Andy heeft een korte review gepost van de socket370 versie van de Alpha Cooler. Hier een paar pics:

Ziet er cool uit, maar gaat het ook helpen bij het halen van hogere kloksnelheden?:

Further, in looking at cooling, it is important to see how the cooler you are testing compares to other coolers. I must confess that I have been able to do NOTHING with this cooling combination than I can do with a boxed Intel fan. These coolers do keep the CPU at around 40 degrees C, but so often cooling is not the issue in overclocking failures. I wish people would get this message. Your Level 2 cache and CPU are the decisive limiters in overclocking. Unless you are talking sub zero temperature, then a cooler really isn't going to make that much difference.

Daar kan ik het uit eigen ervaring mee eens zijn. Check de frontpage van BXBoards voor foto's en info over de Alpha cooler.

Ace's Hardware heeft dit stukje info over de Socket370 Coppermine:

Thanks to KH, who found this bit from ctech which reports on Intel's difficulty in getting enough packaging capacity for its Flip ChipPGA cpu products. It reports that 550 MHz coppermine will be here by October in a socket370 package with only 100 MHz FSB. Also Intel is increasing its line of CPUs in the PGA 370 platform. Because of upgrade uncertainty, the sales on the socket370 have been slow, accounting fo only 20% of the motherboard sales. Originally, Intel planed to use flip-chip PGA on most of its chips by September, however because they could not find enough packaging capacity for the flip-chip style packaging they are forced to use PPGA for the time being and wait until after September to launch its full line of Flip-chip packaged CPUs.

Storage Review heeft een review gepost van Fujitsu's nieuwe Desktop 18 MPD3182AH 7200rpm ATA/66 harddisk. Fujitsu stond tot op heden niet bekend om z'n super snelle schijven. Storage Review vergelijkt de prestaties van de Fujitsu met die van de Western Digital AC418000 (de huidige ATA champion):

Though Fujitsu's ATA drives seem to fall behind a tad when it comes to performance, we've always noticed their stellar operation when it comes to noise and heat. Heat-wise, the Desktop 18 is no exception. Even though it's a 7200rpm drive, the unit runs quite cool, once again reinforcing the trend towards "no-worries" 7200rpm drives.

However, it's noise, or lack thereof, where the Desktop 18 shines. Bluntly stated, the drive is by far the quietest hard drive I've ever used! Move over, Deskstar 8! Stand aside, Bigfoot TX! Seek noises were barely audible even during WinBench's churning Disk Access Time tests. When testing drives, I use an Iiyama MT-9017E monitor (with dual inputs) as the display for both our testbed and my personal system. I'm often switching the monitor to my own system to accomplish tasks while benchmark tests churn away. With every other drive, I'd be able to tell tests were complete due to the silence that falls over the actuator. The Desktop 18 presented the first case where I could not tell by ear that tests were completed. This alone, subjective as it may be, should reveal just how unobtrusive this little mouse is.

Het lijkt erop dat men bij Iomega nu ook zelf heeft doorgekregen dat er met de extreem lage prijzen voor optische media, weinig toekomst meer zit in traditionele magnetische opslagmedia. Vandaag heeft Iomega de ZipCD aangekondigd, geen heftig vernieuwend produkt, maar gewoon een ordinaire CD-Rewriter:

June 21, 1999--Iomega Corporation (NYSE:IOM), a leader in the smart, portable storage solution market today announced its entry into the optical storage market with its first CD-ReWritable (CD-RW) drive, ZipCD(TM). Designed for corporations, PC enthusiasts and Internet users, ZipCD will give users the ability to back-up, archive, transport, share and create up to 650 MB of data on a common CD format. For customers who appreciate the portability and ease of use that they have come to expect from Iomega solutions, and for any computer user who wants a new way to save personalized content for back-up and entertainment, ZipCD is an ideal solution for their high-capacity storage needs.

With ZipCD, companies, both large and small, can now back-up and archive data, as well as transport and share important files and presentations on a common CD format. For PC enthusiasts and Internet users, ZipCD is also a fun and useful product for saving and sharing original music, photos, games, Internet content and more.

"We are excited to announce ZipCD, the first optical product from Iomega," said David Gantt, vice president and general manager of Optical Products. "Iomega recognizes our customers' need for a high capacity storage solution that uses a common CD format and that enhances the Company's overall storage product portfolio. The drive will ship with bundled software and include an animated installation tour so customers can begin using ZipCD quickly and easily."

The internal E-IDE 4x4x24 drive will be the first in Iomega's line of optical products. Iomega anticipates that the drive will be priced competitively. The drive is expected to begin shipping in the second half of 1999 at www.iomegadirect and through Iomega's extensive distribution network.

"The introduction of CD writers by Iomega will have a significant impact on the optical storage market," said David Bunzel, Santa Clara Consulting Group, "Iomega has established a strong brand franchise and effective distribution strategy that will help to propel its forward momentum in this industry."

According to Santa Clara Consulting Group, more than 14 million CD-R and CD-RW drives are expected to ship worldwide in 1999(a). With the opening of the Company's new Optical Center based in Longmont, Colorado, Iomega is well positioned to tap into this growing market segment and offer a complementary optical option to its current product line. Product users can now pre-master and create content on their Zip(R), Jaz(R) and Clik!(TM) drives, and then transfer the information to a ZipCD for archiving, portability and compatibility on a common CD format.

ZipCD Bundled Software

Iomega brings ease-of-use to ZipCD users by bundling a wide array of software tools and accessories.

-- Adaptec(R) DirectCD(TM) - Packet writing software enabling

"drag-n-drop" functionality

-- Adaptec(R) Easy CD Creator(TM) - CD record/copy software

-- Avery(R) Media Software - Iomega special edition to format CD

labels and jewel case inserts

-- Iomega(R) QuikSync - Software that executes simultaneous back-ups

of active files within user designated folders

-- Adobe(R) PhotoShop(R) 5.0 LE - Software for digital image

enhancement, photo retouching, and image compositing

-- ZipCD animated installation tour so users can begin using the

product quickly and easily

Save, Edit and Share Information on ZipCD Discs

For the first time, Iomega also plans to sell CD-RW and CD-R discs. For users interested in saving and editing information on a CD, Iomega plans to offer ZipCD CD-RW Premium and Combo discs, which are expected to be available in July. ZipCD Premium CD-RW discs are expected to come preformatted, saving users valuable time and to be available in packs of three at an ESP of $19.99 (U.S.). ZipCD Combo CD-RW discs are expected to come with one pre-formatted disc and two unformatted discs and to be available at an ESP of $12.99 (U.S.).

For users interested in saving or archiving data that cannot be accidently erased, Iomega plans to offer ZipCD CD-R discs in the second half of the year that will come in a variety of colors for fun and organization.

Volgens The Register (net zo betrouwbaar is als de stabiliteit van een 3 maand oude windoos install) zal de K7 Athlon gaan heten:

An OEM, who under no circumstances whatever wishes to be named, tells us that Athlon will be the name of the K7 processor at its launch next week.

WickedPC heeft een review gebouwd rondom de 3Cool Tripple Fan Hard Drive Cooler. Hier heb je een paar plaatjes van het ding:

En hier een stukkie over de prestaties van de harddisk cooler:

o really tax the cooler to see how it performed, we didn't use a thermometer, instead we used our bare hands. Previously we had the IBM 22GB hard drive that spins at 7200RPM in the computer, and it was almost too hot to touch. It was quite obvious that after an hour, a majority of the heat inside the PC was from the hard drive and video card. We then installed the 3DCOOL Triple Fan Hard Drive Cooler kit.

At bootup, the hard drive was cold to the touch, as the 70 degree air conditioning really helps temperatures of non-used components in this office. After one hour, the hard drive was still cold to the touch. Usually after an hour, the hard drive has had time to work itself up a sweat and starts to breathe a bit and heat up your system. With the 3DCOOL Triple Fan Hard Drive Cooler, the hard drive never had a chance to sweat - it kept sitting nice and quiet and chilly cold. I can't figure out how to stress it enough - the hard drive was actually cold, not cool, cold. The overall case temperature dropped 2 degrees as well, which was another plus (the hard drive fan shouldn't be used as a case cooling solution).

Wow, Overclockers Workbench heeft vet nieuws over de Abit BP6:

According to a Japanese forum, the ABIT BP6 will be available in Japan from 28 June 99 onwards. According to reliable sources, the FSB can be set from 87 ~ 99 Mhz at 1mhz intervals & 100 ~ 110 Mhz at 2 Mhz intervals. This is also confirmation of news I mentioned earlier on 19 Jun 99. It will be sold at major retail stores at around 20,000 Japanese yen which is approximately S$283.97 or US$165.84

These are the FSB supported on BP6 :

66 / 68 / 71 / 75 / 78 / 80 / 82 / 85 / 87~99 / 100 ~ 110 / 124 / 133

The FSB supported on BE6 : 66* / 75 / 83 / 100* / 103 / 105 / 110 / 112 / 115 / 120 / 124 / 133 / 140 / 150MHz

Man, dat zou heel errug wreed zijn met een Celeron 333. Met een snelheden van 435 tot 550Mhz in stappen van 5 of 10MHz kun je altijd de meest geschikte setting vinden.

In een interview met IDG verteld de 'vader' van Linux over de toekomst van Linux, de plannen en meer.

IDG: We've read that you think Microsoft will jump on the Linux bandwagon.

Torvalds: Eventually... Microsoft is so essentially market-driven... Maybe for political reasons they wanted to wait until Linux has 15 percent of the market. Hey, it will happen. They'll go where the money is.

IDG: What do you think about Microsoft's campaign to discredit Linux, i.e. with Mindcraft benchmarks and executives publicly criticizing Linux?

Torvalds: It was kind of expected... I'm taking it as a kind of backhanded way of acknowledging Linux. They've done the same thing against everybody else in the industry.

FULL STORY

Lost Circuits heeft een Maxi Gamer Xentor 16 gereviewed. De review is vooral interessant voor AMD gebruikers, want Lost Circuits heeft de kaart met een K602-400 getest:

The Guillemot MaxiGamer Xentor is currently the least expensive TNT2 card available. The software and documentation of the card is about the lowest standard that can be tolerated and should better be discarded. However, the card itself shows superior performance, once set up and configured correctly. In fact, at least in QuakeII and similar applications, the frame rates reach levels that usually can only be achieved on PentiumII or related systems. Moreover, there seem not to be any compatibility issues with the VIA MVP3 chipset and the 1.88 drivers are capable of unleashing a hitherto not achievable performance level of any SS7 system. All of this can be accomplished for as little as $109 (after mail-in rebate).

Ik lees trouwens dat de Xentor hier op 135/166Mhz loopt. Is het nou 125/150 of 135/166 (Guillemot had 't toch weer verlaagd, of was dat alleen bij de Ultra TNT2 versie?).

Bij AMD Zone hebben ze hun AMD FAQ een update gegeven. Ik heb geen idee wat er nieuw is in v1.1...

GA-Source heeft een review geupt van de Maxi Gamer Xentor 32, een standaard 'vanilla' TNT2 kaart op 125/150MHz:

The regular Xentor is not the king of overall performance by any means. However, at the $109.95 it costs, I would not expect it to be. For most of us, although we love to see and check out the really high end pieces, it is not what the budget we have will allow us to buy. When I last bought a new car, I know I was looking at the Dodge Viper in the showroom, but that sure as heck isn't what I drove home in. At the same time, for half the price of most of the Ultra based TNT/2 boards, you get around 85% of the performance, which sounds great to me. Overall the Xentor performed really well. Note that unlike some other manufacturers, (including Guillemot themselves on the Xentor32) the specifications on the Xentor have not changed since early pre-release units went out.

Adaptec heeft vandaag de USBconnect aangekondigd, een USB-to-SCSI convertor waarmee je SCSI apparaten aan de USB poort kunt hangen:

Adaptec Inc. has announced a USB-to-SCSI adapter, the USBConnect, that allows users to connect SCSI devices to a USB port. The USBConnect converter is targeted primarily at new iMac users who prefer to use high performance SCSI devices.

SCSI peripherals such as scanners, external CD-ROM, Jaz and hard drives, are widely available for all desktop computers. By deploying USBConnect, users can continue to use their existing or newly purchased SCSI devices on any USB-equipped computer including all USB-enabled Macintosh platforms, PCs and portables.

USBConnect is integrated with a one-meter connector cable which plugs into the USB port and does not require opening up the computer's case. USBConnect 2000 recognizes devices on the fly, so there's no need for time-consuming restarts. The converter is lightweight, portable, and easy to switch from one setup of peripherals to another.

Pricing and Availability

USBConnect will be available through resellers, retailers and catalogs, and adaptec's Online Store in August. It is sold as a kit that includes the USBConnect, a user's guide, and a setup CD-ROM. The manufacturer's suggested retail price is $69.95.

Gisteren zag ik op CNN een item over een 3d presentatie van de stad Los Angeles en dat zag er VET uit.
Je kunt over de stand heen vliegen, overal in en uitzoomen en er zelfs doorheen rijden. ALLES is tot in het fijnste detail uitgewerkt (zelf de gevels van winkels en hun logo's etc kloppen !) en binnenkort gaat men zelf het interieur van ALLE GEBOUWEN eraan toevoegen !
In eerste instantie is dit bedoeld voor Brandweer, Ambulance en politie, maar men heeft al gezegd dit ZEKER op de markt te willen brengen voor de thuisgebruiker. Verwacht wordt dat andere steden zullen volgen.

The virtual reality model of Los Angeles begins with aerial photos of the city.

They go into a computer program, along with satellite global positioning coordinates to map -- with precision -- the basic outline.

Then the designers carefully add the smallest details, using street-level videotape and photographs of every city block, building and storefront.

They are programmed into the virtual model as well, creating a detailed virtual city which anyone can navigate with the click of a computer mouse.

"It's fully three-dimensional," said Jepson. "There's no smoke, and there's no mirrors. It's a real-time system."

HIER kun je er meer over lezen of een Quicktime filmpje bekijken.

Ik kreeg net een emailtje van iemand binnen die even wilde laten weten dat er weer een nieuwe redirect dienst is:

21 juni 1999 - Als mooi begin van de laatste zomer van dit millenium is maandag 21 juni 1999 op internet de nieuwe "redirect"-dienst Webfreak.nl gestart. Op Webfreak.nl kan jij als trotse bezitter van een eigen homepage gratis een mooie URL voor je webstek aanvragen. In plaats van een lang en saai adres bij je provider, kan je site dan worden aangeroepen via www.jouwnaam.webfreak.nl. Zo'n adres is voor je bezoekers veel makkelijker te onthouden, en het staat nog veel professioneler ook!

Voor meer info zie dus Webfreak.nl

Op Wicked PC is een review te vinden van Diamond's Ultra TNT2 kaart, de V770. Dit is toch een van de bekendere en populairdere TNT2 kaarten in Nederland (op het moment). Hier heb je een plak:

The big difference in TNT2 Ultra boards will be which runs quickest, most stable, and has the best support. The Diamond Viper v770 Ultras drivers have one unique aspect amongst most others, and that is the ability to adjust the core speed (not memory) with a booster bar in the drivers. In increments of 5MHz, there are 5 different levels to boost the core of the TNT2 Ultra. Ranging from 150MHz (default) to 175MHz, the boost levels are configured per game you run. This is highly useful since we've seen that some games run great at 170MHz, yet others can crash at that speed. Since the core clock speeds can be changed on the fly in Windows, this makes changing it per game a very easy and viable solution. The memory speed stays at 183MHz the entire time. You can of course download third party utilities to adjust this. We found that overall 175MHz was the best speed for the Viper v770 Ultra. At 175MHz most games were stable, and for those that weren't, we just used InControl to keep them at 170MHz. This again proves Diamond's super driver support in keeping the gamers happy. We couldn't do too much to overclock the ram, as the Elite MT 5.5ns ram was pretty much at its maximum.

I must admit that I've never been a great fan of overclocking to high limits as it tends to take up too much time in figuring out which specific component can do what. The Viper v770 Ultra is overclockable, but not as much as other TNT2 Ultras we've played with so far. The Hercules is said to be great for overclocking (although we can not verify this), but then again, you'll have to put up with Hercules drivers and support, and that almost justifies not buying their video card. Keep it safe and stick with Diamond.

Ik kwam deze cijfertjes tegen bij 3DNews.net. Is wel interessant denk ik:

GAME	Minutes Played	Total Players	Active Servers
Quake2	42,789,378	508,870	2,653
TRIBES	29,595,400	171,220	1,149
Quake & QW	16,108,515	151,968	980
Quake3	8,346,299	103,309	634
Half-Life	10,100,763	78,345	1,287

Now there are a few interesting things to pint out. * Q2 totaly blows away everything. * Tribes is about 70% of Q2 in minutes played but only 33% in number of players. * Quake III numbers are simply astonishing considering it is has only 2 maps and no mods. * Not nearly as many players still play Q1+QW (related to Q2) as the amount of noise they make on the various msg boards. * Half-Life numbers are pretty surprising.

Gamecenter 'herdenkt' in een artikel genaamd "the Atari 2600 in 1999" de goeie ouwe Atari 2600. Ik ben helaas net ietsie te jong om het Atari tijdperk meegemaakt te kunnen hebben, in 1977 was ik -2 .

It's hard to believe that the 2600 dates all the way back to 1977, when shag carpet cushioned the floors of countless living rooms, and gas-guzzling, wood-paneled station wagons packed the driveways of America's suburbia. The faux wood grain on the original 2600 makes it a real classic as far as style is concerned, though later revisions, including the officially licensed Sears Tele-Games Video Arcade, adopted a more "modern" look.

But no matter what kind of a case the 2600 came in, the guts are where the fun started. The system's tech specs make it seem like it belongs in a Flintstones cartoon (complete with a small dinosaur inside, running on a treadmill to generate power). The 2600's CPU ran at a mere 1.19 MHz, and the system had a stone-age 128 bytes of RAM. However, in spite of the fact that the 2600 could barely draw a square without going schizo, the system had a big heart and a library of games that boasts a number of immortal titles, including Pitfall, Yars' Revenge, and an adventure game called simply Adventure.

Twintexel (site bij Telekabel -> Nederlander? ) heeft een paar 3DMark99 benchmarks gepost waarin de performance van DX6.1 vergeleken wordt met DX7 beta 1.

The people over at alianza.meristation.com came with some benchmarks and these show us the new dx7 drivers are no faster than dx6, but it's the next gen games and hardware that the true power of Dx7 will show..

Niets schokwekkends dus. Check het artikel voor info.

Ik kwam bij AMD Zone deze info tegen over de betekenis van de afkorting 'K7' in België:

for business reasons I am sometimes in Brussels/Belgium and my employer most of the times reservates a hotel for me just in the near of the red light district. And when you cross this district, you cannot overlook the signs of the sex-shops on which K7-videos are advertised. As far as I can remember it seemed that this means homosexual videos. But I am not sure. So it is possible that K 7 has a dubious meaning at least in Belgium, but maybe in the neighbor-countries, which makes it hard for AMD to use this name. [break]Voor die maffe Belgen heeft AMD dus de naam 'Athlon' bedacht , dat heeft volgens the Register de volgende betekenis:[/break] Athlon is a Greek word, meaning struggle, prize and the game, but Alereon, as far as we can figure it, isn't Greek. It might be Geek.

USB Workshop heeft een review van de Logitech Quickcam VC in elkaar gedraaid. Da's een webcam met een USB aansluiting (hoe verassend ):

A video camera targeting video conferencing, the QuickCam VC(VC) has all the basics you need. It has been said that USB connection allows higher frame rate. And because of its USB connection, VC works with both Windows (Win95 OSR2 and Win98) and Mac (iMac System 8.0, driver downloadable from its web site). There are a few different video cameras selling under the Logitech brand name, and VC has the lowest price tag in the currently shipping ones, but providing most support on platforms or connections among all Logitech products. VC comes with a CD-ROM, and it has a USB cable for data and power (bus-powered).

...en zo ziet het apparaat eruit:

CompuT10 heeft een lijstje bij elkaar geraapt met de top 10 redenen waarom de Intel Merced - holy opvolger der x86 processor generatie - een mislukking gaat worden. Number 9:

Okay, now what do we run on this thing?

As mentioned in the above quote, Merced features a brand-new instruction set. One which is supposed to make it easier for Intel to get more performance out of less silicon. While this sounds great (for Intel) in theory, we all know what happens every time a new instruction set or extension comes out. It takes years for the software to catch up. What's that you say, Merced will run x86 code. Yes Merced is supposed to run x86 code, but not even Intel is willing to say it will outperform x86 processors available at that time, when running x86 code. Realistically, it will be another 3-4 years, judging by past generation changes, before we see a substantial code base compiled for Merced. So for the average user Merced is likely not worth thinking about until 2004-2005. That's 6 years from now, not bad for a processor that was supposed to ship in 1998.

Ik kwam bij HardOCP weer eens een errug leuk koelsysteempje tegen:

Hmm...dacht ik dus dat mijn ComputerNerd heatsinkje met 2 8cm ventilators stoer was ...

Bij Planet Riva vonden ze het nodig om Mark Rein lastig te vallen met een korte Q&A over Unreal Tournament:

Planet RIVA : Will Unreal Tournament be playable on NVIDIA RIVA TNT/TNT2 based cards?

Mark Rein : Unreal Tournament will ROCK on TNT cards! Tim Sweeney has spent a considerable amount of time improving our Direct3D support to the point where TNT is finally a GREAT card for playing Unreal Tournament. Check out our tech page at http://unreal.epicgames.com for an update on the situation that Tim wrote yesterday.

Planet RIVA : When will Unreal Tournament be released?

Mark Rein : When it's done.

De jongens & meisjes van Betabites hebben een review van de Videologic SonicVortex II gepost. Zoals de naam doet vermoeden gaat het hier om een geluidskaart met een Aureal Vortex II chipset. De kaart is gebaseerd op het Aureal SuperQuad reference design en lijkt daarom sprekend op de Xitel Storm Platinum (waarvan ik eerder een review postte). Genoeg geluld, hier is een stukkie over de performance van de SonicVortex:

First, I have to admit that listening to any sound on a PC with 4 speakers is just an added bonus. The SonicVortex2 gives you this opportunity. Unfortunately, my FireTeam headphones bit the dust, and I was unable to listen to the SonicVortex2 in this mode. I will tell you other reviews on this card have said that the headphone support is phenomenal. I wish I could tell you that...

The SonicVortex2 in 3D gaming calculates the positioning of the audio. However, the quad speaker support does not go as far as positioning, and only allows for panning of volume in the rear speakers in 3D gaming. The environmental positioning is limited to the front speakers. While playing both Unreal and the Drakan demo, I found the sound to be quite remarkable, and didn't even notice the lack of positioning in the rear speakers. I mean really, who has time to kill and listen at the same time?

Review Zone heeft de nieuwe PIII-550 op de testbank geparkeerd. Uiteraard willen we allemaal erg graag weten hoever we deze proc van 1700 piek kunnen overklokken...

Now if you’re a very experienced overclocker, I’m sure you’ll want to push the CPU even further, but sadly the Pentium III 550 isn’t very stable at 644MHz. I tried four motherboards, three types of CAS-2 PC-100 SDRAM and also used a TennMax P3 TF Cooler but the maximum I got was around 65% stability inside Windows 98 and Windows 2000 beta 3. Now all this is because of the processor’s L2 cache. The two PBSRAM chips are designed to run at 275MHz in this case. Up to 616MHz (which is 90%-95% stable) may I remind you the L2 cache operates at 308MHz, which is 33MHz more than its default operating frequency. At 644MHz, the processor’s L2 cache is doing 47MHz more than its supposed to. So unlike the Celerons and the Xeons which have L2 caches operating at core speed, the Pentium II and Pentium III are limited in overclocking because of the L2 cache. Otherwise, the current Pentium III core is able to max out 700MHz with the 0.25 micron architecture. You can, of course, disable the L2 cache and get the Pentium III 550 to be very stable at 644MHz. But this will result in the loss of a great deal in performance and will clearly defeat the whole purpose of overclocking, so the best setting is still 616MHz.

Tim Sweeney heeft een vette post op de Unreal Tech Page geplakt, waarin hij een eindje weglult over Unreal & Direct3D. Hier heb je 'm (bijna) helemaal:

Our Direct3D performance and stability have increased significantly since version 225.   For the past few days, I've been swapping 3D cards in and out, tuning Unreal's Direct3D performance on all of them.  I'm not in the benchmarking biz, so I'm just going to give my personal reaction from playing, and say that the Riva TNT, TNT2, Matrox G400, and ATI Rage 128 are all very nice for playing Unreal now!

(Don't ask about the Riva 128, Rage Pro, and Permedia 2, they are worse for gameplay than Unreal's software renderer).

Everyone's complaint with Direct3D support in past versions of Unreal, on good cards like the TNT, has been "the average frame rate and benchmark numbers are fine, but there is major hitching and pausing during gameplay".  This was due to several factors, which I tracked down and fixed with help and advice from some driver writers.   The key improvements are:

Dramatically less memory usage.  My Direct3D code wasted tons of hidden, "behind the scenes" memory while swapping textures into video memory, leading to lots of virtual-memory swapping.

New texture management code, better optimized for Unreal's texture usage patterns.   I had been relying on Direct3D's built-in texture manager, which is slowed down by its generality.

The next patch ("when it's done") will incorporate the new Direct3D code.   This will be out before Unreal Tournament ships, and we'll be looking for feedback from players on its performance and stability.

I'd like to thank Ben de Waal, Sim Dietrich, and Doug Rogers at NVidia; Sameer Nene at Microsoft; and Eric Le at Matrox for providing cool advice and performance tips.

Ik lees bij Voodoo Extreme dat er een nieuwe beta van Bleem! (Playstation emulator) gereleased is:

Paletted Texture Improvements (including fix for V2/V3 Crash) (NOTE : ALL users should re-enable paletted textures)

- ALT + F1 will toggle between Software and Hardware modes

- Final Fantasy 8 Support

- Gran Turismo Support (stopping at the Notice Screen on some Win95 machines)

- Speed limiter improvements

The bleem!BETA is provided for you to see enhancements in bleem before they are 100% done. You do need use the CD-Key to use the beta. While we have tested the beta, and believe it to be in good working order, we do not officially support it. We would love to hear your compatibility and bug information. If you have posted a problem in our message forum, and this fixes it, Please let us know by posting an update in the board.

Check deze page voor meer info.