 3D audio technology. Just like Sensaura, they license their 3D audio technology to other companies. Some recent design wins for Q3D are Sega's Dreamcast, VLSI's Thunderbird (which Aztech's 368DSP card uses) and Trident's 4DWAVE-DX and 4DWAVE-NX chips. QSound's 3D audio technology is not only used by sound chips companies but has also been used in many games and a few other software applications like iQ and QCreator.

CPR Extreme heeft Voodoo3 - 2000 getest een geeft het voor alles (graphics, benchmarks, playability en entertainment) een 10. Een stuk uit hun review:

I wasn't really ready for what I would see when I benchmarked Quake II for the first time after installing the V3. I figured I'd get an increase for sure but I was definately not ready for almost double the framerate in 640x480 topping out at about 80 fps. At 1600x1200 res I still can pull a respectable 28 fps. 1600x1200!! Whoa.

Every game I have played so far with Voodoo 3 has a noticable and very pleasent increase in framerate. In fact, you don't actually notice -any- framerate at all it's so fast, even at very high resolutions. Finally we have technology that allows everygame to really shine and show off all the nifty effects that the programmers could think of without bringing your computer to it's knees in pain.

Eric van Fastgraphics werkt aan z'n Voodoo3 / TNT2 / G400 review en heeft in de tussentijd als vast een grafiekje met V3 en TNT2 benchmarks gepost. Check ze op de frontpage van Fastgraphics.com. TNT2 Ultra (150/183) blijft achter op de V3.

WinAMP versie 2.20 is gereleased. Nieuwe features in v2.20 zijn:

- Windows Media Technology 4.0 (WMT4)
- input/output support
- All new better sounding, industry
- standard Fraunhoffer MP3 decoder
- Generic PCM EQ that works on most formats
- (WAV/XM/MOD/IT/VQF/AAC/etc)
- Recursion in open directory dialog is now optional
- Windowshade mode for Equalizer
- Improved CDDA support
- Minibrowser improvements (new start page, etc)
- New version checking
- Bug fixes as usual Winamp is a fast, flexible, high-fidelity music player for Windows 95/98/NT. Winamp supports MP3, MP2, WAV and other audio formats, custom interfaces called skins and audio visualization and audio effect plug-ins. New users may want to check out the Winamp player overview or documentation pages.

Je kunt 'm hier downloaden (660K).

Na alle geruchten over benchmarks die bij The Register te lezen waren, heeft Ace's Hardware nu een verhaal in elkaar gezet over de geschiktheid van de K7 in zware servers. Prijs is dan geen probleem, betrouwbaarheid en ondersteuning des te meer:

This sentence says it all, how the industry thinks about AMD's plans:

AMD is a far cry from Intel in multi-processing.

You can hardly blame people for being very skeptic about AMD and multiprocessing, no AMD processor has ever ran in a multiprocessor system. The K7 will be their first attempt and Intel has very strong reputation in this area. [break]Verder staat er nog wat info over de chipsets:[/break] The single processor chipset is called "Ironside" (API calls it "Nautilus") and supports 100 MHz SDRAM. This is the chipset that will be ready upon the launch of the K7. The single processor boards will use the Slot A interface. The dual processor chipset with the name "Caspian" should be available later this year. "Caspian" supports a dual K7 or an Alpha 21264 configuration combined with 133 MHz SDRAMs memory. (This confirms one of the first articles of Brian) [break]En wat verontrustende info over de moederborden:[/break] It is heavily rumored that ASUS will be probably one of the first motherboard manufacturers to make a Slot A motherboard, but one of the largest motherboard manufacturers reports: AMD has been traditionally weak in working with 3rd party motherboard manufacturers, and they are even more tight-lipped about the K7. That's why we haven't even started our K7 designs yet, even though we're one of the world's leading motherboard companies. AMD rarely discloses info on new technology to anyone but 2 or 3 system OEM partners until launch time.

Sow daar is ie dan...:

Who would have thought that Linux would become the OS of choice for a Quake player? Days after releasing the Mac version of the Quake III test demo, id Software has made the Linux version available on its official Quake III Arena page. Additionally, the software to run a Win32 server has also been released.

Download em hier

Bij GameWire hebben ze een review van de Xitel Storm Platinum. Toevallig ben ik die kaart nu ook aan het testen en het best een tof ding. Een goed alternatief voor de MX300 (en SBLive). De review is erg kort en er staat nauwelijks info in. Over de force feedback koptelefoon die met de Xitel wordt meegeleverd wordt maar 1 regeltje (= een complete pagina) aandacht geschonken:

I've never seem a pair of force feed back headphones, so in my book this is pretty innovative, while I've seen force feed back wheels, joysticks, and mice, this is the first time I've force feed back headphones.

Avault heeft een preview gepost van Return to Na Pali, een mission voor Unreal. Hier heppie wat info over het ding:

Epic Games is preparing to release a set of welcome extensions to the Unreal universe. One is the much-anticipated, much-discussed Unreal Tournament, a stand-alone addition hoping to prove to fans and Epic licensees that the engine can do deathmatch better than id Software. People not wanting to get online will be able to go up against bots, but it won't be the traditional corridor creeping, monster mashing solo experience they are accustomed to. To satiate this group, Epic is releasing an add-on called Unreal Mission Pack: Return to Na Pali. The idea is simple: Here are some new monsters. Here are some new weapons. Here are some new maps. Go have fun.

The add-on is going to be a side trip in the series' unfolding macrocosm. In the original, the protagonist had a subtle presence. No intrusive voiceovers, no bloodstained portraits, just a nameless, faceless alien gun slinger. This gives Legend Entertainment, the team designing the add-on for Epic, free reign to do as they choose. In the game, players assume the role of an escaped prisoner rescued by the salvage ship UMS Bodega Bay. The Bodega Bay is on a secret mission to rescue the weapons research logs from the Prometheus, which mysteriously crash landed on Na Pali. Gamers have two choices: volunteer to recover the logs and be granted a full pardon or be returned to prison and certain death. Perhaps there is truly only one choice.

Unreal Universe heeft een artikel gebakken over het ingewikkelde verhaaltje Epic achter Unreal Tournament verzonnen heeft. In feite komt het erop neer dat je iedereen af moet slachten. Check de info op Unreal Universe.

Andy van BXBoards heeft reviews geupt van de Shuttle HOT-681V en Gainward 6IZB, beide socket370 moederplanken.

Op het BBS van Ace's Hardware staat een leuke thread die gehakt maakt van de PIII / K7 benchmarks die The Register twee dagen geleden gepost heeft. Check dit:

> I'm a hardware research engineer from Acer Inc. (Singapore)

Do we have any proof of this? No.

> K7 test machines CPU K7 600MHz (FSB 200MHz x 3.0) 600MHz 128KB L1 Cache
> 2-way associative 200MHz 512KB L2 Cache 4-way associative EV6 BUS
> Controller L2 Cache Speed 1/3 FSB

Everyone on this message board has mentioned this part spec dozens of times, this could easily be expected.
>RAM TI Direct RDRAM 256MB at 600MHz

I believe Intel RDRAM spec is twin concurrent 16bit busses at 800mhz, not 600mhz. This would support the claims of 3.2GB/sec and multiples thereof with interleaving. Also, Sony has speced their PSX2 as having an 800mhz RDRAM bus. Nintendo RDRAM runs at 433mhz. I don't know of anyone making 600mhz rdram because nobody apparently intends to use it. I believe this is fake.

VGA
> Matrox Millennium G400MAX 32MB SGRAM 360MHz RAMDAC Resolution 1600x1200 32
> Bpp 85Hz

The card's been announced, everyone who read the press release saw it and full specs.

> Harddisk IBM Ultra3 SCSI 6ms 10.0 GB

Nobody makes a SCSI HD in 10.0GB. They're all multiples of 2.255GB. 4.55, 9.1, 18.2, 36.4 are all currently shipping capacities. I don't believe IBM has shown a U3W prototype yet, only Quantum has that I'm aware of. Also, there is no controller listed in this spec, and I haven't yet seen any manufacturer talking about and upcoming U3W controller for anytime this year. Not believable.

En zo gaat het nog even door. Zie deze thread bij Ace's Hardware voor de complete info.

Intel sleept concurrent VIA voor de rechtbank, volgens dit nieuwsbericht van The Register:

Details of Intel's action against Via are scanty. Today is a bank holiday in the UK and public relations staff were not available for comment. The Taiwanese chip firm has crossed swords with Intel before. And, over the course of this year, Via has caused considerable headaches for Intel because of its support for the PC-133 and later PC-266 memory standards, which the chip giant has re-iterated it will never support, despite problems with Rambus. In early April, Via and S3 patched together a strategic agreement to cooperate on graphics chipsets. This also antagonised Intel, which viewed S3 as its close partner.

Guillemot zegt als eerste een TNT2 kaart gereleased te hebben die wereldwijd verkrijgbaar is. Guillemot is niet al te sterk hier in de polder dus het wordt nog ff afwachten welk merk TNT2 (Diamond?) als eerste de grenzen van ons landje binnen zal treden. Ik zal niet lullen, hier de info uit de press release:

Guillemot is proud to announce that, as of tomorrow, the Maxi Gamer Xentor will be the first RIVA TNT2™ based board to hit the retail shelves worldwide. Once again, Guillemot reaffirms its aggressive position in the North American market, leading the way with new technology.

"With the Maxi Gamer Phoenix, Guillemot proved that we have what it takes to be a market leader," says Alain Pakiry, Vice-President for Guillemot. "With the Xentor, we have once again clearly differentiated ourselves from our competitors by having the best technology at the best price. The graphics industry is an extremely aggressive business and not many companies are able to move as fast as we do."

The Maxi Gamer Xentor, based on the RIVA TNT2™ new generation chipset from NVIDIA, offers stunningly realistic and smooth animations in 3D games that no other card at this price point is able to compete with.

According to Eric Lizotte of GA-Source, "with this card, I was able to play Unreal at 1024x768 without feeling like I was under a strobe light. That to me just about says it all. In that same vein, the texture size available to the Maxi Gamer Xentor is more than 50 times greater than what ANY 3DFX based card is currently capable of."

Gamelinks.net heeft een preview gepost van Unreal Tournament, de multiplayer-only opvolger van Unreal. Het is de vraag in hoeverre dit een succes gaat worden aangezien de network code van Unreal nogal tragisch was:

Unreal Tournament looks somewhat promising but many still have nightmares when thinking of Unreal's original networking code which may again hurt the gameplay. Epic says that this time around things will be differenet...and they better be. After having heard first hand accounts from lucky mac and linux players who have been fragging their little hearts away on the Quake 3 Arena Test...all of them say that the network code is so good that even with 500 ping it seems as if though they are playing on a cable modem as play is absolutely smooth. This is where Unreal Tournament has yet to prove itself.

De preview van Gamelinks.net heeft ook nog een groot aantal screenshots van Unreal Tournament. Check 't out.

iXBT Labs heeft een info over een wazig proggie waarmee je vanuit windoos je BIOs settings kunt aanpassen:

Today we decided not to post another review but to offer you a very curious utility instead. It deals with i440BX and i440ZX chipsets registers changing. In other words it allows you to alter the parameters, which are usually set only through BIOS Setup, without exiting Windows. Moreover, it allows you to access those parameters, which are unavailable for changing even through BIOS Setup. This thing may be of great practical value for a finer tuning and overclocking your system.

Je kunt het ding hier downen.

Firingsquad heeft een review gepost van de nieuwe 466Mhz Celeron. Een Celeron koop je om 'm te overklokken (IMHO), maar met een multiplier van 7 blijft er waarschijnlijk niet meer over dan 7x75=525Mhz. Haalbaar?

As ever, overclocking with the Abit board was a streamlined process. The multiplier is locked at 7.0, which only gave us room to play with the bus speed setting. Taking it a little higher than the its default 66 MHz, we first tried 75Mhz, which resulted at 525 MHz. The Celeron booted up fine, POSTed, went through its paces, and Windows loaded up. This was at the default voltage of 2.0V, so we were rather pleased, hoping that there would be a margin for more speed. We ran a few benchmarks at 525 MHz just to see if it would crash easily, but after several hours, everything seemed solid.

The next logical step was to hit the 83 MHz bus speed. This would result in a 581 MHz bus speed - no mean feat for the Celeron! The system POSTed, went through the startup processes, and then froze on the Windows screen. Well, that's nothing a little voltage increase shouldn't be able to take of, so back into the Softmenu we go. Successive attempts to boot up at 2.05V, 2.10V, 2.20V, and 2.30V yielded the same freeze on the Windows startup screen. The version of Softmenu that we were using did not let us go any higher than 2.30V, but that is probably as far as we wanted to take it. If it takes more voltage than that, then it was not meant to be.

Vol fanatisme gedownload, staat je toch een bittere verrassing te wachten:

Als je dacht dat je de Final release hebt, heb je pech gehad zo kunnen we op betanews.com lezen.

It turns out Microsoft made a mistake and posted a Release Candidate of Windows NT4 SP5 to the public download site, and because a May release date had been rumored, most figured the file was final. However, the folks at Microsoft were kind enough to let us know that the bits posted were NOT final, and although they will not harm your computer, we recommend waiting for the official final release and have pulled the link to the RC. Service Pack 5 is a cumulative release, including all updates from previous service packs, as well as some new Windows 2000 support. We will keep you updated as to when the official release will occur, so keep checking back as testing for SP5 finishes up.

hehehehe... JAMMER dan!!!