EETimes heeft een artikel gepost over de 3dfx Napalm. Naast de standaard stuff staat er ook wat info over de kaarten die erna zullen volgens, zoals de "Rampage" en "Sage". Hieronder een gedeelte:

Napalm, described as the first gigapixel product of its kind, will be very competitive with GeForce, he claimed. And coming right behind it will be a completely new architecture, code-named Rampage.

"We've spent the last 18 months having 30 engineers designing a new core from the ground up," Zacarias said. The firm expects to introduce Rampage in the first half of 2000, with production slated for the second half. An iteration of Rampage, called Sage, is in development for 2001, and a low-end version of Napalm, called Napalm LC, should be out by the end of 2000, he added.

3dfx hasn't pursued an integrated graphics-core logic chipset, as have S3 and Via Technologies with the joint venture announced earlier this month.

"Our thinking is that will be Intel's domain. It's potentially a high-volume market with no margins. Via and S3 are standing in the railroad tracks with a freight train bearing down," Zacarias said.

Overclocking Extreme heeft een review online gezet van de GlobalWIN FEP-32 Heatsink/Fan Combo. De FEP32 is de kleine broeder van de FDP32 en kan zonder extra knutselwerk op je BP6 geplant worden. Hieronder wat over zijn performance:

Okay, I have to get this out of my gut. THIS COOLER ROCKS. My sensor consistently reported from 3c to 5c cooler thant my previous Alpha Socket 370 cooler. The fan included is pretty fast too, it spins at a blazing 4500rpm, so It should push around 26 cfm. That's enough to keep this big boy cool. Using my meat probe (finger), I found out the cooler was never even hot to the touch. Amazing!!!

Temperatures reported by Motherboard Monitor were between 36-37c with ambient temperatures hovering at 39c. With Rain running, the sensor reported temperatures of 30-34c with the same ambient temperature. With the air conditioner turned on, and Rain running, I saw the CPU running at 25c for long periods, running normal windows tasks of course. Amesome!

The lowest I could ever get with my Alpha heatsink, was 28c with the air conditioner on. And the average temperature was around 40c. Not with the FEP-32. Never did I see temperatures above 38c.

Andy van BXBoards heeft een review van de Elitegroup P6BAT-A+ Rev 2.0 mobo met Via PC133 chipset in elkaar geschroefd. Het leuke aan deze moederplank is dat er zowel een PPGA socket als een slot1 op zit. Hieronder wat meer info over het bordje:

This is third dual architecture board I've reviewed from Elitegroup and its probably the best yet. While there are still limitations - and Elitegroup are STILL persisting in using a first generation clock generator, despite using one of most recent chipsets to hit the market - the VIA 133 chipset gives stability at 133Mhz which has been lacking in previous Elitegroup efforts. While the VIA 133 chipset gives application scores around 0.7 Winstone 99 behind an equivilant Intel BX board, this should'nt really be an issue, as the AGP /2 divider at 133Mhz more than compensates. You also get the advantage of UltraDMA/66 now, and while it is likely that Camino boards will outperform both the VIA 133, and the VIA 133A chipsets, the cost premimum is such, that VIA 133 boards are compelling options, especially for users of 133Mhz and beyond.

Overclockers will also enjoy the unlimited voltage selection within Elitegroups BIOS. Voltages from 1.5 right up to a 3.5v range are selectable which puts power, but also responsibility firmly in the hands of the overclocker. While voltage tweaks are no longer a novelty, it is always nice to see, and Elitegroup certainly have stolen a march on Tyan's recent dual architecture board in this regard.

Bij Unlimited Hardware is een review gepost van de Soyo SY-6BA+IV moederbord. Naast goede overclocking mogelijkheden heeft deze BX plank ook een onboard ATA66 controller van HighPoint meegekregen.

SOYO has hit another ball out of the park with the 6BA+IV. With the now well proven and reliable BX chipset and the HighPoint ATA66 controller the 6BA+IV is a finally honed thoroughbred with few rivals opposing it's lead. It is a very easy board to setup and the jumperless design makes fine tuning the BIOS a pleasure. Though the HighPoint ATA66 controller may present a few extra decisions during setup it is simple and pretty much self-explanatory presenting no insurmountable challenges. My only criticism is the lack of room between the slot1 connector and the DIMM slots, using one of the larger heatsinks such as the ALPHA P125S or GlobalWIN FDP-32 will block the first two rows for the memory. I tried various combinations of memory sticks in the third and fourth DIMM slots and had no difficulties though SOYO does advise filling them beginning with DIMM 1. If you are in the market for a stable and high performance overclocking friendly motherboard then I with no reservations what so ever highly recommend the SOYO SY-6BA+IV.

Beyond 3D heeft een kleine review gepost van de nieuwe Gamepad Pro van Microsoft. Persoonlijk vind ik hem er erg kewl uitzien:

To ensure more than a "simple" gamepad, Microsoft has added something special to this pad. First of all, it's USB only; this makes for an extremely simple installation. Just plug it in and the installation begins. The pad is shipped with SideWinder Central 4.0, which of course helps you set up the pad very easily. I was never fond of the previous versions of this software, but 4.0 now has everything combined into one program and it is very easy to assign special keystrokes or sequences of keystrokes to each of the "14" buttons (I'm including the shift + buttons here). There is no more talk about profiles, now everything is called schemes. The pad is of course shipped with a lot of schemes and even more should be available from MS when you read this.

The second special feature is that the D-pad (the pad you use for movement on a gamepad) now can either act as a "standard" 8-way pad or as a 360 degrees D-pad instead. The standard mode gives you the D-pad you are used to, 8 distinct directions. If you use it in the proportional mode instead, you get something completely different. Now the D-Pad behaves like a normal joystick. First of all it has 360 Degrees movement. No more 8 different directions. It also reacts proportional on how hard you press the pad to one direction. In theory, you actually should be able to use it in a flight-sim, but I hardly think this is why they have included it. It works well though in the games I've tried and if you want the standard mode, just turn the proportional feature off.

The pad feels good in my hands. The 6 buttons are easy to reach with the thumb, as are the D-pad and the shift-button. To top it off, the 2 front-buttons are perfectly shaped for your fingers.

Anand behandelt in deel 2 van zijn AMD Athlon Motherboard Guide de overclocking mogelijkheden van de Athlon. Ze hebben er gebruik van het overclock setje van Trinity Micro. In het artikel vind je verder veel benchmarks over de gevolgen van het verlagen van de L2 cache snelheid naar 1/2 en 1/3 van de kloksnelheid. Check alle info hier

The overclocking options offered by the Athlon are tremendous, and they help the performance user tweak every last bit of power out of their system. Simply increasing the clock multiplier is the most effective way to obtain a performance increase, but when limits such as the L2 cache come into play then, at times, this isn't possible. The 1/3 L2 cache frequency divider is a viable option as well, since the performance drop is negligible. This option is also an indication that the future Athlon CPUs with a 2/5 L2 cache divider won't sacrifice too great of a performance loss since the 2/5 divider will still place the L2 cache at a higher frequency than the 1/3 divider does. A full speed L2 cache would still be preferred, but that's some time away, at least for now.

As for possible Athlon overclocking options, Trinity Micro's solution is a fairly decent one. The only real problem we found with it was that it prevents the use of certain coolers, such as the MC1000, which we reviewed a while back. If anything would make the perfect addition to a modified Athlon, it would be a peltier cooler capable of driving temperatures well below zero.

It's only a matter of time before do-it-yourself kits emerge for the Athlon, either by offering tips on soldering or by taking advantage of the Athlon's unique feature connector at the top of the PCB. It's about time that AMD leaked the data sheets on that connector.

Bij Hot Hardware vind je een interview met Kamran Ahmed, de Product Marketing Manager vogel van Matrox. Samen ouwehoeren ze wat over de G400 series, maar helaas geen info over hun toekomstige producten

What is your target market for the G400 series? The entire Value to Performance spectrum or just high end?

The great thing about the G400 chips series is that it amalgamates a set of features that allow it to cater to multiple markets. Taking DualHead as an example, it is a blessing for the corporate user as it increases productivity while providing an inexpensive means to recycle older/smaller monitors. For the gamer, DualHead (multi-monitor) gaming is going to revolutionize the gaming experience and you'll see a ton of games supporting it in the upcoming months. For the home user, DualHead DVD-Max and enhanced TV-out quality offer a new dimension to home entertainment on the PC. For the Video enthusiast, having the ability to view a full screen real-time preview of their project is a feature that was previously only available in expensive high end editing solutions. For the desktop publisher and photoshop user, the DualHead zoom and multi-monitor features are the best thing that happened to their computer since high res support... I think you get my point. The feature set of the G400 give it a competitive advantage in most (if not all) desktop level market segments.

Een anonieme internetter schreef: "Iedereen kent wel het TV spotje "Met kabel heb je tenminste keuze". Yeah Right...:

De Wanadoo Internet Gebruikersgroep (WIG) overweegt een rechtszaak tegen Casema vanwege de beroerde kwaliteit van internet via de kabel.

De WIG reageerde woensdag erg boos op een brief van Casema, waarin het kabelbedrijf aangeeft niets aan de kwaliteitseisen te willen doen. "Internet is op bepaalde punten erg langzaam. Bovendien is de service buitengewoon slecht. Al diverse keren hebben we bij Casema aangeklopt, maar we komen er niet uit.'' De WIG, die inmiddels 550 geïrriteerde leden vertegenwoordigt, is bezig met een klacht tegen de brancheorganisatie van internetproviders NLIP. "Op een gang naar de rechter zijn wij ons nog aan het oriënteren'', zegt Nyns.

Volgens Casema is er niet veel aan de hand. "Sommige klachten zijn terecht'', zegt een woordvoerder. "Daar doen we dan ook iets aan. Voor het bedrag dat we vragen, bieden we een goed product. We hebben 39.000 klanten. Daar komen er wekelijks nog eens 1.000 bij. Van al die mensen loopt er niet één weg. Dat zegt toch ook wel wat.'

Hieronder een hap uit de press release van de Diamond Viper II met de Savage 2000 chipset. De kaart zal ergens eind deze maand in de winkels liggen.

Diamond Viper II comes powered with S3's own Savage 2000 processor and 32MB on-board memory to deliver true next-generation 128-bit 2D/3D graphics acceleration. It is also the first mainstream graphics accelerator to deliver a single-pass Quad-Texture(TM) engine designed for fast action multi-textured games. Capable of running all 3D processing functions without causing system delays, Viper II features a state-of-the-art transformation and lighting engine, in addition to S3's trademarked S3TC processing technology, to provide consumers with the ultimate tool for obtaining the maximum in visual quality for today's intense 3D applications. Customers can also run resolutions as high as 2048x1536 with fillrates of up to 500 Mtex/s. Additionally, Viper II delivers full API support for DirectX 7.0, 6.1, Direct 3D, OpenGL ICD and driver support for Windows 95/98, and Windows NT 4.0.

Optimized for high-quality digital video playback, Viper II features TV output, a dynamic, multi-tap scaler and an integrated third-generation motion compensation engine for hardware accelerated DVD applications. S3's feature-rich Savage 2000 board also includes Diamond InControl Tools 99, an enhanced desktop utility tool designed to enhance gaming and business applications.

S3's Savage Software Bundle

S3's Diamond Viper II comes with a suite of PC games, including a full version of Acclaim's TrickStyle(TM), an exclusive S3TC level of ID Software's Quake III(TM) and playable demo versions of Criterion's Jetboat(TM), Hot Chix(TM), Gear Stix(TM) and Tower of the Ancients. Through S3's Diamond GameZone, Viper II customers can also go online and select two additional games from Chumbo.com. Customers pay cost of shipping. Additionally, customers receive a free hour of gameplay for Infograme's SlaveZero(TM) (OEM version), hosted by NetActive(TM) by Channelware. Gamers have the option to purchase and download the full title.

Bij 3D Chipset hebben ze een review online gemikt rondom de Matrox G400 Single Head met 32meg. Hier ook weer de bekende benchmarks en Bumpmapping screenies.

What can I say? You've seen the benchmarks. This card is a great buy if you aren't interested in the next-generation video cards that will be out in 1 to 2 months.

Image quality is top notch. The colors are bright and sharp. This card doesn't plague from the high-resolution text bug that Nvidia's cards seem to pick up. No blurring in text when moving the resolution up to 1600x1200.

The choice is yours. Lots of video cards come and go, as the life span of video cards seems to be shrinking every year. You are left with a decision to buy now or wait down the road. My philosophy is to enjoy the day at hand. Buying the most expensive thing doesn't warrant the best, remember that. Ask all the people STILL! Waiting on their G400 MAX orders.

Onderstaande info over de A3D 3.0 Software Development Kit werd net gepost op AnandTech Webnews.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Aureal Announces A3D 3.0 Software Development Kit

New API Enables Developers to Take Advantage of New Features Including Geometry-Based Reverb Effects, and Support for MP3, Streaming Audio and Dolby Digital

Fremont, CA - November 10, 1999 - (OTC Bulletin Board: AURL) Aureal Inc., a leader in digital audio imaging, today announced that its A3DTM 3.0 Software Development Kit (SDK) will soon be available free-of-charge to qualified software developers.

A3D 3.0 builds upon the solid technological foundation of Aureal's award-winning A3D Application Programming Interface (API), adding advanced audio features designed to meet the needs of cutting-edge interactive entertainment developers. By incorporating A3D technology into their software products, developers can leverage the large installed base of A3D-enabled hardware using Aureal's proven 3D audio technology to provide their customers with the most interactive and immersive experience available on the PC today.

A3D 3.0 adds a number of key new features to the already-rich A3D feature set:

* High-quality geometry-based reverb effects enable the creation of detailed, realistic aural environments. A3D reverb effects can either use simple, static reverb presets or can utilize the early reflections already calculated by Aureal WavetracingTM to create rich, geometry-based reverberation.

* New volumetric sound sources allow for area aural effects, enabling developers to create much more realistic environments than are possible with only point sources. An example would be placing the listener in the middle of a cheering crowd.

* Support for Dolby Digital playback provides an industry standard quality solution for linear surround sound playback. * Automatic support for streaming audio has been added, eliminating the complex layer of development normally required for client/server interactive entertainment applications that use existing audio solutions.

* New support for MP3-format audio decoding and playback within 3D-space enhances Internet audio and allows the development of new types of audio applications. Use of MP3 decoding and playback is provided by Aureal to its developers free of licensing charges.

* User-customization is now possible through the use of downloadable HRTF sets, providing a more individualized positional audio experience when A3D 3.0 is coupled with Aureal's retail soundcards. Users can choose from a selection of "heads," picking the one that most closely matches their own physical characteristics, to improve positional audio performance.

One of the most exciting new features in A3D 3.0 is full support for multi-channel Dolby Digital playback. The API now provides a unified audio solution, offering the highest quality rendering of interactive, 3D audio through A3D's advanced positional algorithms, and playback of linear surround sound content through integrated support for Dolby Digital. By combining these powerful technologies, Aureal and Dolby offer an engine that can meet the needs of game developers, sound designers, and musicians - providing a consistent, quality aural experience throughout all areas of an interactive entertainment title including interactive gameplay, cutscenes and introductions, and background musical soundtracks.

"By enhancing Aureal's A3D engine with support for multi-channel Dolby Digital we are providing an exciting and stable environment for PC game developers, especially those that want to take advantage of the emerging DVD-ROM platform," said Ed Schummer, Vice President of Licensing at Dolby Labs.

"The release of the A3D 3.0 SDK further solidifies Aureal's leadership position in the interactive audio space," said Brendan O'Flaherty, Senior Vice President of Aureal's System's Group. "A3D 2.0 gave developers the freedom to concentrate on content development instead of the mechanics of making 3D audio work. With 3.0, we've extended the flexibility and power of the A3D engine through the introduction of advanced features such as reverb effects, support for MP3 and streaming audio, and integrated Dolby Digital support."

About Aureal's A3D 3.0 SDK

The A3D 3.0 SDK is a turnkey solution, containing everything needed to build software applications that harness the full power of A3D's advanced technologies. In addition to drivers, tools, and documentation, Aureal offers free technical support to developers and QA departments to ensure a quick development path and great results.

The A3D 3.0 SDK will be free to qualified developers and includes the following:

* One Aureal Vortex-2 based retail sound card

* Complete A3D 3.0 API reference manuals

* A3D tutorials, demos, tools, and buildable source code

* Shippable, royalty-free A3D 3.0 sound engine (scalable to any sound card)

* A3D drivers and logos

* Vortex data sheets

* Free technical support

For more information, please visit Aureal's software partners page at: http://www.aureal.com/partners/pa_soft1.htm

Sharky Extreme heeft een review van de nieuwe Maxi Sound FORTISSIMO PCI geluidskaart van Guillemot. Dit kaartje draagt veel features mee zoals 4 analoge channel outputs, een S/PDIF optical digital audio output en support voor DirectSound3D, EAX, A3D 1.0 en Sensaura Interactive Positioning. Toch blijkt de geluidskwalitiet ietwat tegen te vallen:

In the end, the FORTISSIMO is an inexpensive ($49.99) PCI sound card with an extensive list of features and good all around sound quality. Games, movies, and music all sounded pretty good, though they didn't blow us away. The rear channels turned out to be a letdown as only Slave Zero actually put them to noticeable use, but they did made for some fun four-speaker, neighbor-angering loudness in Quake 3 Arena Test. The MX-300 does gaming better. The SoundBlaster Live! does music better. The upcoming 5.1 channel cards will do movies better. But as far as all around value and versatility is concerned, you can't do better than the FORTISSIMO. If you're building a system on a budget and want to do a variety of things with the computer, then the Guillemot Maxi Sound FORTISSIMO is worth getting.

Bij 3D Spotlight is een review te vinden van de Benwin BW2000 Flat Panel Speakers. Het setje ziet er vrij kewl uit, alleen jammer dat de bijgeleverde subwoofer een beetje underpowered is.

The Benwin flat panel speakers also have a very unique quality because of their shape. They can produce 3D sounds that I have never heard of before. There were times while I was playing a game of Unreal Tournament and Freespace 2 and I could pick things out of the sounds that I haven’t heard before.

The 3D enable button on the subwoofer makes the flat panel speakers richer in treble and clarity. I own a Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live as my primary sound card.

When I enabled EAX on the Sound Blaster Live, I compared what EAX sounded like with the 3D option disabled on the flat panel speakers and with the option enabled. I could really hear the difference in EAX. The EAX samples that Creative Labs uses for their Liveware! Software sounded much more clearly and I could hear positional sounds in a more pinpoint area.

The speakers come with the option to be hung from the side of a monitor or to be placed on a flat surface. I can place them in almost any area that has enough width and height. The speakers also look good in any area I put them in. I have seen a couple of people who have never even heard about speakers of this type before surprised when they first see the Benwin speakers. They are simply amazed that something this thin can produce a good sound.

The Tech Zone heeft een review op z'n site gelant van de Global Win I-Storm harddisk cooler. Ding ziet er vrij futuristisch uit:

The performance of the Global Win I-Storm was about the same as the AMK HD-3. The I-Storm was able to beat the Ultimate Hard Drive Cooler at cooling the bottom of the hard drive but can't quite match its performance on the more important top side.

The Global Win I-Storm was the quietest of the three hard drive coolers. You really can't hear it run unless you place your ear right next to the fan housing. If you want your coolers super quiet, this is your unit.

On the down side, the Global Win I-Storm is also the most expensive of the 3 coolers. It's also the strangest looking. While some people like the looks of the unit, I preferred to have my hard drive cooler flush with my hard drive bays. It's just a personal taste, but I don't think it looks good sticking out like that. If you like the looks, don't mind the price and value silence above all else in a cooler, then the Global Win I-Storm is the hard drive cooler for you.

3D Wars heeft een interview afgenomen met Stacey Long, een PR menneke van S3/Diamond. Hieronder een paar vragen:

Q9) Aside from these 'rants' with current products, tell us a few things that we should expect to see come out of Diamond in the next few months. Are there going to be any new products other than the video and sound card market?

A9) Definintely! S3 has chosen to aggressively pursue some solid technologies specifically within the multimedia division the next year including innovations in the video and mobile arena. One of the main points of interest being the industry's first and only notebook 3D gaming solution and third generation motion compensation from our video group (featured on the ViperII) S3 is also moving forward in the communications arena with upcoming announcements about our home networking and Rio innovations as well technology advancements with our professional graphics division. So everyone is pretty excited and busy around here!

Q10) How is Diamond standing as a company? Did the S3 merger roll over well? Has it proven to be a good move?

A10) Not sure I understand the question as "Diamond" no longer exists as a company. To coin the phrase "We are One"-we are now S3, Diamond exists only as a brand name. With regards to the merger-So far everything has been relatively smooth as far as mergers go. As Diamond we have been successful in communicating that we are aggressively targeting the high end gamer and the mainstream PC consumer. Now with S3's backing our products will continue to reflect our dedication to that commitment.

Bij Overclockers Workbench hebben ze een review gepost van de Transcend TS-AVD1 moederbord met de Apollo Pro 133 chipset. Hieronder wat info over de plaat, lees hier meer.

TS-AVD1 Slot 1 ATX motherboard with VIA Apollo Pro 133 Chipset. It supports Pentium II/ III processors with a full range of speeds from 266 – 600 MHz - including the new PIII Coppermine 533 MHz CPU.

Among many powerful features, the TS-AVD1 supports a 133 MHz Front Side Bus and allows asynchronous bus speeds on the CPU, SDRAM and AGP. It supports the new standard of PC-133 SDRAM DIMMs (which means memory transfers at 1.064 GB/second) or VC-SDRAM. This gives customers a great low cost / high performance choice in the new generation PC-133 platform. The board supports the mainstream Ultra DMA/66 specification HDD and comes with an ATA/66 high quality cable included. It features a very wide FSB multiplier (from 3x to 8x) and a broad overclock range from 66-150 MHz.

High expansion capability is another feature of this user-friendly board: it comes with 3 x DIMM, 5 x PCI, 2 x ISA and 1x AGP 2X expansion slots.

Bij de USB Workshop hebben ze een review geschreven van de nieuwe Intel PC Camera Pro. Hieronder wat info over zijn beeldkwaliteit.

Camera captures for both images and video are top-notch. At any resolution (640x480 max.), color-reproduction and sharpness are excellent. We believe the quality is the best we have seen so far. At the fastest frame rate of 30 fps, the resolution is limited to only 160x120. If you prefer better resolution, the maximum 640x480 resolutions give only 5 fps. So basically, high frame rate gives lower quality and lower frame rate gives higher quality.

Another plus for PC Camera Pro is the good low-light sensitivity. Though you cannot take snapshots of yourself in complete darkness, the camera compensates to give lovely photos in dim light.

Creative Labs heeft een nieuwe CD fikker aangekondigd. De CD-RW Blaster 8432 brandt op 8-speed en herbak op viervoudige snelheid. Hier wat blij geblaat uit de press release:

Creative Technology today announced the CD-RW Blaster 8432, the latest addition to its family of multimedia storage solutions. The new CD-RW Blaster 8432 is an easy-to-use solution for storage and distribution of content with faster recording speeds. The CD-RW Blaster 8432 writes up to 60 minutes of data in approximately nine minutes or less, providing users with a 30 percent increase over Creative's previous generation CD-RW drive.

Building on its predecessors, the CD-RW Blaster 4224 and 6424, Creative's CD-RW Blaster 8432 writes CD-Rs at up to 8x CD-R writing speed and CD-RWs at up to 4x CD-RW writing speed, and reads CD-ROMs at up to 32X. CD-Rs can be written in approximately nine minutes or less (based on 60-minutes or 545MB of data using CD-R media with a sustained data transfer rate of 1,200KB/second to the drive). It stores up to 650MB of data or over 74 minutes of CD audio on a single CD-R disk offering customers an ideal solution for archiving files, storing large databases or compiling MP3 files. Using the CD-RW Blaster 8432 users can store and archive up to 11 hours of MP3 songs on one CD. By using inexpensive CD-R disks that are easily read by standard CD-ROM drives, the CD-RW Blaster 8432 delivers an alternative to sharing files at a fraction of the cost of Zip or Jaz disks.

An overview of the features and benefits that comprise Creative's CD-RW Blaster 8432 include:

• Drag and drop capabilites allow consumers to copy data directly to
• CDs using CD-RW re-writeable disks for expediency in copying and deleting files
• The CD-RW Blaster 8432 stores up to 650MB of data for archiving and backing-up important files
• Users can create and save music and audio tracks stored as MP3, MIDI and .WAV files, freeing up valuable hard drive space
• Offers users a low-cost solution for distributing and sharing files by utilizing CD-R and CD-RW disks
• Bundled Software: The CD-RW Blaster 8432 includes Ahead Software's Nero CD burning software and Prassi Software's abCD packet writing software, in addition to one blank CD-R and CD-RW

The CD-RW Blaster 8432 is now shipping and will be available through Creative's extensive network of distributors and resellers at an estimated street price of US$299.99.

Als reaktie op de alsmaar dalende harddisk prijzen heeft Maxtor besloten prijsverhogingen voor een aantal modellen door te voeren, zo schrijft GA-Source:

Maxtor today announced that it raised prices in the distribution channel on its highest volume hard disk drive products. The price increase went into effect in distribution channels worldwide on Monday, November 8, 1999 and is the most recent move in a series of price actions by the company during the quarter. Maxtor has also raised prices selectively at OEMs over the past four weeks.

"Price declines have been at unprecedented levels for nearly one year," said Mike Cannon, Maxtor's president and CEO. "While customers have greatly benefited from this, these prices declines cannot continue indefinitely at this rate. The current imbalance in supply and demand gives us the opportunity to moderate pricing which will help ensure that customers continue to have competitive supply choices in the future."

Maxtor has increased prices in the distribution channel on products in the 4 to 8 GB range and selectively at OEMs on products from 4 to 13.5 GB.

Ondanks geruchten heeft Abit op dit moment geen slot-A Athlon bord in ontwikkeling heeft, zo mogen we concluderen uit dit mailtje op AMD Zone:

Dear Marvin:

The information you have recieved is incorrect. I've looked at www.slota.com and saw where they mention Tech Review's statement that we are working on an Athlon board. I however have been unable to find this specific reference on Tech Review's site. Perhaps they have taken it down.

And while it is true that we are looking into possiblities of a Via Chipset based board, we're not currently working on a board that supports AMD's Athlon. Let me give you some of our reasons: As you know, we try to make the best motherboards with the resources we have, and we are always looking at all different platforms of development. But currently AMD CPUs are more geared to the OEM market which for ABIT is not as strong as our channel sales.In addition, the availability of Athlon for Channel developers is a second priority compared to OEM developers.

Though the possibility exists that we will develop AMD compatible boards, we must focus our limited time and money along already well-established lines. R&D for each product development can be quite high, so we must calculate the most optimal of outcomes for our investment. When AMD releases a 4-layer design, which will increase the yields, and when we are not forced to follow a 100% AMD design (i.e. we can use Soft Menu), we will be more likely to enter the market. Thanks for your question and your interest in ABIT.

Sincerely,
Eric Boeing

Bill heeft build 2176 van Windows 2000 naar z'n FTP geupt. Volgens Betanews zou het hier om Release Candidate 3 kunnen gaan:

Many visitors have sent word that Microsoft has posted Windows 2000 Build 2176 to their beta FTP site. Although the official word about Release Candidate 3 is not expected until later today, it can be assumed this build will be deemed RC3 and made available to testers shortly. Despite a few delays, Microsoft has met the November 10th RC3 proposed deadline we announced last month. Windows 2000 is set to RTM on December 8th, pending any last minute issues uncovered. Check back later today for more information about the release.

Carnifex schrijft: "ik stuurde net een link van die page van Asus... Tom heeft een stuk geschreven over reclame voor athlon borden...sorry, had ik nog niet gezien..":

Interesting enough we were able "once" to get the search engine from ASUS Taiwan's Main Page to provide us with some links to product information for the ASUS K7M. It was strange that the only way I could get to the K7M's product information was through ASUS's search engine. The K7M product information pages are made but not linked to off the Main products area. Unfortunately using the search engine no longer provides access to the links. I've included the links that I was so lucky to capture before they removed them from their search. I'm not sure how long these links will be accessible so please don't email me or our webmaster if they no longer work. ASUS K7M Product Links: [url]http://www.asuscom.de/Products/Motherboard/Slot%20A/k7m[/url] the chipset feature lists that the K7M uses the i810e which is obviously incorrect [break]Mwuhaha, dit is absoluut geen reclame voor AMD, als ze het per ongeluk als brak i810 bord aanprijzen... de link bestaat inmiddels niet meer. Verder schrijft Tom niet alleen over de reclame ervoor, maar heeft hij dit als onderdeel van een complete Athlon moederborden review neergeplant. Er staan veel benchmarks in. Hier een stukkie uit de conclusie:[/break] Each of these motherboards provides performance relatively close to one another under Windows 98. Making a decision based on performance is negligible. However, using Windows NT, the performance benefits between some of the boards varied more than I expected. Both the FIC SD11 and ASUS K7M clearly outperformed the others under NT. Another interesting thing to point out is the performance delta between the shipping boards vs. AMD's Fester motherboard. It is apparent that the publicly available motherboards are using very conservative settings in their BIOS. Hopefully each of these motherboard manufacturers will go back through their BIOS and try and squeeze as much performance as their design will allow them. I'm excited to see that a couple more manufactures have decided to support the Athlon effort. It's still quite puzzling to me why some of these companies aren't promoting their Athlon products. In ASUS's case, they quietly designed a motherboard without their name anywhere on the product nor have any information on their website about it. If you are going to build and ship a product, it only makes sense to promote it!

Dit nieuwtje komt van Tommyboy. Als je je verveelt op de veemarkt kan je nog altijd een spelletje spelen:

Zin in een stevig robbertje vechten? Tijdens de HCC Dagen 1999 op 19, 20 en 21 november aanstaande organiseert de gloednieuwe Nederlandse spel-site Gamez (www.gamez.nl) in samenwerking met Electronic Arts en Free Record Shop in de Jaarbeurs Utrecht het Officieel Nederlands Kampioenschap Tiberian Sun, een spel dat het vervolg is op de strategy-game Red Alert. Ruim vijfhonderd deelnemers zullen op 19 november vanaf 12:00 uur gedurende 50 uur dag én nacht tegen elkaar strijden in een nietsontziend multi-player event waar de bits en bytes van afvliegen

psy schrijft: "De Spaanse bugjager Juan Carlos Cuartango heeft weer een lek in Outlook ontdekt mbt het openen van attachements. Microsoft raadt aan Javascript uit te schakelen (dat hebben we vaker gehoord).":

The vulnerability smoothes the way for a new type of email-borne virus, also called a Trojan horse, and other malicious software. Microsoft Outlook is one of the most popular email programs in use.

Ordinarily, when a Microsoft Outlook user clicks on a file that has been received as an "attachment," the program will ask whether the user wants to open or save the attachment. Programs which exploit the vulnerability, however, fool Outlook into executing the potentially harmful software without asking permission

MP3-Junky schrijft: "ik weet niet wat de nieuwe functies zijn, en of je ze al kent maar hier zijn ze:

ftp://ftp.abit.com.tw/pub/bios/be6/be6nu.exe
ftp://ftp.abit.com.tw/pub/bios/bh632/bh632nx.exe":

ftp://ftp.abit.com.tw/pub/bios/be6/be6nu.exe

en

ftp://ftp.abit.com.tw/pub/bios/bh632/bh632nx.exe

Ik denk wel dat ze nieuw zijn, ik zie er nog niets over op de website van Abit

Ik zie bij Ace's Hardware een klein berichtje staan dat AMD een verbeterde versie van de Athlon 750 chipset heeft. Vooral de memory-performance is aardig omhoog geschoten. Er staat daar een tabelletje met een benchmarkvergelijking tussen een Athlon 700 met nieuwe chipset, en een Athlon 600 met oude chipset. Dit is de analyse van Johan van Ace's:

No surprise in the L1-cache measurement, as the L1-cache is working at 700 MHz instead of 600. The last memory benchmark shows 17% increase however! That is quite a lot, considering that the memory is still working on the same 100 MHz (and CAS2) . And both the MMX and FPU scores are unbelievably high. Take the CTCM scores with a grain of salt of course. But the new AMD 750 handles the memory much more efficiently, that is clear.

Wanneer die verkrijgbaar is, en in welke moederborden die verkrijgbaar zal zijn wordt niet gezegd. Er staat ook niets over een naamsverandering, dus het zal moeilijk zijn om het verschil te zien.