Er schijnen wat probleempjes te zijn met de Half-Life 1.0.1.0 update, die gisteren gereleased werd. Hier heb je de info (gejat van AGN 3D, maar die hebben 't gekregen van Valve dus vinnik dat ik 'm hier ook wel compleet mag posten ):

Some people have been experiencing problems with their gamma settings with 3dfx boards and the 1.0.1.0 update. The gamma settings for your 3dfx board with 1.0.1.0 update are governed by the 3dfx control panel installed with your card's drivers. This was a change to allow users of some 3dfx hardware to set their gamma to a higher setting than was allowed in the Half-Life launcher, as the game was too dark. To allow your gamma settings on 3dfx hardware to be governed by the Half-Life launcher, run Half-Life with the command line switch -3dfxgamma.

Many people have also noticed that they are receiving an error connecting to servers running Hunted or Rock telling them that their map does not match the server's. In the 1.0.1.0 update we released new versions of these maps for speed optimizations. Currently, servers running the 1.0.0.9 versions of these maps are listed on the WON server list. Those servers will remain on the server list until this Tuesday, June 1st. Server operators should upgrade their server software by either downloading the 1.0.1.0 Update (if they are running from a Half-Life installation), or download the update to the Primary Server Program here.

There is also a new 1010 Linux server. Make sure that you get the latest version, 1010b. To install the server, download linux1010b.tar.gz from WON. Untar/unzip the file and read the linuxreadme file for further instructions. If you already run an Linux server, you can download the smaller file, linux1010bupgrd.tar.gz.

Full Download

1009 Upgrade Download

We have a mailing list for people interested in discussion about Half-Life/TFC dedicated server issues, both Win32 and Linux. To join the list, mail majordomo@lists.caitiff.com with "subscribe hlds" in the body. If you have install questions or problems, email the mailing list: hlds@lists.caitiff.com

Een opvallende creatie, en een van de eerste borden op de markt met de nieuwe Intel 810 chipset.

Introducing a board specifically designed for the Celeron® line of processors and re-aligning Value PC standards, ABIT brings to the market the WX6. Based on Intel’s new 810 chipset the WX6 is poised to bring the greatest price to performance ratio yet.

With the 810 chipset, the WX6 supports: 66/100MHz Front Side Bus, Ultra DMA33/66, Two 168-pin DIMM sockets support SDRAM modules for up to 512MB, integrated AGP 2X 3D graphics accelerator with 100MHz Dynamic Display Memory Interface and On board 4MB SDRAM Graphics Memory, Aureal A3D 3D positioning PCI audio controller that supports A3D & DirectSound 3D games and 64 voice wavetable, ATX form factor, Five PCI slots and One AMR slot.

ABIT’s latest All-in-One model, the WX6, is designed with the Intel’s value-oriented 810 DC-100 chipset. Integrated with a high performance 3D graphics accelerator in the chipset, and a high quality, Aureal A3D 3D positioning PCI audio controller, the WX6 will be the newest and best price/performance solution for the Value PC segment. Based on the new 810 chipset from Intel, what does the new WX6 give you? Fuller, richer, more integrated performance:

PCI Rev. 2.2 compliant with support for 33MHz PCI operations

Supports up to 6 Req/Gnt pairs (PCI Slots), WX6 already shares one Req/Gnt signal for PCI audio chipset.

Integrated IDE controller with Ultra DMA/66 support

USB host interface with support for 2 USB ports

n AC '97 2.1 compliant link for audio and telephony CODECs

Firmware Hub (FWH) interface support

“At the core of the 810 chipset is a memory controller with built-in graphics technology. The 82810 chip optimizes system memory arbitration, similar to AGP technology, resulting in a more responsive and cost-effective system.”

The WX6 features native Intel® graphics technology and software drivers, using Direct AGP to render stunning 2D and 3D effects and images.

The WX6 employs the Intel® Accelerated Hub Architecture to make direct connections between the graphics and memory to the integrated AC97 controller, the IDE controllers, dual USB ports, and PCI add-in cards. “The Accelerated Hub Architecture provides twice the bandwidth of the PCI bus at 266 MB per second.”

Integrated Audio-Aureal 3D and AMR

The WX6 has one AMR slot onboard, it is called the Audio/Modem Riser (AMR) slot. The WX6 comes with the Aureal A3D 3D positioning PCI audio controller that supports A3D Interactive & DirectSound 3D games with DirectSound3D acceleration and studio quality 64 voice wavetable, with Sound Blaster® and Sound Blaster Pro® compatibility.

The WX6 is also among the first to proudly meet the coming PC99 specification. Connectors are color coded to be identified and hooked up easily. Equipped with 5 PCI slots and 2 DIMMs, the WX6 also adds support for the new Ultra DMA66 IDE devices, making the WX6 the most user friendly solution yet.

Full Hardware Monitoring

To give the user the maximum in security and stability, the WX6 has integrated the Winbond Hardware Monitoring chipset. With the Hardware Doctor, a self-diagnostic software program for the PC, the user can monitor the following hardware configurations under Microsoft Windows 95/98:

Power Supply Voltage

Provide voltages for different devices such as CPU, Chipset, ISA Bus, PCI Bus

Fan Speed Includes CPU and System fan speed

Temperature Includes System temperature and a Thermal header for CPU or other hardware temperature monitoring.

The WX6 of course uses the most famous advanced Jumperless technology, Soft MenuTM which provides ABIT’s customers the easiest and safest environment to achieve maximum performance. Soft Menu II,TM ABIT’s patented technology increases future compatibility and gives users a convenient way to adjust CPU settings.

At a competitive price the amount of performance enhancement and power that the WX6 brings to the market is unparalleled. For more information about this ABIT product and others please go to: http://www.abit.com.tw/

Ik heb wel zo mijn bedenkingen over het nut voor ons tweakers, maar toch wil ik je de info niet onthouden

ABIT heeft een nieuwe site.
Okay, geen echt waanzinnig nieuws zal je denken, maar vergis je niet: de site is uniek in de hardware fabrikanten wereld: in maarliefst 16 (jawel ZESTIEN) talen kun je de informatie lezen over ale oude en nieuwe producten van ABIT.

ABIT is proudly announcing it's new 16 language website!

So if you are already wondering how it would be to get informations from a hardware manufacturer in your local language, then it is time to visit our new website at:

http://www.abit.com.tw

Check out if there's also your local language, and enjoy the tour!

De hoofdpage is best stoer gemaakt, maar als je weinig geeft om de shockwave dan kun je ook direct naar het nederlandse deel gaan, want natuurlijk is ook onze taal hier vertegenwoordigd.

Hier hebben we op zitten wachten: een vergelijking van TNT2 kaarten. Firingsquad gooit alle beschikbare TNT2's op een stapel en kijkt welke de beste is. Hier heb je een stukje over de Dynamite TNT2:

From our Dynamite TNT2 Preview, this card is one helluva overclocker (thank that super-fast 5ns RAM), and we were able to get it up and running at 190/230MHz, although as always, your mileage may vary. A later version of the TNT2 Ultra will include TV-Out.

The Dynamite TNT2 Ultra is available at a great price, and it simply kicks ass. FiringSquad wholeheartedly recommends it to those seeking the fastest TNT2 product available!

Leuke info allemaal, ik zie alleen geen benchmarks. Jammer (of ben ik blind?).

Het nieuws is waardeloos vandaag, maar dit soort berichten maken me blij: i-XBT heeft een paar V3800's van de straat geraapt en de resultaten zijn zeer wreed. Lees dit:

Well, ASUS V3800 TVR is finally available in Moscow as well. Actually, we didn't expect much from this TNT2 based card - the review was already written long time ago and we were not the only ones, who did it. Everything concerning this card seems to be well known. But a mass product is something different from a test sample, you know. In other words, a couple of days ago we took a few mass pieces just to try. And they proved really worth it! And to be more precise we were simply struck dumb when we saw them in use. These cards, which have 32MB 7ns SEC SGRAM and work at 125MHz core and 150MHz memory frequency, turned out incredibly overclockable! Of course, the core worked not much faster since it was not a Riva TNT2 Ultra. We managed to increase the core frequency only up to 150MHz. But the memory surpassed all our expectations. How much, do you think, we achieved? You won't believe but we saw it working at 240MHz. And it was not a single case: all the cards we had at hand showed the same performance. And as a result the performance gain appeared absolutely unbelievable! Here are the results of Quake2 massive1 demo on P3-450. Take a look:

Man, dat regeert! . Voor de benchmarks moet je ff de frontpage van www.ixbt-labs.com checken. Het performance verschil is groot!

GA-Source heeft een lading screenshots van Star Trek: New Worls gepost. Hier een selectie van 3 shots:

Ook GA-Source heeft een Viper V770 Ultra review klaar gebakken. Het woord 'overclocking' komt niet voor in de review, wel dit stukje over de 'Turbo Gauge' settings (=overklokken) van de V770:

Originally, for those of you that have been watching the TNT/2 race closely, Diamond had been looking at a 175mhz/200mhz(processor/memory) clock speed for their Ultra TNT/2 card. For a number of reasons they decided to ship the Ultra product at 150mhz/183mhz, which is Nvidia's default clock speed for the Ultra. The 3D Turbo Gauge allows you to add Boost Levels to performance. There are five boost levels, including the default (150/183) going up to 175/200. Depending on the individual game, you may or may not be stable at a given clock rate. That is what makes the InControl tools so valuable, since they allow you to set and tinker with this on a per game basis.

ZZT, een of andere wazige Nederlandse site (draait bij PI/WXS), heeft een interview met Tim Sweeney (Epic/Unreal) op het net gekickt. Hier heb je een vraag:

Wouter: With the coming of Unreal Tournament and Quake 3 Arena we see a trend in the direction of multiplayer oriented games. Increasing high bandwidth internet access is opening doors for developments like this. Assuming that the concept of the Unreal technology will not be improved upon in the near future, in what way will the market develop further?

Tim: I'd like to take the engine more in the direction of persistent multiplayer games, with a much larger world controlled by distributed servers. Sort of the best of Unreal Tournament and Ultima Online, combined together in a community-driven way.

IGN.PC heeft reviews gepost van Star Wars: Episode 1 Racer en Star Wars Episode One: the Phantom Menace. Racer krijgt de hoogste beoordeling: een 8. Hier een stukje:

Handling the pod is best done with a gamepad, and for the most part, the controls are smooth and responsive, and each of the twenty or so different pods handles differently. As you win more races and complete more circuits, you can unlock more pods, culminating in Sebulba's pod, the fastest, best pod in the game and the only one with any sort of serious weaponry to attack other players with.

The tracks themselves are fairly varied, some long, some short, with hairpin turns, loops, open areas and narrow windows where you're forced to thread the loop. Visually they are much more diverse, showing off some truly fantastic locations like underwater cities and the dunes of Tatooine. The most annoying tracks are the ones with zero gravity areas, where you're sort of whisked along various tubular tunnels without a lot of control of your vehicle, and a bit too much patience and luck is required in avoiding the tumbling boulders. But overall, the tracks are pretty solid and not overly dependent on finding shortcuts.

Extreme Hardware heeft een interview gepost met een ventje van Videologic. Hier heb je een vraag (over de performance, leek me wel belangrijk ):

Extreme Hardware: How would you rate the performance of the Neon 250 compared to the original PowerVR? Are there any performance specs you can give us?

David Harold: Roughly five times that of PCX2 (the chip on the Apocalypse 3Dx and Matrox M3d.) PCX2 was 500K poly/s and 30Mpx fill rate. PowerVR 250 is over 4M poly/s and 200 - 500 Mpx fill rate.

Ze hebben tevens een aantal Rollcage screenshots op de Neon 250. De JPEG compressie is alleen zo baggerhoog dat er over de beeldkwaliteit niet veel meer te zeggen valt. Hier zijn de tumbnails:

ZDNet heeft een zooitje info over de in juni geplande prijsdalingen van Intel:

On Thursday, sources confirmed that Intel (Nasdaq:INTC) has scheduled to cut prices on its low-cost line of processors by 6 percent to 21 percent effective June 6.

The price of its top-end 466MHz Celeron will drop 13 percent to $147, while its 433MHz Celeron processor will fall 21 percent to $113. Intel's 400MHz and 366MHz Celeron processors will drop to $93 and $69, respectively.

While AMD stresses that its price cuts earlier in May take into account Intel's long-scheduled move, the company find its position in the low-end market more problematic than ever.

"Intel's average selling price for the Pentium II and Pentium III are in the $200 to $300 range," said Mike Feibus, principal analyst with chip market watcher Mercury Research Inc. "That's a far cry from where AMD is now -- in the low-70s."

To survive long term, AMD has admitted that it needs to get the average selling price, or ASP, of its chips in the $100 range -- something that it has failed to do for some time.

...en dat hopen ze dus te bereiken met de K7.

The Register weet te vertellen dat volume produktie van de Direct Rambus DRAMs verder gedelayed is, gaat nu vierder kwartaal worden:

Intel may now be forced to revise its chipset plans, following information from a reliable source that Direct Rambus yields are likely to be slim in Q3.

Earlier this year, Intel said that there would be a slight delay to Direct Rambus parts, with shipments coming on stream in Q3.

But our source, close to Intel's future plans, said that realistic volumes of the memory parts are now unlikely to arrive until Q4.

That will put further pressure on Intel to adopt stop gap measures to support the PC-133 standard, something it has vowed all year it will not do.

P3D (Pure3D News) heeft een preview gepost van de Spectra 5400 en 5400PE, de nieuwe TNT2 kaarten van Canopus:

Canopus' Spectra 2500 was branded by many publications the best overall Riva TNT-based video card, and its success in the respective market reflected that, selling more cards than they had readily available. But despite the demand for the 2500, and their famed Pure3D II, Canopus decided to take a hiatus from the 3D accelerator market, and focus mainly on video editing.

Meanwhile, over in Japan, Canopus Co., Ltd. has a huge grasp on the Japanese video card market. While many speculated there would be a Riva TNT2-based card from Canopus, it was only made official around May 10, 1999. Two cards have been planned-- one based on the TNT2 and another using the TNT2 Ultra chipset, both joining under the Spectra series of video cards. However, as of right now, there are no definitive plans for Canopus Corporation to release the TNT2-based cards in North America. It has been rumoured that Alienware PC Systems may strike a deal allowing them to solely offer the TNT2-based Spectra cards to North American customers, though nothing official has been announced from either them or Canopus.

Dus voorlopig niet in Nederland verkrijgbaar. Wel jammer, want de Spectra 5400 Premium Edition is met 183/200MHz de snelst geklokte TNT2 van dit moment.

In de "Ask Grandmaster B." (Q&A column van Brian Hook bij Voodoo Extreme) van vandaag een vraag/opmerking over 48-bits kleurdiepte in spellen. Een palette van 16.777.216 kleurtjes heeft blijkbaar ook zo z'n beperkingen. Check it out:

In your reply to Sean, who failed to see the relevance of future 48 bit color depth, you only addressed the point of smooth gradients, and missed, IMHO, a more important reason for 48 bit (16,16,16) color. Just as it has been shown that 16-bit (5,6,5) can have problems with multipass blending in some current games, we will also reach a point where 24 bit (8,8,8) will also suffer artifacts.

Sure, we now are using maybe 3-4 passes in games, but as fill rate increases there is no reason to think that we will not want to use effects that will take maybe 7 or more passes. And when we do, even 24 bit will be pushed to the limit, and we will need those 48 bits to keep the quality decent. I can just imagine 3 to 4 years from now, some card manufacturer will still be holding on to 24 bit ("but our 24 bit color is rendered internally at 48 bits, and we have an effective 44 bit color depth in the frame buffer" ;^), while the others are moving on to 48 bit.

Who knows? Maybe the card manufacturers will go to 36 bit (12,12,12) first. We will just need to wait and see...

Yep, dat lees je goed: de standaard (dus niet Ultra-) TNT2 kaart van Hercules zal op 145/170Mhz gaan lopen, bijna net zo hard als de Ultra TNT2 kaarten van Diamond, Asus e.a.

Hercules rouleert, ik wist 't Check deze info van Thresh's Firingsquad:

The scoop is that Hercules' vanilla TNT2 will come in at a clock speed of 145MHz/170Mhz (core/memory)!! Yes you read that correctly. Their vanilla TNT2 is clocked at almost the same speed as many other board makers' Ultra boards. All of their TNT2s will ship with a heatsink and fan, and the Hercumeter overclocking utility will come packed in with all flavors of TNT2. The 16MB version of the TNT2 will cost $149.99 and the 32MB is priced at $199.99.

3D Racing Mania heeft een brede kudde NFS4 screenshots op het net geparkeerd. Hier heb je er zes:

Verder heeft 3D Racing nog een berg info over het spel, dus als je geïnteresserd bent in NFS4 dan zou je ff hier kunnen kijken...

Next Generation Online heeft een berg info over GTA2 bij elkaar verzameld. Hier heb je wat spul uit het artikel:

In short, if you enjoyed GTA, you'll love the sequel just as much if not more. Smooth, good-looking '50s retro-style cars set off the entire show. The attention to detail will stun you - ship porn to the Krishna gang and you're in it deep; walk alone in the wrong area and you'll get mugged; citizens of questionable repute will drag you out of the cars you've so lovingly acquired; an articulated truck lets you move contraband around from area to area, the trailer of which is easily dispatched if serious trouble rears its ugly head. Rockstar is fully determined to make gameplay and gaming its priority.

"We're all about gameplay here," Houser growled. "If there's no gameplay there, we're simply not interested. Around 70 percent of GTA2's development has been focused on making sure you get a top-quality gaming experience. Gameplay is by far the most important thing."

Gamesmania heeft een sneak peek gepost van F1 Championship, een nieuw formule 1 spel van Electronic Arts. Hier heb je wat info:

The game will allow Formula 1 Championship fans to race as real drivers, in licensed cars and on authentic tracks. The in-depth AI models opponent driver and car characteristics. Pit crew radio communications and team strategy brings home the Formula 1 driving experience. Technical input from Formula 1 teams and drivers ensure the best car dynamics and realism to date. EA is rumored to be building a proprietary new engine for the game, despite rumors to the contrary that they will utilize their NASCAR PC and PlayStation engines and just remodel the cars. EA sound teams have been visiting F1 courses around the world gathering race sounds and ambient crowd noises to add to the title’s soundtrack.

En de screenshots zien er tof uit:

Ik was wat aan het rondwandelen bij Hardware-One, kom ik op deze site met een paar extreem heftige fotootjes van een compleet submerged systeempje (moederplank in vloeistof):

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Meer toffe pics vind je hier.

Hot Hardware heeft een review gepost van de Gigabyte GA-BX2000, één van de betere BX moederplanken buiten het bekende Abit-Asus-AOpen kringetje.

De plank heeft 2 BIOSsen, erg leuk voor het geval je er eentje op blaast:

hose two red arrows are pointing at the two BIOS chips that are on the board. One chip is intended to be a backup in case the other gets corrupted. These chips are soldered to the board. In traditional motherboards, if you corrupt or damage your BIOS, you have to pull the BIOS chip (usually socketed) and replace it with a good chip. This can be a royal pain in the butt. I went through that once personally and was very lucky the motherboard manufacturer at the time, decided to send me a new chip. You may not get so lucky. Unless of course you own the BX2000. If you primary BIOS is corrupted, the system automatically switches over to the secondary chip and boots with default settings. This is a nice feature that you will hopefully never have to use but it is there if you need it. Here are some additional specs on the BX2000.

Ik hoorde van KH Yeap in #hardware @ aceface.aceshardware.com (irc chat) dat 3dfx fabrikanten van videokaarten gaat toestaan kaarten met de Voodoo3 te maken. Het nieuws staat ondertussen ook op Ace's Hardware. De bron is dit artikel in PC Week Taiwan (het artikel is in het taiwanees). Hier een stukje in het Engels :

3dfx has finally decided to open up Voodoo3 to other vendors according to this PC Week Taiwan report. Asus is the first to benefit from the move, and will soon release an Asus brand Voodoo3 card based on Voodoo3 3000. Other Taiwanese vendors reported are testing out Voodoo3s for potential release include Microstar, Gigabyte, A-Trend and AOpen.

Wow...dit is goed nieuws. Volgens Armin van FullOn3D is dit omdat de fabrieken van STB (het deel van 3dfx dat de Voodoo3 kaarten) de demand niet meer aankan (en dat denk ik ook).

Gamer's Depot heeft een review gepost waarin de standaard en Ultra versie van Diamond's Viper V770 besproken worden. Dat de Ultra TNT2 sneller is als de normale TNT2, dat geloven we inmiddels wel. Helaas zit er geen sappige overklokkers info in de review, daarom maar dit stukkie algemeen geblah:

It's quite clear that the TNT2 loves D3D, and also does quite well in OpenGL too. It was obvious to us, after using these cards for awhile, that what we were seeing was the best combination of speed and image quality. In Kingpin, which is VERY CPU intensive, the scores between the two cards aren't too far apart. Once we get a PIII550 in the lab, this performance delta should become more apparent. The TNT2's big performance boost will also come later in the year when games like Quake3 hit the streets and use textures sizes larger than 256KB. After reading the benchmarks, I'd seriously have to wonder why anyone wouldn't just spring the extra dough and go for the Ultra version. I just hope that Diamond doesn't overprice themselves on the non-ultra version, especially when you'll most likely be able to find other branded TNT2's on the market soon, that'll give you similar performance.