N0SP4M schrijft: "Microsoft zoekt naar beta testers voor de komende DirectX versie 8. Het gaat hier niet alleen om developers maar ook om de normale gamers. Aangezien veel tweakers, tweaken om te gamen kan dit interessant zijn ":

We are looking for beta testers who are either developing games with DirectX or are just hard core gamers. Our #1 requirement is that during the beta cycle you immediately install and use the beta releases to help expose bugs prior to our final release. We also request that you actively participate in newsgroup discussions and chat sessions during the beta cycle.

Aanmelden voor het testprogramma kan op deze pagina.

Ik lees op Voodoo Extreme dat id Software momenteel het doelwit is van een massale Denial of Service attack, die het internetverkeer rond Dallas plat legt. Hier de .plan update van id designer Christian Antkow:

To be blunt, we are currently the target of a major denial of service attack which was started at 3pm CST this afternoon.

The perpetrators of this denial of service are saturating two full DS3's coming into Dallas, and are affecting all Savvis, UUNet, and Sprint connections locally.

To combat this attack, Savvis, UUNet, and Sprint have implemented access filters blocking certain traffic to our entire class C, and are blocking our DNS server entirely.

Savvis will be monitoring the situation throughout the evening, and I'm expecting a wakeup call at 8am from the morning tech crew at Savvis for an update. I will be calling the FBI in the morning to proceed legally on this attack.

I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this is causing you. Believe me, we are as frustrated as you are.

Gamers Depot heeft een kleine review online geplant van de Hewlett Packard 8210e externe cd-rewriter met USB aansluiting. De drive bakt CD's op 4 speed en leest ze op maximaal 6 speed. Hieronder een plak uit de review:

One of the most impressive features of this unit, isn't the drive itself, but more the included software bundle. For those of you seeking a great "out of box" experience, you're in for a treat. Once you get the drive installed properly, you can then get to cranking out your own recordings using the powerful Adaptec Direct CD, and Easy CD-Creator.

HP has also included their "Fast Format" software which lets you start using the included blank CDR-W right away. What it does is it starts formatting the CDR-W in the background, and lets you start recording to it while it does this. This is a great feature since it takes around 45min to format one of these bad boys.

During our tests, we didn't make a single "coaster", which simply means we didn't encounter any failed "burn" sessions, even while burning from a source across the LAN. After using this drive awhile, I could really start to understand it's great potential as a solid drive to transfer between machines. For example, if you'd like to go and make "off-site backup copies" of stuff on your work machine, the 8210e would prove to be an excellent choice.

Klein minpuntje: de drive werkt alleen onder Windows 98...

Kees schrijft: "Nu eens niet de RC5 maar de CSC-statsbox die leuk doet: het ziet er naar uit dat er voor de CSC challenge helemaal geen oplossing is, althans niet in de 104% die ze gecheckt hebben ":

Total Blocks to Search: 268,435,456
Total Blocks Tested: 280,091,779
Keyspace Checked: 104.342%
Total Keys Tested: 75,186,564,417,716,224
Time Working: 52 days
Overall Rate: 16,734,901 KKeys/sec [break] Natuurlijk is dit ook niet onopgemerkt gebleven bij de Distributed.net staff. Hier de .plan update van Daniel Baker: [/break] I've gotten a very large number of emails asking for clarification on the distributed.net reissuing policy and for details about the precise amount of blocks being reissued. I have been distributing this form letter:

-----------------------------------------------------
Greetings!

Thanks for your email regarding my post[1] or about CSC being shown as more than 100% complete on the statistics page[2].

It is perhaps a common misconception that each CSC work unit completed is unique. With a short contest like CSC, we have implemented special keymaster code to use complex tests to verify the authenticity and validity of each work unit submitted. Malicious users could conceivably run a tampered version of the distributed.net client to gain an unfair advantage in statistics and rankings. In order to test an experimental method of attempting to uncover and disqualify these users, it was decided that certain CSC work units would periodically reassigned work done by suspect users to random clients to ensure that our work is not compromised. As an unfortunate result, work is duplicated.

There is no question that this method of project security is suboptimal. We are aware of the flaws of this method and are working to develop a new generation of clients that can produce secure and reliable results. Jeff Lawson, distributed.net project leader, has written an explanation[3] of all of the considered methods. Distributed.net users can expect to see one or more of these methods utilized in future clients and contests.

The method used by the keymaster to decide which blocks should be flagged for reissuing is fairly complex and varies depending on a variety of factors. At this point in the contest, we generally have been reissuing between 9.1% to 11.5% of received blocks.

It is distributed.net policy to give users credit for all legitimate work completed, regardless of whether it's virgin work or reassigned work. Accordingly, the completed percentage showed on the statistics server represents both virgin and reissued work units, so it's possible that we go beyond 105% completion.

Every key in the keyspace has an equal chance of being "the" key. Statistically speaking, it was unlikely that we reached this far in the keyspace without finding the success key. However, this is no indication that we will not find the key. We are just as likely to find the key as we ever were.

I apologize if I didn't address your issue specifically. I receive hundreds of messages a day, and that load is growing exponentially as we get further and further beyond 100% in CSC. If you need general distributed.net support, please contact help@distributed.net. Otherwise, can you resubmit your message to me.

Thanks for your continued support. Good luck.

Daniel Baker
distributed.net project leader

Tjark schrijft: "We weten allemaal dat tweakers dol zijn op fans, maar dat sommigen geen zin hebben om naast een lawaaibak te zitten die een stofzuiger qua geluidsniveau overtreft".

Voor deze gevoelige tweakers heeft Make It Simple een artikeltje in elkaar geklust waarin wordt uitgelegd hoe je de geluidsproduktie van je kast kunt reduceren:

Trying to stay true to the sites motto Make It Simple, I wanted to come up with something that anyone could do without any special skills, tools, or materials.

The only tools required are a scissors, ruler, and hot glue gun. If you don't have a hot glue gun, talk to your wife or girl friend they probably have one You can buy a cheap one for $3 to $5 bucks at a supply store or craft store.

Materials are just as simple as the tools. All you need is two feet of 3/8 inch carpet pad and a cardboard box. The carpet pad that I bought was 6 foot wide and cost $2. You can get buy with less than a 2x6 foot piece of carpet pad, however you may have to glue several pieces of pad together for the case main side. You might be able to find scraps for free.

Corel heeft bekend gemaakt dat de Corel Linux distributie zal worden voorzien van GraphOn Bridges software, waarmee Windows applicaties over het netwerk op een Linux client gedraaid kunnen worden (thanks wildhagen en N0SP4M voor de tip):

By using a centralized Windows-based server, Linux clients could run a number of Windows-based applications such as Microsoft Office or graphic programs like Adobe Photoshop.

A version of Corel’s Linux OS containing licenses for both Windows NT server, and Linux client versions of "GraphOn Bridges" software is set for mid-2000 shipment.

Michael Cowpland, president and chief executive officer of Corel Corporation said in a press release, "With the integration of GraphOn Bridges into the Corel LINUX OS it will be easy to enjoy the benefits and high reliability of Linux while having access to the most widely used Windows applications, this will enable organizations to mix Linux and Windows desktops seamlessly which is a prime goal of Corel in our Linux development."

GA-Source bericht dat Cirrus Logic (ooit een bekende fabrikant van videochips) en Diamond Multimedia Communications een samenwerkingsverband zijn aangegaan:

Cirrus Logic and Diamond Multimedia Communications, a division of S3 Incorporated, today announced an alliance to collaborate in the design of Rio audio players and future Internet appliances.

"We have developed our Maverick chip solutions with present and next-generation appliances in mind," said Matthew Perry, vice president and general manager of Cirrus Logic's Embedded Processors Division. "Working with Diamond Multimedia on the development of future products will enable innovative solutions to emerge from zero to market in Internet time."

Tjark schrijft: "Bij overclockers.com hebben ze een test van de nieuwe Alpha socket 7 koeler. Het verschil tussen de oude en de nieuwe is minimaal":

I would have expected much more of a temp difference between the two, but 0.6 C is all I could get after multiple runs. I think Alpha is having a tough time improving on the PFH 6035 design and the PAL probably represents the best attempt without a wholesale redesign. I have found the PFH 6035 capable of absorbing a lot of heat (for example with peltiers) and it may be that the temp range of these tests does not show the PAL in its best light.

Kenneth Verburg schrijft: "We hebben Act Labs er gek om gezeurd, maar nu hebben we toch echt de RS Shifter binnen gekregen. Daarmee kun je echt schakelen (H-patroon enzo) in je favoriete race spel, zoals Rally Championship (2000). Stefan Petrovic heeft er een fijne review over geschreven":

The RS Shifter by default has 7 gears forward + one reverse (8 "slots") but you can reduce these to 6 gears forward + one reverse by simply sliding on a plastic template which prevents the shifter from using the 8th slot. The shifter comes with 2 different templates. One for "legacy mode" and one for 6 gears forward plus one reverse, but by the looks of things it shouldn't be impossible to make your own templates. In fact a lot of things on this shifter are customizable. Just take a small detail like the knob, if you are not happy with the one provided by ACT LABS you can simply replace it with one of your own choice. Just dial your local Momo dealer and order your own personal sporty gearknob!

Benews ontving van Macromedia een mailtje waarin bekend wordt gemaakt dat de Flash Player binnenkort open source wordt gemaakt:

Dear Developer

Macromedia will be releasing the Flash Player Source Code SDK & Flash File Format (SWF) SDK, in the mid January. The two SDK's will be comprised of the following:

Flash Player Source Code SDK

Developers of existing and emerging platforms and devices can now freely include SWF Playback. The Flash Player Source Code SDK contains a C++ source code version of the Flash Player, as well as documentation designed to help a 3rd party software or hardware developer easily port the Flash Player to any platform or application. The Flash Player Source Code SDK is designed for ease of porting and for platform independence. The code as provided compiles on a Win32 system.

Flash File Format (SWF) SDK

The Flash File Format (SWF) SDK provides a set of tools for developers to write Flash 4 (SWF) files as well as documentation of the Flash File Format (SWF), as well as code to write SWF files.

There are two C++ interfaces for writing SWF files: a high level and a low level manager. Both interfaces are in the same code base, but are used somewhat differently. The high level manager presents a simple interface for writing SWF files, while the low level manager presents an API for writing an arbitrary SWF file.

Thank you for your patience and continued support. We will inform you once the SDK's become available in mid January. If you have any further questions, please contact us at flash_source@macromedia.com.

Regards,
The Flash Team

Troy Evans
Flash Player Product Manager

Bij Tech-Review is een review online gezet van de Guillemot Maxi Flat Speakers 2.0. Net als veel van deze modellen wordt er helaas een slechte subwoofer meegeleverd. De twee 6 watt speakertjes blijken ook alleen goed voor een matig geluid .

Considering the Maxi FS lack of a subwoofer, the bass test didn't turn out too well. First off they are limited to a 150 Hz rating, which is way too high for good bass performance, as the low bass hits come from the 20 - 100 Hz range. The lower the Hz, the lower the sound and bass hit, so speakers sets that are rated as low as 20 Hz have the ability to produce improved bass performance. And bass is not what flat panel speakers are intended for, which is why bass in itself is completely lacking all together with the Maxi FS. Even with the inclusion of the bass control, it would not make much of a difference without it. Unfortunately, this set of speakers is in desperate need of a separate bass unit. But when considering their super low price, it is obvious that these speakers were not intended for high end use.

On the higher frequency end, the speakers put out a somewhat good quality sound, but the overall sound quality is simply not up to par with other speaker sets out there. The sound quality takes me back to the days of my $12 Labtec speakers that I bought with the original Sound Blaster sound card. The Maxi SF do however put out clear vocals, but not without a tin pan like sound to accompany them.

Overall, the sound quality of the Maxi FS is unfortunately not up to par with other speaker sets on the market. The complete lack of bass and tin like sound production just doesn't cut it in the speaker world.

Andrew van Mellenger.com heeft een review in elkaar gedraaid van de Creative Labs Webcam Go. In eerste instantie is dit een gewone Webcam, maar hij kan ook gebruikt worden als een el'cheapo digitale camera.

Videoconferencing worked great. I tried it on my home network because I wanted to see what the output looked like. It is great for what I want to use it for, I'm going to get my mom to buy one. The images which are taken when the camera is disconnected from the PC and stored on the flash memory are the same quality as the captured to disk pictures but the captured pics have the advantage of having their levels adjusted. When using the Webcam Go as a digital camera you have no control over any of the levels. The focus is adjusted by a focus ring on the front of the camera, the manual explains focusing like this, " To focus on an object aprox. 6 inches away, turn the focus ring until the focus mark is at the 12 o'clock position. To focus on objects 3 to 5 feet away, turn the focus ring to the 6 o'clock position, etc." Sounds easy, huh? Since the focus ring doesn't do anything for the viewfinder, it's pretty useless in the great outdoors, you don't know if your photos are in focus or not. Best bet is to probably leave it set for infinity.

Ter bevordering van de algemene gezondheid van de Dutch Power Cows vanaf nu dagelijks een overzicht van de DPC Hitparade, zoals deze al een tijdje in het forum wordt bijgehouden door Marc Heida:

[break] De DPC Hitparade Top 10 van 6 januari 2000

1. GHaven(Gisteren:9,495, Totaal:125,238)
2. [eNeRGy] (Michaël Hompus)(Gisteren:7,487, Totaal:124,646)
3. katsov(Gisteren:6,531, Totaal:162,919)
4. obiwan(Gisteren:5,932, Totaal:224,816)
5. Chainsaw(Gisteren:4,774, Totaal:191,788)
6. Jorma(Gisteren:4,745, Totaal:676,639)
7. sienema(Gisteren:3,555, Totaal:844,756)
8. Robert Reuser(Gisteren:2,990, Totaal:10,636)
9. Eddict(Gisteren:2,663, Totaal:129,247)
10. marius10(Gisteren:2,473, Totaal:266,684)

En de kanshebbers:

11. Bram(Gisteren:2,176, Totaal:80,302)
12. wouter(Gisteren:2,153, Totaal:55,874)
13. Sub-Team Hack BV(Gisteren:1,850, Totaal:198,018)
14. jcbergh(Gisteren:1,612, Totaal:86,290)
15. femme(Gisteren:1,601, Totaal:439,827)
16. utct(Gisteren:1,569, Totaal:30,111)
17. theo.nieuwstraten(Gisteren:1,482, Totaal:29,929)
18. dennis.vanveen(Gisteren:1,402, Totaal:14,157)
19. Arjan Bruijstens(Gisteren:1,368, Totaal:1,410)
20. DPC division Heteren City(Gisteren:1,326, Totaal:56,237)

De Top 5 teams van 6 januari 2000

1.( 1) AnandTech (431,655)
2.( 1) HackZone Team -- Combined power of Russia and exUSSR countries (365,536)
3.( ) Slashdot.org (358,368)
4.( ) Russian Team (346,983)
5.( ) Team Warped (OS/2) (267,552)
16.( ) Dutch power cows (147,454)
51.( 4) HIT2000 Linux, Hack & Crack event of 1999, the Netherlands (53,555)
64.( 16) The #koffie Team (44,032)

Teams om ons heen(total stats):
36.( ) Michigan State University (MSU Spartans) (Tot:30,644,467, Gis:95,506)
37.( ) Team HP (Tot:29,650,237)
38.( ) Japan Celeron Users Group (Tot:28,813,748, Gis:73,028)
39.( ) Texas Longhorns (Tot:27,829,987, Gis:41,347)
40.( ) Dutch power cows (Tot:27,137,942, Gis:147,454)
41.( ) Wonder Monkeys (Tot:26,574,301)
42.( ) Singapore RC5 Effort (Tot:25,640,178, Gis:73,821)
43.( ) Quakenet RC5 Team (Tot:25,573,666, Gis:56,317)
44.( ) Egham Hills (Tot:24,361,459, Gis:24,300)
(Teams waarvan de score van gisteren ontbreekt, hadden geen score in de top 100!)

Dutch power cows is vandaag 16de en heeft een kans van een op 150 om de sleutel te vinden! [/break]

N0SP4M schrijft: "Superweb neemt weer nieuwe abonnees aan. Dit is mede mogelijk omdat er ook extra modems bij zijn gekomen / bij gaan komen, naast de nieuwe inbelcapaciteit":

Sinds woensdag kan Eneco Call Services, het telecombedrijf waar Superweb mee werkt, voldoende netwerkcapaciteit bieden. Deze week zijn ook 1440 extra modems geleverd door fabrikant Nortel, meldt Superweb-directeur Martijn Eier.

Toch kleven er voor Superweb nadelen aan de uitbreiding van de capaciteit. "Doordat Eneco diensten moest inkopen bij KPN krijgen we nu een nieuw 0800-nummer", vertelt Eier. "We moeten alle klanten een brief sturen en CD-roms waarop het nummer is voorgeprogrammeerd kunnen de prullenbak in."

Het nieuwe nummer is een KPN nummer. Dat biedt weer voordelen. "Al het verkeer loopt via KPN switches, de beperkte apparatuur van Eneco wordt omzeild", zegt Eier.

Lees voor meer informatie dit artikel van Webwereld.

T-Break denkt ons blij te maken met een review van de Creative Labs CDRW 8432, een 8 speed IDE brander zoals we die vrij veel zien op het moment. Hieronder een plak:

The Creative Labs 8432 is as reliable as any other IDE based CDRW in the market. I've had the chance of using an Acer 2X, a Pioneer 4X and a Philips 4X CDRW and all have them, on average, succeed 80% of the time. On the 8432, I tried burning audio, data and ISO images and Creative's CDRW was right in that range of success as well. But be careful of one thing. A lot of media out there is not good enough to be copied at 8X speeds. I checked 3M, Sony and Verbatim and between the three of them I found Sony to be the most reliable. Also keep in mind that Direct CD to CD copying depends a whole lot on your CD-Reader, and going above 4X speeds for that particular action can cause more write failures.

Creative bundles the 8432 with Ahead software's Nero 4.0 which is considered by many as the best CDR software. It supports nearly everything from direct MP3 -> Music CD conversions to overburning standard 650MB CDs. For packet-writing, Creative bundles the Prassi abCD software. Personally, I prefer Direct CD for packet writing because of it's wide-popularity but unfortunately at this particular time Direct CD does not support the 8432. However, I'm sure the next patch will take care of that.

Firingsquad heeft een artikel gepost over de nieuwe waren die Apple op de MacWorld 2000 heeft gepresenteerd. De meeste aandacht ging er vanzelfsprekend naar MacOS X, waarover hier een stukje:

One of the more important changes to the operating system is that the 2D graphics layer will be handled by a system known as Quartz. Quartz is totally PDF based - yes the same .pdf standard that you use to view Adobe documents is the standard by which ALL 2D graphics on OS X will run. So what does this mean for the user? Basically every application, every picture, everything on screen gets on the fly rendering, anti aliasing, and transparency. This results in razor sharp, clean image quality, and allows Apple to do some clever tricks to enhance the user interface.

In a more practical sense, having everything .pdf based allows the user to cut and paste any image they want and resize it easily. Using the built in PDF compositor application, Jobs demonstrated how users can drag and drop pictures or text into the compositor, scale and resize them, make certain layers transparent, and then drop the finished product into an email or document. All this can be done easily without loading up something as complicated as Photoshop.

Sharky heeft z'n Weekly CPU Prices column van een update voorzien, met nieuws over de prijsontwikkelingen in de CPU markt:

Unlike the NASDAQ, which fell steeply this week, the CPUs listed here have held fairly similar prices to last week. Only the AMD Athlon line of CPUs actually did anything of note by falling a few dollars here and there. The Athlon 750 fell the most by $36 to $794 in part due to the market's realization of the immanent release of the Athlon 800Mhz. Overclockers might want to wait a while for the 800, which has been known to go as high as 900MHz without too much hassle. The middle of January still looks like a fairly safe bet for the appearance of the Athlon 800. The Athlon 500MHz, which has (as we reported last week) been discontinued, still looks like a bargain (bearing in mind its overclockability). [break] JC heeft inmiddels een Athlon 800 op Pricewatch.com ontdekt: [/break] Tonight, I decided to do one last search for "Athlon 800" at pricewatch. Voila! Lynn's has an entry for the K7-800. When? Surprisingly, they expect the part to be in stock this month. Their price, $899 plus $8 S+H.

Tried a search for "Pentium 800", "Intel 800", and other variants. No luck finding the PIII-800 yet. Actually, come to think of it, I cannot yet find any PIII-750 parts offered there! Patience ... in time, they will come.

Ars Technica heeft een review op zijn site geparkeerd van Abit's eerste moederbord met de Apollo Pro 133 chipset van VIA. Hoewel de performance niet spectaculair te noemen is biedt het plankje wel erg veel features voor zijn prijs, zoals 133MHz FSB, PC133 SDRAM, ATA/66 en AGP dividers lager dan 2/3. Hieronder een gedeelte:

I'm impressed by the quality and performance of the board for the price. At around $80, this is the perfect board to put into a friend's machine who wants to tweak some, but doesn't want to drop a lot of money. One of the reasons I'm excited about this board is related to timing; since this board was just released, in a month (or two) the price tag should seep down even further, perhaps closer to $60. Remembering that a first implementation BE-6 will cost you closer to $110, you can see why this board may be of value for the price-conscious buyer.

But before I should like I'm doing price-apologetics, let's not forget that the VA6 had an admirable stability rating, and it it go handle more than the BE6 once the CuMine got involved. Put simply, I'm thrilled at the performance and compatibility of the board when running a 133MHz FSB CPU. Lotsa folks are having trouble getting these new fangled CPUs to work on mobos that are supposed to support them, and it's nice to find one that does, and does it well.

In the end, performance of this board is a bit more than behind the curve, but the stability of the board was quite good, and a look at the feature list shows you that you can get some impressive tech on a "low end" board (ATA66, 4 USB ports, onboard audio, etc). If ABIT continues to make these boards and produces one using the VIA Apollo Pro133A chipset, things could get downright interesting. For now, the Apollo Pro 133 chipset is looking up, and we're planning on snaggin' another one to work with here in a few weeks.

Sander Sassen van Hardware Central heeft een erg uitgebreid verhaal geschreven over de mult-functionele Matrox Marvel G400-TV video-editing kaart met een TV-tuner. Hieronder een stukkie, lees hier de rest.

With all of the features the Matrox Marvel G400-TV has to offer and the high quality image of its hardware codec the Marvel G400-TV is simply the best all-in-one card available. There is no product on the market with a similar price tag that offers the flexibility and broad range of features the Marvel G400-TV has to offer. Although the cost of a hardware video capture and editing solution may be slightly higher than a software one, the Matrox Marvel G400-TV delivers as promised on all counts.

For seasoned video editors and enthusiasts on a budget, this card justifies buying a more professional software package such as Adobe Premiere to be able to make full use of the Marvel's potential and providing a solid basis for all of their work.

PC Insight heeft een uitgebreide preview geschreven over de VIA / Cyrix Joshua processor. Met features als 256kB full speed on-die L2 cache, support voor 66, 100 en 133MHz FSB en unlocked multipliers lijkt dit een geduchte tegenstander te worden voor de Celeron. Nu maar hopen dat de FPU performance ook echt een heel stuk omhoog is geschroefd...

Now due out in Q1/2000 is a Socket-370 based processor codenamed "Joshua" (the CPU formerly known as Gobi). As it stands, this is the only alternative to the Socket 370 based Intel Celeron processors. Since Cyrix processors are low in-cost, the Joshua processor is expected to have a significant share of the sub-$1000 PC market. Joshua is designed on the Cayenne core which is based upon a .18 micron process thereby reducing power consumption and temperature when compared to .25 micron chips. One thing we would like to see is how well this puppy overclocks considering the .18 micron factor. This CPU will be available in speeds of 433, 466, 500, 533 and 566 MHz in which all flavours of the CPU will have an on-die 256KB on-die L2 cache running at clock speed. This is the same as what the newer Intel Pentium III CPUs offer and double of what any Celeron on the market offers. This does certainly have an edge over the Celeron in the lower end market, especially under L2-cache intensive business applications. Along with the boost in L2 cache, the Joshua bumps the Celeron by doubling the amount of L1 cache from 32K as on the Celeron to a whopping 64K. Not bad for an entry-level CPU, eh? Another signifcant advantage over the Celeron is the flexibility in choosing front side bus speeds. The Joshua lets you choose bus speeds of 66, 100 and 133MHz which can be changed by of jumpers or by the BIOS provided your BIOS supports changing of the bus speeds and multipliers in the firmware itself. The Celeron officially only support a 66MHz bus speed. As we all know, Intel has locked the multiplier of the Celeron CPU making overclocking a relatively difficult job. Joshua adds ease and flexibility by offering this option. And I am sure that everyone will be happy knowing that they can have a Celeron equilvalent with options they only dreamed of having. Though Intel has recently announced the 533MHz Celeron, the 66MHz bus speed is still the route of choice for Intel. God knows when Intel will wake up and introduce a 100MHz or 133MHz Celeron CPUs. But I know one thing, once the Joshua is out, bells will definately start to ring at Intel.

Bij Atomic Geek is vandaag een review te vinden van InWin's S500 case review. Op een paar minpuntjes na zijn ze vrij aardig te spreken over deze kast:

The steel that the case is made from is thick (for a case) and solid. Edges are rolled so the chances of cutting yourself are much reduced compared to a cheapie generic case. In the average week of tech work, I cut myself on cheap cases at least once. If you envision yourself working inside of your case more than once a year, it's a very nice feeling not to worry about case bites. The more open design though, means that the case is not as sturdy as the A500 was due to it's more enclosed construction, but the S500 still feels quite strong..

The power supply itself is a quality Powerman 235W unit. While 235W is a little low if your case is stacked with many extra drives and fans, it will do the job more than well enough for most users. The powerman units run relatively quiet and known to be reliable, which really finishes up the case nicely.

Overall, the S500 is a very impressive case. It's sturdy, roomy, and has great cooling potential right out of the box. If Andrew sticks one of his famous blowholes in the tops of one of these along with the 80mm fans, I'd say it could be a serious overclocker's case. Even if you're not into overclocking though, the design is excellent and this case would be a great choice for anyone who ever needs to work inside of their machine.

PC Home Taiwan heeft de specificaties van de FIC SK11 online gezet. Dit Athlon plankje is gebaseerd op de VIA Apollo KX133 chipset en heeft 3 DIMM slots (maximaal 1,5Gb geheugen), 5 PCI slots, 4 keer USB, ATA66 support en een Firewire aansluiting. Hier nog wat info van Ace's Hardware (daar snappen ze Taiwanees):

Saw this exciting bit of news over at PC Home Taiwan : FIC is demonstrating its VIA KX-133 chipset based motherboard for Athlon, SK-11 today in a system with Athlon 800 Mhz. SK-11 will feature PC133 SDRAM support with 3 DIMM slots, with a maximum memory support of 1.5 GB. Other than that, SK11 will also feature AGP-4X, UDMA-66 and IEEE-1394 Firewire ports. FIC is expecting to start volume production of SK-11 in Feb and will start shipping in Feb or March.

Het volk achter FullOn3D heeft een review in elkaar geklust van het Elsa 3D Revelator brilletje. Hieronder een hap uit de conclusie:

When people find out I have a set of Elsa's Revelator Glasses, they ask two questions. "Do they work very well?" and "Would you recommend them?". Thank god for simple questions, cuz the answer to both is the same. A resounding "Yes". You see, I'm the type of gamer that likes to play a game from the beginning (vice the middle?), to the very end (I belong to a very select club of gamers, who've actually played W2, Q2, D2, Unreal, and Half Life to the very end...). And, I know there's a lot of other gamers out there who are like me in that aspect. Anyway, once I complete a game, I'm like, "Shit, now what????". Especially after spending 40-60 bucks on the hottest game on the market... It's kinda like watchin' a kick ass movie, only to have it end before you're ready to leave the theatre. Well, with the Revelators, you'll have an excuse to go replay all those games you've already beaten. And anything that'll help you feel like your really getting your moneys worth out of a game, can't be all that bad. The Revelators really change the whole "gaming experience", especially for those "dark" games, such as Half Life, and Unreal. So then, if you've got some bucks left over since Christmas, or you've just returned that jumbo sized pack of tighty whitey underwear your Grammy picked up for ya, do yourself a favor and pick up a set of Elsa's Revelator 3D Glasses.

Bij Heatsink.net hebben ze een review klaarliggen van de Tennmax Lasagna Cooler. Dit klein apparaatje voor op je videokaart blijkt erg goed te werken:

As you can see from the chart the cooler does an amazing job to cool the chipset down. With an 8500 RPM fan, and more surface area then the factory heatsink, this fan brought the chipset down 5 degrees Celsius, which shows good performance, and insurance. It only costs 19 dollars, a mere price to pay for cooling to heatsink.net standards. I highly value this product and highly recommend it even if your retail heatsink has a fan. You can find Tennmax's site here.

Please note that if you have a TNT-2 card, then it will require special heatsinks. There are 3 different types of detonator coolers. There's a Type A, O, and B detonators. Type O use special adhesive tape to attach the cooler on the TNT-2 Chipset for those that do not have holes for push pins. Finally type A uses push pins at the diagonal of the cooler. Type B uses push-pins on the sides of the Detonator Cooler. Which is the one we used for our review. That was a wordful! Be sure to check out Tennmax's website for which retention method you need for your video card, and for more information on the different types.

The Register meldt dat ATi vandaag haar Rage Fury MAXX op de markt heeft gezet. De MAXX heeft twee ATi Rage 128 Pro chips met ieder 32MB aan geheugen aan boord, goed voor 500MPix/sec. Hieronder het marketing lulverhaaltje:

ATI Technologies today launched its RAGE Fury MAXX graphics card aimed at hardcore gamers.

The device has two RAGE 128 Pro chips and 64MB memory on one 64MB board.

The Rage Fury MAXX boasts 500 megapixels per second to help power-hungry gamers destroy their on-screen opponents.

In the words of the Ontario-based manufacturer: "First person shooter games will be expanded and the level of background detail will dramatically improve."

"For example, long range weapons in Quake III will become much more effective as enemies that would have been impossible to distinguish in 800x600... Fans of strategy games will be able to view and manage their troops more effectively while flight simulator pilots will be able to better judge their flight patterns."

Described as the "top of the ladder for the serious gamer" by ATI, the board will be available this month from £189.®

Eppe schrijft: "Er is weer een nieuwe bios uit voor de Asus K7M, heb um net zelf geflashed. Alles lijkt nog goed te werken ":

A big thanks to Soeren Nymand for letting me know about this new bios for the K7M. It's version km1229 and is dated 1/5/00. I'll update it and see what it adds. On a side note it appears that super bypass is auto enabled on the K7M if you have the km1209 bios. I'll report more after I update the bios.

Je kunt de bios hier downloaden.