Weer een nieuwe plank van Abit: de ZH6. Het ding is gebaseerd op de ZX chipset en heeft 3xDIMM, 5xPCI, 2xISA slots. CRUS heeft een review:

The motherboard supports up to 512MB of memory and that’s probably enough for everyone. And it’s more then enough for the budget computers that this motherboard is aimed for. In the Softmeny you can change the CPU voltage from 1.3-2.3V and this enables me running my Celeron 300A CPU at 450MHz instead of the 338MHz that I can reach without changing the voltage (yes I got one of the crappy ones).

The motherboard is really stable and I haven’t noticed any lockups this far and I will probably not notice any either. The BH6 that I used to have in my computer hasn’t locked one time yet and that’s really impressive.

Kan aan mij liggen, maar ik zie niet helemaal wat het verschil is met de ZM6 (behalve dan die 512Mb limiet, die nu schijnbaar officieel wordt ondersteund).

Al enige tijd (bijna een jaar) ben ik de trotse eigenaar van een Spintel Card. Dit stukje hardware is niets anders dat een hardware lock voor een stukje superslimme software, die je computer in zijn geheel een stuk sneller maakt.

Eric van FastGraphics heeft vandaag een review gedaan van de kaart met versie 2.0 software. Eigenlijk jammer, aangezien versie 3.0 er zeer binnenkort aankomt. Maar goed, dan kan er altijd nog een test gedaan worden, natuurlijk.

Tjek de review hier.

Alweer een nieuwe patch versie voor Half-Life. Het begint hiermee een beetje sterk te lijken op Unreal.

Hooooogst IRRITANT. Maar goed, ik heb de patch inmiddels al bijna binnen.

Download de patch hier:
Versie 1005 naar 1013
Versie 1009 naar 1013
Versie 1010 naar 1013

Ik kreeg van Glenn / FPS3D.com een mailtje dat-ie de Win2000 drivers voor de HighPoint HPT366 UltraDMA/66 controller van de Abit BE6/BP6 online heeft gezet. Je kunt het spul hier neer gaan halen.

Uit reacties hiero op Tweakers.net heb ik begrepen dat die drivers ook al in de laatste BP6 BIOS update verpakt zaten.

Wattaah? Voodoo2-1000 PCI? Zeg maar gewoon 'V2 SLI', maar dan met een ander naampje en in een mooie 3dfx doos:

Well, now that Voodoo3 has come out, you probably couldn't care less about the old days of Voodoo2. Well, the truth of the matter is, Voodoo2 SLI can actually outperform Voodoo3 in some respects. First of all, the Voodoo3 models sport 16MB of video RAM. Two 12MB Voodoo2 cards working together produces 24MB of video RAM (For the idiots, 12 + 12 = 24). Most will argue that the Voodoo3 utilizing the AGP BUS could outperform two Voodoo2 cards (Which utilize the 32-bit PCI bus) hands down. Well, I pitted the results of the V2-1000 SLI I got versus Sharky's own timedemo results of the Voodoo3 3000 AGP card, and the megatexels per second was 333, versus the Voodoo2 SLI's own 360 megatexels per second. The only Voodoo3 card that outdoes the Voodoo2 SLI setup is the Voodoo3 3500 AGP TV card, which outdoes the V2-1000 SLI by six megatexels.

Check 3D Alpha voor de review.

iXBT heeft een CPU Naming Guide in elkaar gekwakt. Best wel handig info, want met al die rare codenamen die Intel tegenwoordig voor z'n procjes verzind kan het knap lastig worden om die dingen uit elkaar te houden. Wat denk je bijvoorbeeld van Tillamook, Klamath, Deschutes, Tonga, Katmai, Covington, Mendocino, Dixon, Coppermine, Timna, Tanner, Cascades, Willamette en Foster? (en dan ben ik nog maar half weg ). Laat ik de Willamette er maar alvast uit pikken, want die processor zal voor het eerst sinds de PPro voorzien worden van een écht nieuwe architectuur:

Willamette. This is the next principally new IA-32 processor from Intel after Coppermine intended for ordinary PCs. At least 1MB L2 on-chip cache! Besides, Intel took a number of steps toward performance increase: added execution units and decoders, increased buffer size, etc. According to Intel, this processor will perform 30-50 percent better than Deschutes and Katmai at the same working frequencies. Intel will start manufacturing this device with 0.18 micron technology and then shift over to 0.13 micron. The clock frequency is announced starting from 1GHz and up. The processor is supposed to be introduced in Socket-423 form-factor and is expected to come out in the end of the year 2000 or in the beginning of 2001.

Firingsquad heeft een review gepost van de Vantec P3D-5030 Pentium III cooler. Best wel een dik ding, maar helpt het ook?

The temperature reading for the Vantec cooler never rose above 29.1 degrees Celsius. This pretty damned cool, as the heatsink never even felt warm to the touch. We replaced the Vantec cooler with an Intel standard Heatsink and fan cooling unit. The Intel cooler stabilized at 31.5 degrees Celsius, only 2 degrees higher. So, how much of an improvement is that? We reattached the Vantec and left the fan units unpowered. As Seti continued to search out intelligent life, the temperature climbed to a high of 49.5 Celcius. With the retail Intel heatsink (sans fan), the temperature rose to 55.3 Celcuis, stabilized, and 5 minutes later, crashed.

Bij de weg: BXBoards heeft ook een review van dit ding.

Een demonstratie van de mogelijkheden van Sony's Playstation II schijnt nogal een heftige indruk achter gelaten te hebben op de Hot Chips conferentie in Palo Alto, zo bericht Wired News:

A glimpse of the jaw-dropping graphics power of Sony's next-generation PlayStation console drew one-word superlatives from a crowd of Silicon Valley's top chip designers.

"Spectacular," said Ronald Moore, chief technology officer at GT Interactive, which publishes the games Unreal and Driver. "Absolutely spectacular."

At Monday's Hot Chips conference at Stanford University, microprocessor designers were treated to a tantalizing demonstration of the ultra-realistic, lifelike graphics power of Sony's new games console,due for its first public unveiling in Japan in September. It should be available in the United States by the fall of 2000.

"These demos are just works in progress," he told the crowd. "But you get the idea of what this machine is capable of."

K'weenie of dat laatste wil zeggen dat het hier gewoon om voor gerenderde filmpjes gaat...

Ik kan me niet voorstellen dat iemand die proggie vrijwillig gebruikt (lang leve ICQ), maar het blijft altijd leuk om een Microsoft bugje te posten . Volgens Betanews zit er een gat in de password beveiliging van MSN Messenger:

Users of the MSN Messenger Service will find that anyone with physical access to their computer can obtain their password if they leave their computer unattended.

The bug affects all versions of the MSN Messenger Service, released on July 22, 1999.

Voodoo Extreme heeft z'n eigen review gepost van de "AMD seventh generation processor that kicks the ass of all its competition":

AMD decided to pull out all the stops on their seventh-generation processor and make no excuses. They wanted to create the fastest x86 processor on the planet and they have certainly succeeded. They have proven to the gamers market that they will not be ignored and have learned from the mistakes made on the K6 series of processors. With the much-improved FPU and high-speed bus, the Athlon looks like it could finally put Chipzilla in a position where it has to actually come up with a design that is revolutionary unlike the Pentium 3 . What do we think the Athlon will bring to the gamers market? We'll for now, if you can afford the Athlon, it can only mean increased frame rates to help you on your way to the perfect game of Quake 3. Coupled with a TNT2 Ultra, the Athlon is the fastest gaming rig on the planet.

Oja, bij VE zijn ze van mening dat Dresden in Ierland ligt (en ik maar altijd denken dat het ergens in het oosten van Duitsland lag...). Anyway, hun review vind je hier.

Thanx to Sake, Dennet en Erik die mij per mail op de hoogte brachten dat ome Tom een Athlon mobo review in elkaar geknutseld heeft. De testresultaten uit de review zijn weinig opwindend, want alle borden draaiden stabiel en presteerden vrijwel gelijk. Wel weet Tom een ware conspiracy theorie op te hangen aan het feit dat er op dit moment slechts 3 moederplank fabrikanten met een Athlon bord op de proppen zijn gekomen:

Let's pick three examples, Abit, Asus and FIC. Abit already announced that they won't do Athlon-motherboards. Does that surprise anyone? Abit never made any Super7-boards as well. It doesn't seem too unlikely that Abit wants to stay on good terms with Intel. Asus is the next and saddest example. I know for a fact that Asus has designed a highly excellent Athlon-motherboard. However, who expected Asus at the launch-event in Taiwan last week waited in vain. Asus is chicken, they could easily supply Athlon-boards, but they are afraid of Intel's reaction. Well, well. Example number three is FIC. FIC has got a relationship with Intel too, they are actually a significantly big customer for Intel chipsets. However, FIC belongs just as VIA to the Formosa Plastic empire, and thus FIC used to be one of the first to supply motherboards with VIA and thus non-Intel chipsets. FIC doesn't have the slightest problem with launching their Athlon-motherboard. They weren't afraid of Intel in the past and they're not afraid of them now as well. That's the spirit, dear readers! Asus is one of the very best motherboard makers in the world, but being afraid of Intel doesn't score them any points with me.

The Register meldt dat ze gehoord hebben dat Intel een nieuwe celeron processor aan het klaar maken is:

A source claimed Intel is readying a Coppermine Celeron with as much as 256K of on-die cache, screaming Cindy (SIMD) instructions, and a 100MHz front side bus using Socket 370.

That would make it equivalent to current Pentium III technology, in the same way that the Celeron is really a cut Pentium II.

No release date was given for the product but Intel is now claiming no 100MHz FSB Celeron will arrive until the crack of dawn of the year 2000, Ma Shipton willing.

Ben benieuwd wat de P3 dan in verkoop weer gaat doen. Snijdt Intel zichzelf zo niet in de vingers???

Als er één racegame is waar ik nu op zit te wachten, dan is het wel Rally Championship 99. De graphics zijn intens wreed en de gameplay zal, afgaande op z'n voorgangers, ook wel okay zijn. Gamespot UK heeft een preview met nieuwe info & screenshots:

All the cars look superb and the Ibiza and Impreza we tested were exquisitely modelled from both exterior and interior viewpoints ­ the cockpit affording the best in-car driving experience I've seen yet. Details like rainfall on the windscreen are highly realistic, while the implementation of headlights on night stages is very neat (though I hope Magnetic Fields will be adjusting those headlight beams upwards a little in the final version, for more distance). Sound is important for any driving game ­ but especially so for rallying where directions are extremely important. Derek Ringer, former partner of Colin McRae and current co-driver with Martin Rowe, features among the directional voiceovers ­ and he'll give you a bit of an ear-bashing for a bumpy ride, in the version we looked at.

Glide Underground heeft een Xitel Storm Platinum op de testbank gezet. De Storm Plantium is in feite een direkte kloon van Aureal's Vortex II SuperQuad reference design. Zelf heb ik het ding ook en ik ben er - afgezien van het ontbreken van Windows 2000 drivers - erg tevreden mee:

As said before in this review, the Storm Platinum sounds simply amazing with any of the sound configurations. With built in support for four speaker setup, purchasing an awesome set of speakers will greatly enhance the environmental sound effects and music of the soundcard. A3D was designed with a four speaker setup in mind, so getting a four speaker setup is ideal. Even without a four speaker setup, the two speaker setup is still very impressive. But where the A3D cards standup most is in the performance of the headphones department. A truly impressive A3D sound experience derives from games there were enhanced for A3D. Of the several games that were tested, one of the few that really stood out was System Shock 2, a newly released game by Electronic Arts in the past week of writing this review. The spooky sound effects given off by the game with positional audio from "coming in all directions" worked quite efficiently and the sounds that are "faked" really sound like the sounds were coming from all directions. The following games were tested to see what performance was given:

Voor de complete review moet je ff hierheen fietsen.

Gamecenter heeft een korte review van de Turtle Beach Montego II Quadzilla in elkaar geplakt. De Quadzilla is de quad speaker versie van de gewone Montego II, samen met de on plank Aureal Vortex II chipset levert dat een relaxte geluidskwaliteit op:

On the one hand, the Quadzilla provides excellent game compatibility. Through its A3D 1.x/2.x or DirectSound3D support, practically every game that supports 3D positional audio will work on the card. However, A3D 2.0, which provides environment modeling for reverb and occlusion support, has received limited support so far from developers. A competing API--EAX from Creative, which adds reverb effects--has been supported by considerably more game titles, but the long-promised drivers offering EAX support have yet to be released. Aureal has a list of current and upcoming A3D titles on its Web site.

We tested A3D 2.0 support using Heretic II and were astounded by the 3D audio quality. Using headphones, two speakers or four speakers, the positional audio effect gave us a real advantage in the game because we were able to judge the location of monsters before seeing them. It also added a deeper sense of realism to the game.

A limited version of X-Wing Alliance from LucasArts, along with Turtle Beach's AudioStation 32, is included with the card. The AudioStation has a cool-looking playback interface for music, which controls the mixer/volume and hardware equalizer.

Andy heeft een korte review van de Vantec PIII cooler op de BXB frontpage gezet:

This is one of the best coolers I have seen for the P3. Most of the previous coolers have used the same chassis, and merely tinkered with fan placement or connectors. Vantec have taken a different approach and by providing a flat surface for the cooler, more heat is draw away from the "naked" P3 as a whole, and not just from the more obvious hot spots

Gamecenter heeft een preview van Force Commander neer gekwakt. Het spel is van LucasArts, dus gebouwd rond het Star Wars universum. Verder wijkt het in veel opzichten af van de gangbare RTS games:

Force Commander is not a conventional RTS. For one, it doesn't use the traditional god's-eye, top-down view of the world. Rather, it employs a Shogun-like system, which limits you to a rotating third-person view--you to see only what your units can see. If you have an AT-ST in a valley, all you'll be able to see is your AT-ST. If you look around, you'll see only the valley walls. There is a free cam, which can give you a pseudo god's-eye view; however, you'll usually play from the third-person perspective.

Another way Force Commander differs from other RTS titles is that it eschews the conventional real-time model of resource collecting and building. Instead, the "resources" that you'll collect are command points, which are accumulated through accomplishing objectives or destroying an enemy unit.

Gamespot heeft een simpel reviewtje rond de nieuwe PIII-600 gebouwd. Benchmarks of overklok info kom je er niet in tegen, alleen wat oppervlak gebabbel over game performance:

Maybe I'm just getting a little jaded, or maybe it's because I've seen what a 650MHz Athlon can do. But when the 600MHz Pentium III arrived, I couldn't muster a lot of excitement initially. Once I got going with a few games, that attitude changed. I do a lot of game playing on the 500MHz Pentium III test bed; with a TNT2 Ultra or Voodoo3 card, I generally get pretty snappy performance. Every now and then, it will bog down in some games, like Heavy Gear II. After running through the 600MHz Pentium III, all my problems vanished. Well, they disappeared until I ratcheted up the resolution a little more.

USB Workshop heeft een review van de Creative Webcam 3 (opvolger van het apparaatje dat ik hier heb) online gekickt:

"If you are in the market for a simple webcam and don't want to spend afortune, Creative Labs has something for you. It is called Webcam 3 -one that costs only $79 and gives you everything you need to take nice family photos and capture precious family moment into video clips. The consumer oriented Creative Labs WebCam 3 is the successor of the WebCam II, offering excellent usability and great price. WebCam 3 plugs into friendly USB port; USB is a Plug and Play technology that simplifies PC peripheral installation. However, what distinguishes WebCam 3 from its predecessor, WebCam II is its ability to capture outstanding images and high-res. video."

Vorige week zagen we een aantal reviews opduiken van de 3dfxCool MonitorHO cooler. FPS3D.com kwam op het veel goedkopere idee om zelf zo'n ding in elkaar te knutselen:

Tja, kannie moeilijk wezen.

Armin van FullOn3D heeft een review van de G400 op z'n site geprikt. In goede FullOn3D traditie wordt er ook weer gebenchmarkt op een K6-III systeem. Voor de volledigheid gooien ze er ook nog een Celeron 450 en Athlon 650 tegenaan, samen met een zooitje andere videokaarten en de nodige Quake2 / 3Mark99 benchmarks krijg je dan behoorlijke vergelijking. Wat betreft de brakke OpenGL performance blijkt er inmiddels ook al enige progressie te zijn:

Obviously the hardware side of the G400 is a quite competent OpenGL renderer, but the ICD is not very good, especially on the K6-III it plain sucks as it still relies too much on mere x87 FPU power.

Not that I'd surprise anyone who has been reading about their problems since they entered the 3D market.

However, I had the privilege to see the progress between the 5.11 and 5.13 version ICD, which marks a speed difference of 20% on the Athlon, so I will let their 3DNow! optimization efforts pass for now, with a strict reminder to get better within the next couple weeks or I'll downgrade the final score by 5%.

Ik geloof dat men nu onderhand behoorlijk verzadigd begint te raken van de avonturen van mevrouw Croft (en nu maak ik geen vieze grapjes ). Er is nog een deel onderweg, waarin een minderjarige Lara een schietpistool ter hande neemt...

This is actually going to be Lara's last adventure. Developers of TR4 have already said that they are trying to provide gamers with a better story. Hopefully they won't let us down again, as Eidos have admitted that they first created the levels, and then try to write a story to connect them. Now they are doing this backwards, which should have been done long ago. TR4 will actually be set before the first, with Lara being 16 years old. It's something new, and hopefully something better than TR3.

Check ComChip voor meer info.

Computing Pros heeft een verhaaltje neergezet, waarin ze uitleggen hoe je zelf een kast kunt bouwen, in dat geval eentje waar je dwars doorheen kijkt:

After a few sketches I had the basic Idea of what I was looking for... (i.e. six sided computer case with plastic for sides.) So without any idea how it was going to be done, I shopped around at some local hardware stores and checked into a sheet of plastic. I managed to find a 4 X 4 sheet of quarter inch plastic, some corner brackets, some hinges and plenty of small nuts and bolts. Basically to get the design you see in the pictures I had to build the computer into the case. Some of the trickier things were how to mount the card, mounting the Drives, and how to cut through the plastic that wouldn't damage the overall appearance.

Check 't artikel hier.

Valve heeft een nieuwe Half-Life server gereleased. Een ge-update client volgt woensdag:

Valve Software announced the release of a new version of the Half-Life Primary Server Program for server hosts. Although the new software is available now, Valve urges server operators to NOT install the software until the new version of the Half-Life client is released on Wednesday.

The client will be available on Wednesday from WON.net (www.won.net) and will feature a number of fixes an enhancements including .zip file decompression support for the mod browser, a new feature called 'TF Stats' - which takes server log files and creates a web page with the results of a TFC (Team Fortress Classic) match, servers now allowed to ban users by WON uniqueid and an updated TFC manual with information about running a TFC server.

More information on both the Server and the Client software can be found on www.valvesoftware.com.

De kameraden van The Tech Zone hebben een review van Evergreen's nieuwe AcceleraPCI plankje neer gemikt. De AcceleraPCI is een bord met daarop een Celeron, een ZX chipset en 64Meg SDRAM. De installatie is dus super simpel: parkeer het ding in een PCI slot en het zou moeten werken, zelfs de gemiddelde Computer Idee lezer zou het voor elkaar kunnen krijgen:

My biggest problem with installing the AcceleraPCI was trying to find an old Pentium to put this thing in. I was finally able to get an old Pentium 150 to try it on. The above photo shows how the system looks with the card install. You will need to leave your old CPU and RAM in the computer. This is because your computer goes to that first then to your PCI devices. At the time, the AcceleraPCI will take over the system.

Installation is pretty straight forward. You begin by turning on the computer with the install disk in the A drive. The disk will check out your system and give you a reading of its speed. Then shut down and install the card. Once that's done, fire up the comp again with the install disk and the install program will do a check to make sure everything is right and gives you a new set of "benchmarks" to show how much faster your new system is to your old one. Now reboot into Windows. Windows 98 will detect the AcceleraPCI card and ask for the drivers. Give it what it wants and your upgrade is done! Total time: just 5 minutes!

Zelfs overklokken blijkt mogelijk te zijn met de AcceleraPCI. Meer info daarover lees je in de review.

Microsoft en AOL zijn inmiddels al enige weken gewikkeld in een heftige battle rond de AOL Instant Messenger. Microsoft wil zijn eigen Messenger compatible maken met die van AOL, maar AOL is daar niet blij mee en gooit daarom telkens de deur dicht. Mercury Center heeft een artikeltje in elkaar gedraaid over het heen en weer gemodder van beide partijen:

Microsoft Corp. acknowledged Thursday that one of its programmers apparently masqueraded as an independent computer consultant earlier this week in an effort to discredit America Online's tactics in the companies' quarrel over instant messaging.

Microsoft had reason to be red-faced about the incident -- first, because the company was unable to identify which employee had forged an e-mail message on Tuesday accusing America Online of irresponsible behavior and second, because whoever did it sent the message to the one computer security expert who was most likely to find a way to trace it back to Microsoft.

The ruse has added a bit of Spy vs. Spy melodrama to a bitter dispute over instant online messaging that American Online and Microsoft -- the world's two largest Internet service providers -- have been waging for several weeks. The dispute began last month when Microsoft introduced a clone of the AOL Instant Messenger program, which permits computer users to chat over the Internet with other computer users.

Since Microsoft released its clone, the two companies have waged a public war of words while simultaneously carrying on a hacking cyberwar as America Online has attempted to electronically lock Microsoft Messenger users out of its network and Microsoft has at least 13 times managed to find new back doors.

Voor het complete artikel moet je ff hierheen wandelen.

De bewegingen op het Linux desktop front wijzen in de goede richting, met nieuwe GNOME features die het op OLE achtige wijze mogelijk maken om info tussen applicaties heen en weer te trekken. MSNBC heeft een artikeltje over de laatste GNOME ontwikkelingen:

ONE HISTORICAL BUGBEAR for Linux (and all Unix-related systems) is that it has traditionally lacked features for sharing information between applications. Although Mac and Windows users take clipboard and drag-and-drop file operations for granted, few desktop Unix applications can take advantage of such features. In fact, despite a 20-year head start, by the time a common Unix front-end, KDE, began to appear in commercial Unix releases, Windows 95 had already been released. (Windows is a product of Microsoft, which is a partner in MSNBC.)

This doesn’t please de Icaza much. “I want a system a five-year-old and my grandmother can just plug in and use. No Unix, no nothing,” he says.

But both the GNOME and KDE teams want to do more than just make Linux easy to use. They want business users to have applications as sophisticated as the office suites they are familiar with today. To get there, however, application developers need building blocks — and both parties are racing to producing their own.

Although he’s a late starter in the race to provide a desktop environment, de Icaza this week showed interoperability features similar to those found in Microsoft’s OLE 2.0 (Object Linking and Embedding) technology. It allows compound documents to be created — composed of, say, an illustration created by one program, nested inside a document created by another.