Na een wat onduidelijk artikel vorige week heeft The Register nieuwe details over de prijsverlagingen die AMD volgende week door gaat voeren. AMD blijkt zich weinig medelevend op te stellen ten opzichte van de huidige situatie bij Intel en heeft voor ons een extra harde daling in petto. De grootste verandering vindt plaats bij de Athlon 700, waarvan we maar liefst 60% van de prijs weggehakt zien worden:

AHere is the latest distributor pricing, which will hit on the 28th of February next. OEM prices, for quantities of 1000, will be even less expensive.

The Athlon 550 is now terminated. The 600MHz will cost $190, the 650MHz $226, the 700MHz $270, the 750MHz $350, the 800MHz $530 and the top of the range model, the 850MHz Athlon, will cost $750 from next Monday.

[...] While the reductions have the effect of reducing AMD's average selling prices, and so its profits on Athlons, the cuts also demonstrate that the company is determined to take advantage of shortages in supply of Intel's Coppermine processors.

Thanks Insane voor de tip.

WebMan schrijft: "Hackers konden het gezwets van onze 20-jarige Martijn Bevelander, die vanochtend in de Telegraaf beweert dit jaar een omzet van 29 miljoen gulden te zullen draaien, niet meer aan en besloten zijn hostingtent te hacken. Volgens Bevelander himself is het bij hem 'zo geregeld dat hackers geen kans krijgen om in te breken':

De 20-jarige internetondernemer, door sommigen geëerd met de koosnaam 'De Nederlandse Bill Gates', schept in de Telegraaf op over de veiligheid van zijn netwerk. "Bij ons is het zo geregeld dat hackers geen kans krijgen om in te breken." Een foute opmerking.

Beveiligingexperts van Hit2000 en DutchThreat gingen meteen aan de slag. Kraken van het systeem bleek niet eens nodig. "Met creatief surfen konden we al een bestand downloaden met klantgegevens", aldus een woordvoerder van de hackers.

Het bestand is op aanwijzing van Hit2000 en DutchThreat verwijderd. Direct nadat de krakers contact hadden met technici van Bevelander ging de site uit de lucht. Bevelander.nl was twee uur lang onbereikbaar, zo constateerden de hackers. Volgens een bericht op de site ging het om 20 minuten offline 'vanwege een bandbreedte upgrade'.

Zie de Financiële Televaag voor het orginele artikel of check Webwereld voor het artikeltje over de hack actie.

VROEM! vroeg AOpen's PR babe naar de release date van de AOpen AK72 plank met KX133 chipset:

Dag Martijn,

Het AOpen AK72 moederbord zal ergens begin maart leverbaar worden. Ik verwacht dat het in de 2e week maart wel in de winkels te vinden zal zijn.

Met vriendelijke groeten,
Loes de Vlaam
AOpen

Thijs schrijft dat er nieuwe Win9x drivers klaarliggen voor de Guillemot 3D Prophet en de Hercules 3D Prophet DDR-DVI GeForce kaarten. Ze zijn gebaseerd op de nVidia Detonator versie 3.77.

Heb je een BE6-II? of een BF6? en je hebt problemen met je mooie plankje? Postman, Power On Selftest Manager (?), lost het voor je op...

Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. February 21st, 2000—Designed for the BE6 and BF6 and possible future models, the Postman is a debugging “post” card for your ABIT system. With it you will be able to “Trace, Understand, and Debug Your System” The Postman features a 7 LEDs Display working with Award 6.0 BIOS it is in an easy to read BIOS POST code, best of all it is designed so that you do not have to open your computer case. The Postman will be able to read BIOS check point values, and show these values on the display LED.

You will be able to compare error codes of the BIOS in order to know what problems you may have with your computer.

In the event of a failure you will be able to trace computer’s problem by the shown BIOS error code on display. User can easy and quick to maintain computer.

Not only is it great for DIY customers but the Postman is good for system integrators for when they are setting up new systems based on ABIT boards that support it.

When computer power on, computer will be run POST(Power-On-Self-Test) function and runs only with the Award BIOS (V 6.0) and does not to apply, when system is running an OS (DOS/WIN).

The Postman will be mass produced at the end of February.

Niet ieder systeem is foutloos, en dit is dan toch een mooie util. Nietwaar?

Hallo, ABIT!!! Hardware!!! nee dus, niet langer, ook software wordt iets van Abit met Gentus. In de reacties van een van de eerdere Abit releases vandaag als door een van de lezers aangestipt: Gentus is een nieuwe Linux distributie.

Taipei Taiwan, R.O.C. February 1, 2000—Started by Linus Torvalds in 1991 and catching on in hacker community, the Linux operating system has truly gone mainstream and is exploding in popularity today.

Designed from the very start to support dual processors and be multi-user and multi-tasking with a very mature UNIX design and thousands of applications (with the list growing daily), Linux is now being offered by ABIT. Gentus™ is ABIT’s Linux distribution made especially for direct ATA/66 support.

Why Linux?

As the source code is public, Linux is supported by devoted programmers all over the world and it is widely available. Linux has over 10 million users today and is used by companies large and small and is drawing increasing attention from the IT industry. Mike Foster, a vice president with SCO, a provider of Unix software since 1979 says, "You have a world community of people who can improve things, and the type of innovation you get is unparalleled." At the recent Linux World Expo 2000, both IBM and Compaq had large prominent booths at the show. The amount of big name support is growing and doing so at an increasing rate. Recently, research from International Data Corporation shows that total commercial shipments of Linux will grow faster than all other desktop operating systems through 2003 and Linux usage is expected to increase by at least 25% compounded annually for the next four years. Linux Is Powerful, Flexible, Well-Supported and Truly Inexpensive

Linux is robust and stable and is a truly high-performance, small yet fast, OS with native support for dual processing and true multi-tasking and great security, suitable for personal use as well as server level performance. In fact Linux is famous for its networking capability and will network with almost anything. Supporting customizable hardware support and totally customizable software, Linux runs on multiple platforms and with the famous Linux community there is a wealth of information available giving you basically the best tech support anywhere. With no licensing fees and powerful software bundled with a system, Linux is a fantastic choice for DIYers System Integrators and OEMs alike.

ABIT Makes Linux Better!

ABIT, famous for quality products that deliver powerful performance for a fantastic value, is now releasing their own Linux package, Gentus™ a distribution customized for ABIT’s Hardware, “Free From ABIT and Free From Worry!” exclaims ABIT’s PR manager Jeremy Smith. The ABIT Gentus™ package features the latest stable kernel with full native support for multi-processing, and drivers and patches all together. “With Gentus™ we have really gone out of our way to make it easy to set up and install. Specifically we have added direct support for UDMA/ATA/66 drivers so that you can install directly to an ATA/66 drive, with a fixed driver and driver optimizations for UDMA66” explains ABIT’s Smith. “Previously, users had to first install in the ATA/33 mode then later switch over to the ATA/66 channel. With our software enhancements to the Linux kernel that has all been obviated and the process is much more smooth.”

With ABIT’s Gentus there is even auto recognition of ABIT motherboards to suggest which pre-built kernels a user might want to install in X-WIN GUI mode such as KDE OR GNOME. Many software distributions only offer one of those. Software RAID that is compatible with UDMA/66 IDE is supported and is directly installable to and bootable from RAID at the setup menu of the 1st CD. Gentus™ also features flexible HD partitioning and pre-configuration as well as the afore mentioned installation to IDE drive on UDMA/66 from a bootable CD.

Hu-rah voor Abit. Dit is gewoon cool

AVL schrijft: "Bij Gamers' Depot is een aardige review te vinden van het welbekende Epox bordje met VIA Apollo KX133 chipset. Voor zover ik weet wordt de 7KXA op dit moment alleen door CompTech World in Nederland verkocht. Het bordje was goed compatibel met de GeForce, maar er viel niet veel mee over te klokken":

Using an Award BIOS, you have the usual settings we've become accustomed to in most other Athlon boards. Unlike the Tyan S1854 board we tested back in December, switching the BIOS to 4x AGP mode didn't bring us any unwanted screen corruption. A nice feature that has been severely lacking in the previous AMD chipsets has been the ability to manually assign IRQ's in the BIOS. I'm happy to report that this board will let you assign them. This can be very handy for those stubborn devices that Windows just has a hard time getting to cooperate. If you're a hardcore overclocking freak, then there isn't much to look forward to here, as you only have some settings in the BIOS which will let you increase the overall clockspeed of your CPU. This is accomplished by adjusting the bus speed from 83Mhz up to 115Mhz with the following intervals, 83, 88, 90, 95, 100, 110, and 115Mhz. We couldn't get our Athlon 850 to run stable at anything above 100Mhz bus speed.

Mfpower schrijft: "Slashdot.org bericht over het eerste 3D-beeldscherm (LCD) waarbij je geen spulletjes als een bril meer nodig hebt om 3D-beelden in echt 3D waar te kunnen nemen. Wordt dit de toekomst van de monitor, of eerst maar eens zien en dan geloven?":

The DTI Virtual Window family represents a true breakthrough in display technology. Finally there is a way to view real three-dimensional images – without special glasses…without clunky headtracking devices…without cumbersome gadgets or contraptions of any sort.

Images jump off the screen and hang in space. There is depth and realism. Images appear to protrude in front of the screen or retreat to the background, just as they do in real life. The viewing angle is large and comfortable, and images are full color and full motion. All Virtual Window displays support the most popular computer systems, and feature NTSC and S-Video inputs for compatibility with most still or video input sources. And the display can be switched to 2D viewing with the push of a button, for added convenience.

The high-style cabinet features an adjustable viewing angle for comfort and has a footprint that’s a fraction of the size of a CRT, making it a welcome addition to crowded desks where real estate is at a premium. And the selection of screen sizes means there is a display to suit nearly every application.

True 3D imaging has finally arrived. You owe it to yourself to see it in person. It is a "wow" experience you will not soon forget. This is the real thing!

Meer info kun je op deze page vinden. Schijnbaar zijn deze speeltjes ook al te koop.

Premium schrijft: "Asus heeft de eerste beta drivers voor Windows 2000 gereleased voor de V3400/3800/6600/6800."

Je kunt de drivers op deze page downloaden. Hieronder wat meer info:

1. Solve compatibility issue for AGP-V3800.
2. Problem still remain for V3400 while running D3D and OpenGL applications.
3. Add VR Picture Viewer.

Jan van Hamelen meldt dat er een nieuwe versie gereleased is van de handige util DVDGenie waarmee je proggies als Software Cinemaster, PowerDVD en WinDVD kan tweaken. Hieronder de info afkomstig van Mic's 3DZone:

Inmatrix heeft weer een nieuwe versie van het geweldige programma DVDGenie online gezet. Hiermee kun je dus al je DVD software instellen en ook regiovrij maken! Download het programma vanaf onze server:

DVDGenie 3.30 - 230Kb.

Bij Thresh's FiringSquad is het eerst gedeelte van hun Intel Developer Forum Report online gekwakt, met hierin vooral info over Intel's roadmap en de aanokomende Willamette processor. Hieronder een samenvattend geheel over laatstgenoemde:

With the new Willamette microarchitecture the bottom line is simple: maximum megahertz at minimum costs. Intel employed the deepest number of pipeline stages ever implemented on an x86 processor to achieve this goal, or at least they feel it will give them the maximum clock speed.

With the shortage of newer Pentium III processors, Intel needs a CPU that will yield well at high clock speeds. While it may or may not run faster than a Pentium III at the same clock speed, Intel feels the Willamette microarchitecture will allow them to scale to much higher frequencies than those possible with the Pentium III.

With their exclusive support of Direct RDRAM, Intel obviously expects the RDRAM prices to drop and supply to increase. It will be interesting to see how the story unfolds. From the Intel camp lies its upcoming Willamette and its exclusive support of RDRAM, while AMD plans to support conventional SDRAM and eventually DDR SDRAM. VIA's low-cost Joshua CPU will also feature an SDRAM interface, just like Timna.

3DGPU meldt dat er nieuwe Windows 2000 drivers zijn voor de Elsa Erazor X en X2 videokaarten. Tevens ligt er voor de Erazor X SDR een nieuwe BIOS klaar. Hieronder de info (Thanks Lauke voor de tip).

Received word in the inbox courtesy of James Woon that ELSA has new drivers for Windows 2000 for the Erazor X and X² cards, stated as version v5.07.00.572. The date on these are 2/16/00. Here's the scoop on them:

• first released version
• based on nvidia reference driver 376
• supports Windows 2000 RC3 - build 2183 or newer

Grab them - 902kb

Also there's a new BIOS for the Erazor X (not X²), version 1.48, available for you to download. The date on this BIOS is 2/18/00. Be sure to read the readme.txt before you flash your BIOS.

Grab the new BIOS - 200kb

Koen Crijns heeft een roundup geschreven van de Asus P3C2000, MSI MS-6301 en Gigabyte GA-6CXC, drie i820 moederborden die alledrie voorzien zijn van de memory translator hub voor SDRAM support. Onderling bleek er geen verschil in prestaties te zijn. Wel blijven ze alledrie nog steeds achter bij een vergelijkbare BX setup. De review wordt binnenkort aangevuld met VIA Apollo Pro bechmarks.

Een echte “beste” kan ik niet aanwijzen. Qua performance zijn de moederborden bijna identiek, maar qua specificaties en mogelijkheden verschillen ze toch op een aantal punten. Neem, indien je een 820 + SDRAM moederbord wilt aanschaffen, in ieder geval nog een keer een kijkje op de vergelijkingstabel en beslis voor je zelf welke functies jij het belangrijkste vindt. Een slechte koop heb je aan de MSI en Gigabyte moederborden niet en aan de P3C2000 in de vorm van mijn laatste test-sample evenmin.

Wat Intel betreft: ik vestig al mijn hoop op de 815 chipset. Deze biedt alles wat de 820 ook heeft, alleen dan met rechtstreekse SDRAM ondersteuning.

De hele review kun je hier vinden.

Hans schrijft: "De beta 4 van PHP4 is uit. Men verwacht dat dit de laatste beta voordat er een release candidate komt. Zeker de moeite van het uitchecken waard. Ik beta-test al een paar maanden, en er zijn een hoop nieuwe features, zoals full XML support, session support (koel) e.v.a.

Ohja, Snapshot releases van PHP4 en PHP3 (meest recente compile van de CVS tree, ongeveer ieder uur een nieuwe compile) zijn te downen van http://bonsai.php.net/~sas/snapshots/":

February 20, 2000. The fourth beta of PHP 4.0 has been released. With built-in XML support and a load of new features, as well as a large number of bug fixes, this Beta is expected to be the last on the beta cycle of PHP 4.0. Download it now!

iXBT-Labs heeft een uitgebreide review gepost van de SiS630, een low-end el' cheapo chipset (zoals de i810) geschikt voor Celeron, Pentium II en Pentium III processors. De SiS630 heeft een ingebakken 2D/3D graphics controller en biedt support voor een aparte Video Bridge waardoor er een tweede monitor, LCD scherm of TV aan gehangen kan worden. Helaas blijkt de memory performance van de SiS630 van een dermate laag niveau te zijn dat deze chipset niet echt een sterke concurrentie zal vormen voor de i810 van Intel.

It looks as if SiS has once again lost the fight against Intel. Now SiS can boast only a bit higher level of integration and more features such as integrated Ethernet controller. In other words, SiS can now be of interest only to those users who wish to save even more than if they bought i810. Unfortunately, low performance of SiS630 in non-FBC version doesn't let it compete effectively with Intel's integrated chipsets. Adding FBC to the board makes it much more expensive than even i810E based boards. That is why mainboard manufacturers are very unlikely to actively use this feature.

Check voor meer info hier de rest van de review.

3D Wars heeft een artikel in elkaar gezet waarin hij de SCSI interface vergelijkt met IDE. Hieronder vast een hap uit de intro, klik hier voor het hele artikel.

Ultra DMA technology has some very different methods in how it works with the system compared to the SCSI bus. Ultra DMA/66 still has an issue with the amount of data it can get to the processor. Any IDE channel has to share its bandwidth if there are two devices on it. Add to this the way the devices have to use interrupts to access the processor, and the drives must wait in line with other devices you are using at the time, so there is a analogy that imagine a œ inch garden hose with an average amount of water coming out. Now attach a 2-inch fire hose with the same amount of water coming out. If you shut it off at the end of the hose, and let the pressure build before releasing it, then it can initially seem to be quite an impressive amount of water, but soon it will trickle down.

The difference with SCSI is that it has its own bus to operate on, and data can be transferred among multiple devices simultaneously for added bandwidth and performance. So when I spoke of RAID before, imagine writing to four drives at the same time, and not having to wait for the next interrupt to start again with the process like IDE has to. SCSI has the ability to perform input/output to all of its devices at the same time, so you may be using items like CD ROMs, CD Recordables, external storage devices (ZIP, Jazz drives and RAID enclosures), hard drives and internal ZIP/Jazz drives all at once. So in that regard the initial performance numbers now seem take on a different spin.

The Register brengt ons Intel's roadmap voor het jaar 2000 voor desktop, server en mobile processors. Zoals al eerder aangekondigd komen de 866MHz en 850MHz Coppermines deze maand nog, waarna rond mei / juni de 933MHz variant op de markt wordt gezet. De eerste 1GHz Coppermine mogen we in het derde kwartaal van dit jaar verwelkomen.

Op het gebied van de Celeron staat er ook het een en te gebeuren. In maart komt de 600MHz versie, de 633MHz en 666MHz volgen een maand later, en dan zal pas in juni een 700MHz variant worden gereleased. In het derde kwartaal van 2000 zal Intel de Celeron op 733MHz brengen.

Hieronder de info over de server CPU's (Itanium, Foster, Cashcades) en Intel's chipsets:

Server, Itaniums, Foster, Cashcades
The Itanium will clock at 733MHz when it is introduced, and will only reach 800MHz by the end of the year. Xeon Coppermines (Cashcades) will have 2Mb of cache at 850MHz and have between 1Mb and 2Mb at 800MHz in early October. Intel will introduce a 1GHz Xeon in August, and, as with the desktop parts above, a 866MHz in March and a 933MHz Xeon in May/June. Foster, like Willamette, will launch at 1.4GHz but will have two way support using the Colusa chipset and 256K level two cache.

Chipsets
As previously reported here, Intel is adding a 2 RIMM and 2 DIMM capability to its i820 chipset, to satisfy PC customers who don't want just one or the other. It has told its customers that 810, 815 and 820 chipset platforms have to be flip chip PGA ready. The 810 and the 810E chipsets are being aimed at the value segment of the market, while its 815E and 820E (Solano II/Camino II) chipsets will ramp through the first half of this year.

Voor alle info, check even dit artikel bij The Register.

Bij AnandTech is een handige roundup online gekieperd van een aantal Athlon Heatsinks, waaronder o.a. de Global WIN VOS32-plus, Alpha P7125 en de Montac ArcticCircle. Als conclusie blijkt voor hardcore overclockers de Global WIN VOS32-plus (met een extra 8cm fan en plastic buis waarmee de hete airflow direkt vanuit de heatsink weggezogen kan worden) het beste resultaat te geven. Mocht je geen plaats hebben voor deze grote constructie dan kan eventueel nog heil gezocht worden in de gewone VOS32 versie of de Alpha P7125.

If you're a hardcore overclocker, and you've got a case that is compatible with the Global WIN VOS32-plus, then go for it. The fan duct system exhausts the hot air from the CPU directly out of the case definately makes sense; you'll get state-of-the art performance at a very reasonable price. But be prepared to having a noisy PC.

If your case is not compatible with the VOS32-plus, and you want performance without compromise, then the two heatsinks to consider are the VOS32 and the Alpha P7125 with YS Tech fans. They provide very similar cooling performance; which one you pick is a matter of personal preference.

The VOS32 has better versatility (it's also compatible with SECC2 CPUs, the fans can be mounted on the side to avoid blocking a DIMM slot) and much lower price (around $30). However, it needs a small modification to fit the Asus K7M rev 1.04, so either buy a premodified VOS32, or use a side cutter to shorten some of the fins.

The Alpha's advantage is its embedded copper plate, which further improves performance if you mount the Alpha directly on the CPU core, without the thermal plate. Keep in mind that this requires modifying the heatsink, which will take time and skill. The disadvantage of the P7125 is the high price (around $50), high weight, and the fact that it blocks a DIMM slot on some motherboards.

Both VOS32 and P7125/YS Tech are also very noisy.

Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. February 21st, 2000—ABIT Computer Corporation will be at CeBIT in full force this year exhibiting our new family of Siluro™ graphics cards and new motherboard models. We will also be exhibiting the Intel 820 chipset board the CH6. Based on a completely new chipset architecture, the CH6 is an AGP based ATX mainboard supporting Ultra DMA 66, DIMM with CPU Soft Menu TM II technology and represents some of ABIT’s premier board technology based on the Intel 820 chipset, supporting Intel Pentium® III/II CPUs. The Intel 820 chipset supports Advanced Configuration and Power Management Interface (ACPI) and AGP 1X/2X/4X (Sideband) 1.5V/3.3V devices and support 100/133MHz Front Side Bus settings. We will also be showing out new sleek line of Barebone units for E-classroom and terminal market OEM production, new HOT ROD cards with added features and the POSTMAN debugger card for the BE6 and BF6 as well as a new product from ABIT that will be something completely new from us, its called Gentus™ and it will cost you nothing. Also come see what we are doing with BX technology with our new BE6-II and BF6. We had to rewrite the manual for these boards, find out why. For more info and all the latest come to our booth at CeBIT at Hall 13 Stand A51.

Kennelijk heeft Abit toch het een en ander een facelift gegeven. Momenteel ben ik bezig aan een review van de BE6-II en de BF6. Het is af te vragen wat de wijzigingen die hier aangekondigd worden inhouden voor de compleetheid van die review. Vanaf CeBIT laat Tweakers je er natuurlijk alles over weten.

Intel heeft inmiddels een aantal van haar moederborden geannuleerd, omdat de geheugen translator chip niet voldoet, maar Abit denkt het schijnbaar toch beter te weten en begint toch met het in de handel brengen van de op de i820 chipset.

Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. February 21st , 2000—Following the launch of the long awaited Intel 820 chipset, ABIT has announced the CH6. The ABIT CH6 is a Pentium® III AGP based ATX mainboard supporting Ultra DMA 66/Direct RDRAM With ABIT’s patented CPU Soft MenuTMII technology. It is considered one of ABIT’s premier boards based on the Intel 820 chipset. “These have been a long time in coming, but I think it will be worth the wait, the Intel 820 chipset is just fantastic”, assured ABIT’s PR Manager Jeremy Smith. “We realize there will be different needs for 820 based products because of the RAM issue, so we are offering the CH6 with 3 DIMMs”, explains ABIT’s Smith.

Based on a completely new chipset architecture, the CH6 is an AGP based ATX mainboard supporting Intel Pentium® III/II CPUs, Ultra DMA 66, Direct RDRAM or DIMM with CPU Soft MenuTM II technology and represents some of ABIT’s premier board technology based on the Intel 820 chipset. The Intel 820 chipset supports Advanced Configuration and Power Management Interface (ACPI) and AGP 1X/2X/4X (Sideband) 1.5V/3.3V devices and support 100/133MHz Front Side Bus settings.

Featuring the latest in memory technology, the CH6 has 3 168-pin DIMM sockets supporting SDRAM modules for up to 1GB MAX. (64, 128, 256MB). There is also an AC’97 Digital Audio controller with integrated AC’97 Audio CODEC on the boards with an included audio driver.

With ABIT’s Soft Menu TM II the CH6 eliminates the need for jumpers or DIP switches to set CPU parameters. The BIOS also has the Award Plug and Play BIOS supporting APM and ACPI and features the Write-Protect Anti-Virus function by AWARD BIOS.

With the CH6 there are multi I/O functions with 2x Channels of Bus Master IDE Ports supporting up to four Ultra DMA 66 devices. As well as support for STR (Suspend to DRAM). It has 1 Universal AGP slot, 5 PCI slots and 1 AMR slot with Hardware Monitoring of fan speeds, voltages, system environment temperature and one thermal header for a CPU or other temperature monitoring.

About ABIT

ABIT Computer Corporation designs, and sells a complete family of award-winning mainboards and video cards that support industry-leading technology and provide leading quality and performance for system integration of computer components supporting a broad range of PC applications, for use in ecommerce, entertainment, education and the internet. Corporate headquarters are located in Taiwan. For more information visit the Company's web site at http://www.abit.com.tw

Opvallend puntje is misschien wel dat dit bordt eindelijk volstrekt geen ISA aan boord meer heeft. Een 2e dat mij direct opviel was dat men geen gebruik heeft gemaakt van het Softmenu III zoals op de laatste BX borden, en het gehouden heeft bij versie II.
Ik wacht nog op een antwoord van ABIT waarom dit is.