Salon Magazine heeft een artikel gepost over next-generation game consoles, zoals de Dreamcast en Playstation 2. Met features zoals DVD playback en internet toegang beginnen deze doosjes steeds meer PC-achtige mogelijkheden te krijgen en worden daarmee door Microsoft als een mogelijke bedreiging gezien... zie daar de X-Box:

One thing it's thinking is, "Windows everywhere" -- a Microsoft slogan. The company wants Windows running not only on personal computers, but on palmtops, cable-system set-top boxes -- and game consoles, too. It wants to own the very concept of the operating system. One motivation must surely be to get Windows into the console market, even if that means Microsoft has to go it alone.

But perhaps a stronger motivation is fear of Sony. Playstation 2 will play DVDs and audio CDs. Shortly after its release, Sony will produce an ethernet-plus-hard-drive add-on that will enable Playstation 2 to connect to a cable modem. It's announced that Playstation 2 will be a "platform for Internet-based electronic distribution of digital content in 2001" -- beginning with downloading games via broadband, but ultimately including video on demand and God knows what all.

The suits are dreaming of convergence. Sony wants Playstation 2 to be more than a game machine; it wants it to be the center of your electronic life, your cable set-top box, your video and audio player, your Web browser, your e-commerce machine. The dreams may be based more on corporate arrogance and lip service to the mantra of "convergence" than on any hard analysis, but Microsoft takes it seriously. It views Playstation 2 as a threat -- not to Microsoft's own game business, which is tiny, but to Microsoft's ambitions, because Microsoft wants to be the center of your electronic life.

Best wel interessant. Lees het complete artikel bij Salon Magazine.

Ars Technica heeft een behoorlijk diep artikel geschreven over RISC, CISC en de overlapping van beide architecturen in hedendaagse processor ontwerpen. Hier een stukje uit de intro:

The majority of today's processors can’t rightfully be called completely RISC or completely CISC. The two textbook architectures have evolved towards each other to such an extent that there’s no longer a clear distinction between their respective approaches to increasing performance and efficiency. To be specific, chips that implement the x86 CISC ISA have come to look a lot like chips that implement various RISC ISA’s; the instruction set architecture is the same, but under the hood it’s a whole different ball game. But this hasn't been a one-way trend. Rather, the same goes for today’s so-called RISC CPUs. They’ve added more instructions and more complexity to the point where they’re every bit as complex as their CISC counterparts. Thus the "RISC vs. CISC" debate really exists only in the minds of marketing departments and platform advocates whose purpose in creating and perpetuating this fictitious conflict is to promote their pet product by means of name-calling and sloganeering.

Lees verder bij Ars Technica.

Ik kreeg deze info van Het Superwebteam (wie-ever dat mag zijn, de info is gepost van een Superweb IP):

IEDEREEN die nu z`n inloggegevens heeft kan gerust zijn en zullen gewoon in het bestand blijven. Echter op dit moment word er nog steeds met man en macht gewerkt aan de problemen. Als er password of users worden geblocked dan is dat om instorten van het tijdelijk netwerk te voorkomen. ook kunnen er momenten voorkomen dat er het een en ander wordt getest dit ten koste van de internetverbinding.

F.A.Q

- Is SW nu operationeel ?

Nee, niet als het gaat om de fl. 35,- piek die van je bank/giro is gehaald. deze gelden worden bevroren zoals dat heet tot dat er een algehele "go ahead" wordt gegeven. Wanneer dat is kun je t.z.t. lezen op de site van superweb.

- Maar bij mij werkt het wel ?

Geluk. Het kan voorkomen dat er een groep gebruiker gebruik kan maken van SW. Voor hun veel surfplezier gewenst voor zolang het werkt. De Proxy is niet echt stabiel en totdat er een blijvende oplossing is.

Kun je geld terug boeken ?

Ja, als besluit om de machtiging te blockeren totdat alles werkt wordt je uit het bestand gehaald, krijgt je je geld terug en kun je je gewoon opnieuw aanmelden wanneer we operationeel zijn.

- Is SW nu veilig ?

Ja , om gewoon te surfen wel, maar we kunnen geen garanties geven voor betalingen via het internet. zogeheete firewall-verbindingen zijn daarvoor nog niet (goed genoeg) getest en kunnen dus over het netwerk van SW geen garanties bieden.

Nog niet lid of nog geen inlog gegevens ?

- dan zul je een lange adem moeten hebben want door de faceringsregeling zijn nieuwe aanvragen tot jan 2000 haast onmogelijk. Klein lichtpuntje : ook hiervoor zal er worden gekeken naar een oplossing, maar niets is vooralsnog zeker.

- Heeft aanvragen uberhaubt nog zin ?

wie niet waagt, die niet wint Zo zijn we zelf ook met enige terleurslellende verrassing zelf te vroeg met SW gestart, we gaan daarom zeker weten ook door en er met de volle vaart tegenaan. zodra we meer capiciteit hebben zullen we elke aanvraag zal dus gewoon in behandeling gaan op volgorde van binnenkomst. het aanvraag-formulier kan worden verkregen door deze uit te printen vanuit onze site of te bellen met 0800 0515.

Nogmaals als we geweten hadden dat er deze problemen zich voordeden hadden we echt gewacht tot 2000. Het Superwebteam was verrast door de massale problemen. Zij wil zich via deze weg graag verontschuldigen voor het ongemak. Het team staat open voor suggesties en kritiek. Wil je wat kwijt, bel dan naar : 010-290 06 50

Hedendaagse videokaarten hebben zoveel features en bijkomende setup mogelijkheden dat we er een apart BIOS voor nodig hebben, zo weet AOpen ons in deze press release over hun VGA BIOS technology te vertellen:

It’s so exciting that AOpen brings his new technology into VGA market with PA3030 – VGA BIOS technology in November ‘99. When booting up the PC simply press "Insert" key and you can get into AOpen VGA BIOS setup screen like Mainboard BIOS.

Because VGA has embedded more functions including DVD/TV-out/Capture/DFP/3D virtual reality glass… These functions need more settings to adjust. Also in VGA chip, the internal architecture becomes more complex like 4X/2X/1X AGP, 3D engine... It’s time for a computer system to have a VGA BIOS setup to simplify VGA functions usage and fully drive the VGA power. We believe it is an important impact in VGA market that AOpen releases VGA BIOS technology to the market. It will be a trend too since VGA is going to high-end application field. VGA BIOS technology is too essential now.

PA3030 with nVidia Ultra-TNTII/32MB fastest SGRAM/TV-out and VGA BIOS technology build in. We make Ultra TNTII Ultra on AOpen PA3030. The important BIOS features are:

- "CHIP VOLTAGE ADJUST" - Keep stable and high performance adjustment while operating under high core / memory clock. (All voltages is within safety range of chip voltage)
- "MEMORY CLOCK ADJUST" – Graphic card memory clock adjustment to enhance performance
- "CORE CHIP CLOCK ADJUST" - Chip core clock adjustment to enhance performance

There are more practical functions also built in VGA BIOS like TV-FORMAT/Boot Up devices… We believed there will be more items needed to put into BIOS to make a central control. Central functions in BIOS make user easily use and control the card’s functions well. For examples, we all know the core clock only can be adjusted under window95/98 before. Now we have VGA BIOS technology, that can adjust it without O.S. limitation. So users can fully enjoy the power of PA3030.

AOpen VGA BIOS team invites users to enjoy the convenience of VGA BIOS. PA3030 will be the first product with AOpen VGA BIOS technology. And we are preparing more VGA products with VGA BIOS technology in future.

Logitech heeft twee nieuwe Wingman joysticks aangekondigd - de Wingman Extreme Digital 3D en de Wingman Attack. Hier de press release van GA-Source:

The new WingMan Extreme Digital 3D's handle, base, throttle and button layout have been created to enhance performance in games and also make gaming more enjoyable. This joystick replaces the WingMan Extreme Digital and offers several new features, including a twist handle for precise rudder control, a twist handle lock feature that turns the twist function on or off, and support for both USB and gameport connections.

The WingMan Extreme Digital 3D also comes with a CD-ROM containing WingMan software that allows players to double the number of programmable functions by using the shift button option, create and save customized button functions for their favorite games, print out profiles for quick reference, and even download new game profiles from www.logitech.com. Available from Logitech dealers and distributors and also from Logitech's online store, WingMan Extreme Digital 3D carries a suggested retail price of $39.95.

The WingMan Attack is based on the same design as the WingMan Extreme Digital 3D but uses a reduced feature set and analog technology to provide consumers a lower price. The WingMan Attack joystick also features the rapid fire trigger, two under-thumb handle buttons, and the convenient throttle of the WingMan Extreme Digital 3D, plus one oversized action button.

WingMan Attack is an entry-level joystick, which shares the elegant design of WingMan Extreme Digital 3D with the exception of the 8-way POV, twist handle, two base buttons, USB connection option, or digital programmability. It replaces the existing WingMan Joystick but provides more performance features for the same suggested retail price of $19.95.

Damage heeft een paar Quake3 SMP benchmarks op de frontpage van HardOCP geplakt. We hebben ze al vaker gezien en ook nu is de uitkomst naar verwachting (SMP alleen nuttig op lage resoluties), maar de opmerkingen van Damage vond ik wel interessant:

As you can see, SMP helps a lot more in low-res, low-color depth modes, where the TNT2 card isn't hitting its limits, especially in terms of fill rate. Check out that 82.4 fps score at 640x480x16. Who needs a GeForce when you've got a second CPU to handle the load?

As always, folks, remember that frame rate averages aren't everything. The important thing about Q3's SMP implementation is that SMP should, theoretically, help most in worst-case scenarios, when a zillion polygons are flying around in the middle of a heated deathmatch and a single CPU's processing power just wouldn't be enough. Subjectively, that kind of thing can make a huge difference. I can't wait to get my hands on a phat fill rate card like whatever 3dfx has up its sweaty corporate sleeve and really test that theory.

To some degree, at least, it's also possible we could enjoy the benefits of SMP by running high-poly-count settings in Q3, much like GeForce owners are supposedly going to be able to do. I have tried cranking up the LOD (level o' detail) settings for curves, etc. in Q3Test, and it does benchmark out pretty well in SMP. Of course, most of this stuff is speculation until we have a final version of Q3 in our hands. Time will tell.

Voodoo Extreme weet ons te vertellen dat er een Win2000/NT4 versie van PS/2 Rate is gereleased. Voor het geval je 't niet weet: PS/2 Rate is een superhandig proggie waarmee je de sampel rate van je PS/2 muis kunt verhogen. Het effect is duidelijk merkbaar en is vooral handig voor betere precisie tijdens het deathmatchen. De file kun je hier neerhalen.

Nu we toch met software bezig zijn: de laatste updates van Betanews:

- Internet Explorer 4.01 Service Pack 2
- IFrame security patch voor IE5 Intel platform
- IFrame security patch voor IE5 Alpha platform
- Asus V3800 WDM Video Capture driver v1.00 beta (Win9x)
- Asus P3B-F BIOS 1004 Final

Verder stuurde Jan Limpens deze info over Powertweak:

Een nieuwe, handige utility is PowerTweak. Met dit programma kun je je hele systeem fijn-afstellen. Betere systeemprestaties en snellere response zijn de dingen die je kunt bereiken met dit programma.

PowerTweak 1.05b (1,4Meg) kun je neerhalen bij Mic's 3D Zone.

Jippie, weer een fabrikant van trage videokaarten gedumpt :

Graphics specialist Real3D has collapsed, though since the dust has yet to settle, it's proving rather difficult to see the state of the body.

Real3D's parent and 70 per cent shareholder Lockheed-Martin last week shut the company down, and sold the remains to Intel, which owned 20 per cent of the stock. SGI owns just under ten per cent, but this may actually now be owned by Nvidia, following its deal acquire all of SGI's graphics development resources.

Real3D developed Intel's lacklustre 740 graphics technology.

Wat er allemaal met de Real3D patenten gaat gebeuren lees je bij The Register.

nno.ossendryver@gelrevision.nl" rel="external">FatalError schrijft: "Voor de echte bikkels is vandaag de linux versie van UT (client en server) gereleased."

De download locaties:

- Download from FilePlanet
- Download from 3D Action Gamers [break] Voor een Readme kun je hier terecht. Verder is er een patch gereleased voor de 348 demo: [/break] Here is a fix (488KB) for the crash in version 348 when playing back recorded demos. It does not break net compatibility and is only needed if you want to play back recorded demos. Sorry about this oversight.

Bij Sharky Extreme hebben ze aan een aantal game developers een drietal vragen gesteld over de nieuwe technologiën op 3D gebied. De vragen gaan als volgt:

1. Will your upcoming games support hardware transformation and lighting in D3D or other non-OpenGL API's?

2. What advantages, disadvantages and issues are there for you as a game developer in doing so?

3. Will your upcoming games support texture compression, environment bump mapping, T-Buffer, or any other current or upcoming hardware technology that is not widely developed for yet?

Developers van games zoals Max Payne, Tribes 2, Titanium Angels, Slave Zero, Nightfall, Summoner en Defcon hebben deze vragen beantwoord en zijn terug te vinden in het artikel.

Ga'ash Soffer heeft weer een tech artikel in elkaar gedraaid voor Voodoo Extreme, dit keer over Anti-Aliasing. 3dfx zal o.a. full-scene anti-aliasing in de Voodoo4 / Napalm zetten. Hieronder een gedeelte uit het stuk, lees hier verder.

Currently, full-scene anti-aliasing provides substantial image quality gains over edge anti-aliasing and no-anti-aliasing. Unfortunately, no current architectures can perform full-scene anti-aliasing at reasonable speeds. For current and older games (i.e. games with relatively low polygon counts), full-scene anti-aliasing is going to be a key image quality enhancement feature. As games get more complex and polygon counts rise significantly, edge anti-aliasing is going to play a large role in image fidelity. Since scenes will be composed of more and more polygons, their projected sizes (i.e. size on the screen) will be significantly smaller, in turn meaning there will be more polygon edges. Once polygon counts rise to hundreds of thousands a scene, edge anti-aliased scenes will look almost as good as full-scene anti-aliased.

Bij Gamecenter hebben ze een kleine review gepost van de Soundblaster Live X-Gamer geluidskaart. Het komt erop neer dat ze hem errug goed vinden en hem bekronen met een 'Editors Choice'.

Of course, the real question is how the X-Gamer performs in games. The card comes bundled with full versions of three excellent titles--Descent 3, Need for Speed: High Stakes, and Thief: The Dark Project. All of these games support both DirectSound3D for 3D positional audio and Creative's EAX API for adding environmental reverb effects. I tested these games with two speakers, headphones, and four speakers to judge the X-Gamer's 3D audio prowess.

The results were especially impressive in Thief, in which the 3D audio cues actually helped me play the game. As I wandered the dark halls, being able to hear and locate a guard coming towards me offscreen conferred both an advantage in playing the game and an increased sense of realism. The reverb effects of EAX also added ambiance and increased the 3D audio sensation.

Overall, the 3D audio effects were much more realistic than what I had experienced in my earlier testing of the SB Live; Creative has spent the last year improving its 3D audio algorithms, and it shows. This improvement is especially apparent in the headphone and two-speaker configurations. The company has also done a good job in getting developers to support its EAX API.

Lees hier meer.

hjs stuurde deze link naar een Everglide Large Attack Pad review van Eric / Fastgraphics. Hier zijn eerste impressies van dit excentrieke muismatje:

Sliding the pad under my Microsoft Intellimouse, I decided to give it a test run in QuakeIII. I could not imagine myself being more impressed by a mouse pad - movement of the crosshairs was both silky smooth and pinpoint accurate. I can guarantee that my railgun accuracy went up by a surprising margin by using this mouse pad. Firing up a game with one of my friends over the internet, he even noticed it. "You've been practicing!" he said, I explained to him about the Everglide Attack Pad and he refused to play with me until he got one! I was equally impressed trying other games, including those that were non-FPS and even surfing the web!

Drie weken na de (eerst) aardbeving in Taiwan maakt EBN Online de schade op. Geschat wordt dat de Taiwanese halfgeleiderindustrie door de aardbevingen in totaal 300 miljoen dollar heeft verloren:

Taiwan is still experiencing noticeable aftershocks, even weeks after the quake, attendees said. Taiwan's Institute of Economic Research said that the quake, estimated at 7.3 on the Richter scale, cut 0.1% out of the region's GNP. Hsinchu's Science Park suffered an estimated $240 million in damages, while losses to the semiconductor industry stand at about $300 million.

[...] "Next year, we anticipate greater demand than supply," Ryde said. "There will be shortages next year, so the current demand picture looks very strong for next year. There's a fair number of assumptions around that. First, the significant impact on memory prices has not been fully comprehended, as well as the impact on our customers. I would imagine there will be price increases in the industry...although maybe the constant price erosion on microprocessors will stop."

2CPU.com heeft een review gepost van de Promise FastTrak66 ATA66 RAID controller. Real world performance nam volgens de schrijver merkbaar toe bij gebruik van 2 drives in striping mode:

Well, the numbers themselves leave me with mixed feelings. Although there is a definite difference in the benchmarks (look particularly at the "Physical Benchmarks" which present a more realistic view), I don't think it really shows the "real world" speed of this setup. I actually noticed a significant difference in the speed at which my machine booted, and my apps (Photoshop, FrontPage, etc) loaded much faster than ever before. Since everyone screams for benchmarks, here they are (click for a larger image). I used Norton's "System Information" Logical and Physical benchmarks for these tests and I will add Winbench scores as soon as I have time.

De prijs van de FastTrak kan een probleempje zijn: in Nederland betaal je 375,- piek voor dat ding, terwijl hij in de US voor minder dan 100 dollar te krijgen is.

Dimec schrijft: "Door de hoge prijs van Playstation 2 is het maar de vraag of de Playstation 2 net zo'n succes zal worden als de Playstation 1. In een wazig artikeltje van Gamespot berichten ze dat de Playstation 2 na de release sterk in prijs zal dalen. Dat is mogelijk omdat op de hardware geen winst gemaakt hoeft te worden, de winst komt binnen middels de verkoop van software (games).

Dus voor mensen die volgend jaar een Playstation 2 willen kopen: wacht een maandje of drie totdat de prijzen zijn gedaald. Alleen is het nu nog de vraag wat de prijs van een spel zal worden":

According to a recent story published by the Nikkei BizTech, the PlayStation2 console's price will remain very competitive after the console's release. According to a staff member responsible for research and development at SCE, "SCE will cut the price of the PS2 at the same pace as seen for the previous machine."

The article mentions that while the system will release at a price of 39,800 yen (US$375), market observers are already anticipating it to fall to around 20,000 ($189) by autumn of 2000. Once the volume production system for the PlayStation 2 is running smoothly, such a price drop should be relatively easy for Sony. Also, because Sony can generate profits from its software, it can take a hardware cost hit. [break] Sony heeft al eerder gezegd dat de prijs van de hardware voor hun in feite niet interessant is, het geld wordt binnengehaald op de games. Een stukkie copy/paste uit een oude nieuwsposting van juni: [/break] The firm predicts the Emotion Engine and its graphics synthesizer will cost $130 each to make. That would mean Sony will have to spend more than $300, and probably nearer to $400, just to build a Playstation 2, not including the $1 billion Sony will pay to help its partner, Toshiba Corp., build two new chip factories. The original Playstation retailed for $299.

ZDNet heeft een artikeltje neer gemikt over de opening van Dresden, met daarin ook een kleine blurb over de Intel Willamette:

While AMD plans to hit the 1GHz mark with Athlon, Intel is eyeing the same milestone with a new processor architecture.

Code-named Willamette, Intel's first 1GHz desktop chip is expected in late 2000 or early 2001. It will use a design different than that used by current Pentium III chips or the forthcoming 64-bit Itanium chip, according to the company. Further details on this new design, however, have not yet been disclosed. Willamette will use a 423 pin socket, whose design is similar to that of the 370 pin Socket 370 now in use, sources said.

Oftewel: gewoon de oude release date die we al eerder uit (betrouwbare) bronnen hebben kunnen vernemen.

The Register heeft een aantal redenen bij elkaar geraapt waarom de i840 chipset (waar Rambus wel werkt) geen mainstream alternatief voor de i820 zal kunnen zijn (het gerucht dat Intel mogelijk een Lite versie van de i840 chipset gaat maken heeft The Register trouwens zelf de wereld in gebracht):

Further investigation reveals that there are several key system level trade-off between Cost, Performance and Reliability that allow 840 system to run, while 820 systems fail.

1. Carmel platforms use a six layer motherboard. This adds cost but improves signal integrity -- one of Camino's problems.

2. OEMs may play it safe by using 600MHz RDRAM on 840 production platforms. This improves timing margins and reliability at the cost of performance. This trade-off has proven unacceptable for uniprocessor PCs running business apps.

Workstation and server buyers prefer ECC (requiring 18-bit RDRAM rather than 16-bit). ECC helps with the reliability issues, but at an additional 20-30 per cent premium over the already high cost of Rambus.

The 840's dual Rambus channels are interleaved, and reportedly cannot operate in single channel mode. Each channel has only 2 RIMM slots, which is good, but configuration options are limited. RIMMs must be installed in matched pairs. 2 RIMMs or 4 RIMMs - thats it. Not quite flexible enough for low cost systems. These 4 trade-offs are unacceptable for the mainstream PC market - but they are why the 840 works and the 820 does not. Catch-22?

Volgens The Register zouden de eerste versies van de Camino chipset helemaal van Rambus slots ontdaan worden, meer daarover lees je hier.

The Register heeft een artikeltje gepost over de opening van AMD's Dresden fab. Gisteren werd uit de press release al duidelijk dat AMD inmiddels 0,18micron koper Athlon's op snelheden van boven de 900MHz heeft lopen. 1GHz Athlon's zullen echter pas in de tweede helft van 2000 geïntroduceerd worden, een doordachte stap volgens The Register:

The lengthy run-up AMD is giving itself could mean that at last the company is boxing clever. It figures it has a lead over Intel in copper technology (AMD misses no opportunity to describe Dresden as the world's most advanced facility), and it has plenty pent-up demand, so it has the time to work on yields, maximise production and then hit the market in Q2 at full force.

And then there's the matter of the Dresden Design Center, the R&D section running alongside Fab 30. At the opening ceremony Sanders made a point of stressing the Center's importance in designing a "total solution... including the processor and the surrounding circuitry." Advanced Athlon chipsets, anyone?

The Art of Overclocking heeft een vergelijking gepost tussen de Logitech Mouseman Wheel USB en Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer. De optische werking van de Intellimouse werd in games zoals Quake niet erg handig bevonden:

Quake time! As the dedicated Quake player I am, of course I wanted to see how it performed in Quake. I started up with Quake1 (QW). The first thing I noticed was that the sensitivity was lower than with the Logitech. Before this was adjusted, I ran around making some quick turns. Now, just as I had been afraid of, it didn't work very well. The Intellimouse Explorer just couldn't handle the quick turns, resulting in that either I didn't move at all, or I started spinning uncontrolled. I adjusted the sensitivity and tried again. It worked a lot better now, but it still 'missed' sometimes. It was at this point I realized this mouse was nothing for me. I gave it a test run in Q3test with the same result. It mostly worked, but sometimes I lost the control totally due to my fast movements. A very common issue when playing FPS games is also the need for lifting the mouse and moving it when you run out of mousepad. With the Intelli Explorer I had to lift it very high because the intellieye would otherwise still keep tracking, which was very annoying. The overall smoothness in FPS games was, if not worse, at least not better than with the Logitech.

Bij Screaming 3D hebben ze een leuke comparison gemaakt tussen twee low-end videokaartjes, de TNT2 M64 en de Voodoo3 2000. Om het low-end feestje compleet te maken hebben ze het zaakie getest met een Pentium 2 op 266MHz. Uiteindelijk wordt de Voodoo3 2000 toch als winnaar benoemd:

There is a _HUGE_ hype about the high-res textures and 32 bits colors on the TNT chipset. From what I've seen, this isn't really such a big deal. I found that there's no significant difference when you're playing a game. Don't get me wrong here, I still want 32 bits colors and super-duper textures but that's not a reason to buy a videocard IMHO. Another thing wich is often neglected is the 2D image quality. The Voodoo3 offers outstanding colors and sharpness on my trusty trinitron monitor but the TNT2 M64 seems to cast a weird, butt-ugly, color-blurring filter on my desktop . I bet this is a driver issue so let's see something done about this ok nVIDIA ?! If you've ever seen a Matrox card at 2D then you know there is a SERIOUS difference with other cards. A cool feature of the TNT2 M64 is that it automatically alti-aliases (almost) everything in Direct3D ! My conclusion : TNT2 M64 looks a little better at 3D but the Voodoo3 looks _MUCH_ better at 2D.

Voor alle info, klik hier voor de rest van de review.

Het is een tijdje geleden, maar Thomas Pabst heeft weer eens een blurb in elkaar gedraaid. Wederom haalt hij in deze editie weer uit naar de kloterige Athon mobo support van Taiwanese bedrijven en Intel's i820 fiasco. Lees zijn complete verhaaltje hier.

This is funny enough, since Intel doesn't really have much to laugh about. The disaster with i820 and RAMBUS is the biggest blunder Intel made since the Pentium floating-point flaw. Now we're on the eve of the Coppermine-release (a detailed architectural overview of Coppermine will follow this week), but this processor that is supposed to make Intel look better again doesn't have a platform to run at. Intel's own i820-chipset might not be out until next year, so that Coppermine will either have to reside in a highly pathetic i810e-platform with integrated slow-motion 3D-graphics, 133 Mhz FSB, but only PC100 memory support or in a non-Intel VIA 640-platform, which at least supports AGP4x and PC133 memory. This is almost as if Athlon would have been released without a chipset. It seems incredible to me that the motherboard makers put up with this and still support Intel. Thousands of i820-motherboards that were ready to ship on the planned release date of i820 had to be called back and taken apart. This must have cost hundreds of thousands. It would have been the perfect timing to push sales of Athlon-platforms, but something kept the Taiwanese motherboard makers from doing that. It seems rather obvious where this 'something' comes from and it has to be possible that the FTC finds some proof for that. Intel is so scared by Athlon's performance and popularity, that they even made up a rumor of releasing mysterious 'Willamette' at 1100 MHz 6 months early in December 1999, just to get some positive headlines. May I ask on which platform Willamette is supposed to run at? Maybe Intel should try and use the good old 430FX-chipset for it. Intel looks highly stupid, but they decided to make sure that AMD looks at least as stupid as well. [break]Verder vertelt hij ook nog een klein stukje over de lagere L2 cache snelheden die hoog geklokte Athlon's mee gaan krijgen:[/break] AMD plays its own part to worsen the situation. Dana Krelle admitted to me that the motherboard situation is currently the worst thing for them. However, the next Athlon processors, starting with the Athlon 750, will clock the second level cache at only 2/5 of the core clock, not at 1/2 as Athlon 500-650. This will worsen the performance-scaling, especially once the multiplier shrinks down to 1/3 in Athlons beyond 800 MHz. Coppermine will continue to run it's L2-cache at 1/1, regardless how high the clock speed. It's a matter of fact that AMD needs to get their .18 micron Athlons with on-die L2-cache ready as soon as possible, because once i820 does run, Intel only needs to increase Coppermine's clock and it will overtake Athlon. This could be the end of AMD.

Het volk achter Tech-Review heeft een review gebakken rondom de Promise Ultra ATA/66 Controller. Na de installatie bleek de Maxtor 7200rpm schijf aardig wat sneller te zijn geworden:

Taking a look at the scores reveals the ATA 66 adapter scores are well above the non ATA 66 performance scores. Using Winbench 99 under Windows 98 SE reveals a 17% increase under Business Disk mark from ATA 33 to ATA 66. Benchmarking under the High End Disk mark reveals a whopping 49% performance increase. In the beginning of this year, this amount of performance gain did not occur with the ATA-66 adapters due to hard drive specifications. However, now that ATA-66 hard drives spinning at 7200 RPM have arrived, the true performance increase provided by ATA-66 adapters can be clearly seen.

While this may lead one to believe the increase from 33 MB/sec to 66 MB/sec bandwidth is the cause, this is truly not the case. The reason for the 66 MB/sec data transfer rate not being the performance enhancer is simply stated by the fact that current ATA hard drives cannot physically serve a constant 66 MB/sec stream. As of now, they cannot even constantly fill the 33 MB/sec of bandwidth provided by ATA 33. So why is there a performance increase if the increased bandwidth doesn't even come into action? The answer is in the fact that the Ultra66 takes the stress off of the motherboard to manage the hard drives and puts the load onto the separate PCI Ultra66. This simple fact combined with the more efficient ATA-66 specification results in the increase of performance for hard drives.

Check de rest van de review hier.

Bij CPU Review is de Athlon / Pentium III prijsvergelijking weer eens van een update voorzien. Vrij aardig is dat een Athlon 650 goedkoper is dan een Pentium III 600MHz . Ook een Athlon + Mobo combi is in bijna alle gevallen goedkoper dan een Intel based systeem. Check de rest van de info hier.

Intel still has to make an effective response AMD's price challange. I am sure that Intel realizes that they have to beat Athlon pricing at all speeds; so expect yet another un-scheduled price cut by Intel Real Soon Now. Or could they be banking on Coppermine?

I expect Intel to introduce a Coppermine 650Mhz for about $550 this month.

AMD is still sitting pretty. They have the hottest x86 chip, and they know it. Looking at the current pricing suggests that AMD is now trying to take the high-end single processor market away from Intel. Just look at the price drop on the K7-700! I wonder what that could mean? Beating Intel on price AND performance is the name of the new game.

We are no longer paying more for an Athlon based system (except at 500Mhz) than for an equivalent clock speed Pentium 3.

All of the other components that go into building a PC would be the same in an Athlon or Pentium 3 based PC the only difference in price will be the cost of the motherboard and CPU.

USB Workshop heeft een review in elkaar gedraaid van de Gravis Xterminator Dual Control pretpook. Hieronder heb je wat info over het ding, incl screenie. De hele review vind je hier.

The Xterminator is no ordinary joystick, in terms of design. Right-handed gamers will benefit the most out of this controller. This is because the right hand can be on the joystick, while the left hand can rest near the proportional direction pad. The joystick is not adjustable according to hand size, but will probably fit most users' hands. However, children or anyone with small hands might find it a bit awkward to maneuver. It is also very comfortable, mainly due to a contoured joystick that acts as a hand rest. This is ideal for long hours of gaming. The joystick has 4 buttons attached to it, allowing quick access for aiming/shooting. There are also 5 buttons located to the left of the joystick. Plus, there is a precision throttle switch, perfect for changing speed with ease and an 8-way POV switch for changing views.

To top it off, there is a proportional D-pad where your left thumb would be placed, making it convenient to master two maneuvers simultaneously. The joystick has a very loose feel instead of a stiff feel, allowing sudden, precise movements without excessive force on the stick. The buttons have a slight click, which will probably disallow the ability for rapid fire. All the buttons, the 8-way POV switch, the joystick, and proportional D-pad can be programmed with the Gravis Xperience software. You can program up to 49 functions, customize cheat codes and action sequences. The Xterminator is ideal for flight simulators, but it can also be used for driving, action and adventure games. This joystick can also be configured for every individual game. There are already presets for popular games such as Mechwarrior 3, Forsaken, and Half Life.

Bij Tom's Harwdare Guide hebben ze een review gepost van een vet Kryotech Cool 900 systeem. Wat helaas een kleine bottleneck in de 900MHz variant vormt is dat de L2 cache niet op 450MHz kan draaien, waardoor hij naar 300MHz moet worden wordt gezet (gedeeld door 3 ipv 2). De Kryotech 800MHz heeft een L2 cache op 400MHz. Check de review hier voor benchmarks met een o.a. een GeForce kaart.

Another important note in regards to the 900MHz KryoTech is its L2 cache speed. All of the shipping Athlon processors to date have a cache speed divisor of 2. So an Athlon running at 500MHz would have an L2 at the speed of 250MHz.

However, the cache on this 900MHz computer could not run at 450MHz. Getting cache modules that can even tolerate a 400MHz speed is a tough thing to do. So to solve this problem, the Microstar MS-6167 automatically sets the L2 cache speed to a divisor of 3 when an Athlon 900MHz processor is installed. This puts the L2 at 300MHz for the 900MHz Athlon vs. a 400MHz L2 for the KryoTech 800MHz Athlon. With the slower L2 cache speed of the 900MHz platform the Athlon's performance should start to flatten with certain applications. Let's look at the results and see where the performance of the 900MHz Athlon sits.

Anand heeft het tweede deel van z'n VIA Apollo Pro 133A & VC SDRAM gepost. Toegevoegd zijn een groot aantal benchmarks, die wederom duidelijk maken dat de AGP implementatie van VIA achter blijft op die van Intel. De business performance is dankzij het gebruik van Virtual Channel SDRAM redelijk on par met de i820, of soms zelfs beter:

n response to the question we posed before entering the performance analysis: is the Apollo Pro 133A faster than the good ol' Intel BX chipset? When using the 133MHz FSB, the answer is generally yes, but even with that FSB advantage it isn't faster by a large enough margin to justify upgrading, which is the consensus we came to on the issue of the 133MHz FSB when we took a look at the i820 chipset and the Pentium III B.

The next question is: does Virtual Channel SDRAM 'buy back' some of the performance deficit the Apollo Pro 133A holds in comparison to the i820? In some cases it does, such as the 3D Studio MAX test where memory bandwidth and the efficient use of it is critical to a high performing system. But in other cases, like in our gaming and AGP performance tests it doesn't make up for the slower AGP implementation of the Apollo Pro 133A.

Check de info & benchmarks bij AnandTech.