VR Zone heeft een press release gepost waarin Matrox de Millennium G450 aankondigt. Volgens Matrox fansite MURC heeft de officiële aankondiging van de G450 echter nog niet plaats gevonden. Zij kregen van Matrox te horen dat de press releases die nu al in de omloop zijn over 'onjuiste informatie' beschikken. In afwachting van het officiële persbericht heb je hieronder alvast het verhaal van VR Zone.

De specificaties van de G450 waren al grotendeels bekend, dus in dat opzicht zijn er weinig verassingen. Feitelijk gaat 't om een gefacelifte G400, die een hogere kloksnelheid trekt dankzij de verkleining naar 0,18micron. Uit het oogpunt van kosten efficiency wordt er gebruik gemaakt van een 64-bit geheugenbus. Het snelheidsverlies van de smalle geheugenbus wordt gecompenseerd door toepassing van snel DDR geheugen:

Matrox Graphics Inc. today announced the Matrox Millennium G450, the first graphics card to support integrated DualHead, DVI and TV output. As the company that pioneered DualHead technology, Matrox is now taking this award-winning dual-display feature set to a new level. The Millennium G450 brings integrated DVI and next-generation DualHead features to the corporate desktop market at a time when the competition is just beginning to implement introductory-level dual-display support. In addition to highly advanced technologies like DualHead, the Millennium G450’s leading-edge image quality, driver stability and all-around performance have readied this card to blaze trails in the world of corporate productivity and multitasking. In addition, the Millennium G450 also doubles as a well-rounded entertainment solution for home users with 2D, 3D, DVD, TV output, DualHead gaming and more.

The Millennium G450 (retail version)

Equipped with 32 MB of Double Data Rate (DDR) memory, the Millennium G450 card is designed around the highly integrated Matrox G450 2D, 3D and DVD graphics chip. As the Millennium G450’s power source, the Matrox G450 chip builds on the Matrox G400’s award-winning technology. Plus, it integrates a digital flat panel transmitter, TV output encoder, secondary RAMDAC and 64-bit DDR memory interface. Hosting all of these components onboard the Millennium G450 has allowed Matrox to introduce a more feature-rich product that is set to standardize DualHead across more markets than ever before. The Millennium G450’s DualHead technology provides immediate and valuable benefits by letting users double their display real estate by connecting two displays to a single graphics card. In fact, the Millennium G450 supports as many as eight different configurations of VGA monitor, analog flat panel, DVI-based digital flat panel and/or TV. Output to these displays is routed through the card’s VGA and DVI connectors and two adapter cables, which also enable output to a TV and second VGA monitor.

Merging business and entertainment

The Millennium G450 AGP 4X/2X graphics card features an impressive array of productivity-boosting hardware and software. Its powerful 2D engine, 256-bit DualBus architecture and 360 MHz primary UltraSharp RAMDAC pump out supercrisp 2D image quality at resolutions up to 2048 x 1536, at the highest color depths and refresh rates. Users in the mainstream and high-end corporate desktop markets, as well as in the 2D and entry-level 3D workstation markets, will benefit from the Millennium G450’s DualHead feature. Businesspeople and professionals can now enhance the way they use everyday applications with a selection of DualHead operational modes and next-generation software utilities. The Millennium G450 also natively supports all-digital output via the onboard Digital Visual Interface (DVI) connector. Hosting the digital flat panel connector directly on the Millennium G450 rather than on an upgrade card represents a cost savings of US$59 for the buyer. So should outputting to a flat panel ever become necessary, the Millennium G450 can support it—no upgrades or additional costs are involved. Finally, the Millennium G450 is equipped with Matrox’s high-quality unified drivers, making it easy for users to install, manage and update their graphics capabilities when needed.

But even serious business types such as the Millennium G450 have to kick back and have fun. Because this card builds on the Matrox G400’s 3D and video core, it also doubles as a well-rounded entertainment solution. Value-conscious home users and mainstream gamers will find the Millennium G450 flexible enough to power educational applications, home finance applications, Web browsing, email access, DVD playback and 3D gaming—including DualHead-enhanced head-to-head gaming and Environment-Mapped Bump Mapping (EMBM) enabled games. EMBM title support is growing steadily, with more than 25 currently-shipping games taking the visual reality of 3D gaming to unprecedented levels with never-before-seen special effects and intricate visual details. This easy-to-install card also packs in unique features like Matrox’s DualHead DVDMax and TV Output, both of which will leave users pleasantly surprised. With DualHead DVDMax, people can output high quality video full-screen to a TV while simultaneously using the Windowsâ desktop displayed on their monitor. For someone surfing the Web for a music video, for example, this means never losing sight of the Web page on the monitor while streaming video directly out to TV.

Pricing and availability

Priced at a cost-competitive US$145 ESP, the retail version will be available to end-users in July 2000 at the Shop@Matrox online store (http://shop.matrox.com). OEM and SI variations of the Millennium G450 will also be available via traditional distribution channels.

Drivers and O/S support

Matrox offers support for Microsoftâ Windowsâ 2000, Windows 98 and Windows 95; Windows NT 4.0; Linux; OS/2; and the upcoming Windows Millenniumâ.

Software bundle

The Millennium G450 bundles Micrografxâ Picture Publisherâ 8, Micrografx Simply 3D™ 3, the Matrox Software DVD Player and a handful of the latest playable game demos enhanced by DualHead and EMBM.

VR Zone maakt melding van een naar 990MHz overgeklokte Slot A Thunderbird 700 op een Asus K7V. De frontside zou hierbij op 141MHz draaien, wat erg hoog is aangezien de meeste borden niet verder gaan dan 110 tot 115MHz (thanks Coen Rijkaart voor de tip):

This is probably one of first Thunderbird overclocking result. A Japanese reader called Nat has overclocked his Thunderbird 700 A0700 to 990Mhz. The multiplier remains at 3.5 and he push the FSB from 100Mhz to 141Mhz or 283Mhz DDR. The L2 cache is running at full speed and the VCore is at 2.0V.

It is a Slot A Thunderbird because he is using a modified ASUS K7V board to overclock which is a Slot A KX133 board. That clear up 1 thing : Thunderbird can be used on KX133 board and it is an ASUS.

Klinkt aardig, nu alleen nog geloven dat het waar is...

SiGNe schrijft dat een duikboot van de US Navy er voor het eerst in is geslaagd om een mailtje onder water te versturen. De USS Dolphin verzond het mailtje via geluidsgolven met een snelheid van 2,400 bytes per seconde op een diepte van 130 meter onder de zeespiegel naar een 5 kilometer verder gelegen relay boei :

While cruising at a depth of 130 meters (400 feet), the USS Dolphin was able to transmit data up to a distance of five kilometres (three miles) to a relayer buoy. This then transferred the messages to land, according to Benthos chief executive John Coughlin.

[...] The modem sends digital data underwater, including words and pictures, using sound energy transmitted from acoustic modems. Normal electromagnetic waves cannot penetrate water efficiently.

Although slow in comparison to conventional modems, with a speed of just 2,400 bytes per second, Mr Coughlin emphasised the success of the new underwater system: "When you're using sound waves to do it, that's pretty fast."

[...] For instance, enemy submarines could be tracked more accurately and efficiently if surface vessels and their underwater allies can communicate by e-mail.

Dus nu kan niks je meer verhinderen om een email te sturen .

SpaceViews schrijft dat de spacekabouters van SkyCorp het wazige plan hebben opgevat om een PowerMac G4 webserver in space te hangen. Een satelliet met G4 moet ergens volgend jaar gelanceerd worden. De webserver zal zijn data via een op Apple's AirPort lijkende technologie aan de aarde serveren:

SkyCorp said it will fly an Apple Macintosh G4 computer in an experimental satellite it is planning to deploy from the space shuttle during a flight next year. The announcement was made Saturday at the Silicon Valley Space Enterprise Symposium in San Jose, a conference sponsored by the Space Frontier Foundation that brought together space entrepreneurs and potential investors.

"This Web server will utilize standard computer technology, modified for space," said Dennis Wingo, CEO of SkyCorp. "Apple Computer has agreed to provide hardware and technical support to SkyCorp for this venture."

Users would be able to access the server using wireless networking protocols, including a SkyCorp-developed variant of Apple's existing AirPort wireless networking technology, as the satellite passed overhead. The server would largely contain technology and hardware test data.

Bij CNET.com lees ik dat Microsoft en Samsung zich samen gaan storten op de markt voor mobiele telefonie. De telefoons van Samsung zullen gebruik maken van Microsoft's Mobile Explorer en Microsoft Smart-phone. Over de waarde van de deal werd niets losgelaten:

Microsoft gave no figure for the potential value of the deal, which was announced at a meeting between Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and Samsung Electronics executive vice president K.T. Lee.[break]De telefoons kunnen we al vrij binnenkort verwachten.[/break]Microsoft said it expects Samsung's feature phones to reach the market in the second half of this year. Smart phones will be available next year.

Ja, dat ze het niet eerder bedacht hebben. Nadat Napster tevergeefs zichzelf probeerde verdedigen met de kreet dat Napster zelf niet illegaal was, maar alleen een tool, en dat de gebruikers illegaal bezig zijn, hebben zij nu een nieuw standpunt: het uitwisselen van muziek, ook die met copyright beschermd is, is niet verboden volgens de wet. De muziek wordt namelijk verhandeld, en niet verkocht. Dit zegt Hank Barry, de CEO van Napster. Het maakt nog niet zo veel indruk:

Volgens The Wall Street Journal zullen de uitspraken van Barry niet veel indruk maken. De meeste juridische experts zeggen dat het uitwisselen van ongeautoriseerde kopieën overduidelijk een schending van het copyright is.

Het hele bericht is hier te lezen. Met dank aan Mephisto_ voor de tip.

Dean Kent van Real World Technologies voegt weer eens een artikel toe aan de steeds langere lijst van hoe ... werken-posts. Dit keer gaat het om ECC en pariteit. Iedere overclocker komt een keertje voor de keuze van gewoon of ECC-geheugen, wat een grotere stabiliteit kan betekenen. Er wordt uitgelegd wat het duurdere geheugen kan, waarom het duurder is en wat voor zin het heeft. Hier een stukje over de werking van parity memory:

Parity checking is a rather simple method of detecting memory errors, without any correction capabilities. Basically every byte has a 'parity' bit associated with it, for a total of nine (9) bits per byte (eight data bits plus one parity bit). The parity bit is set at write time, and then calculated and compared at read time to determine if any of the bits have changed since the data was stored. This type of checking is limited to detection of single bit errors. If two bits have been altered, the parity check will 'pass', and the error is allowed to possibly corrupt the data.

Parity checking can be implemented either as '0' parity or '1' parity. When the byte is stored, the number of zeros (or ones, if '1' parity) is added up. The result is stored in the parity bit - '1' if odd, '0' if even. When that byte is read from memory, the bits are again counted and the result compared against what was stored in the parity bit. A match means that the data was not changed from when it was stored (or two bits were altered so the result is the same).[break]En een stukje over ECC:[/break]An even better error checking feature is ECC (Error Correction Checking), which includes not only single bit error detection, but also two, three and four bit detection (depending upon the implementation). In addition, ECC can actually correct single bit errors, so the application can continue as if no problem ever occured. ECC can be implemented either on the module (ECC-on-SIMM, or EOS) or in the chipset, however EOS modules are very rare indeed.

ECC is implemented by a 'hashing' algorithm that works on eight (8) bytes (64 bits) at a time, and places the result into an 8-bit ECC 'word'. At read time, the eight bytes being read are again 'hashed' and the results compared to the stored ECC word, similar to how the parity checking is performed. The main difference is that in parity checking, each parity bit is associated with a single byte while the ECC word is associated with the entire eight bytes. This means that the bit values for ECC will very likely not be the same as the individual parity bits would be for the same eight byte data value, therefore ECC modules cannot be used in parity mode (however, parity modules can be used in ECC mode, as described a bit later). Note that this description for ECC is based upon a memory bus width of 64 bits. If one were to implement ECC on a 486 (32-bit width), it would require seven (7) bits for the ECC word.

Ik lees bij WebWereld dat de Consumentenbond wederom actie onderneemt tegen kabelboer Casema. Er zijn nu inmiddels meer dan 10.000 klachten binnen van gefrustreerde Wanadoo Cable gebruikers waardoor de bond ze oproept om slechts 75% van het abo-geld te betalen.

Volgens de bond heeft de consument - 'nu vaststaat dat Casema onvoldoende presteert en ook niet voldoende zal gaan presteren' - het wettelijke recht een deel van de betaling op te schorten. Daarnaast eist de bond dat Casema haar internetklanten geld teruggeeft.

Een jaar geleden zegde het kabelbedrijf na druk van de Consumentenbond toe binnen afzienbare tijd voor verbetering van haar internetdienst te zullen zorgen. De beloofde verbetering is volgens de Consumentenbond uitgebleven. "Uit recente metingen blijkt dat de snelheid bij Casema nog steeds lager ligt dan bij internet via een analoge telefoonlijn", aldus de Consumentenbond in een persbericht. [break] Dit is ook wel interessant:[/break] De Consumentenbond overweegt juridische stappen tegen Casema om goede dienstverlening of terugbetaling van abonnementsgelden af te dwingen. Het kabelbedrijf wordt opgeroepen binnen een week met een 'redelijk voorstel' te komen. "Met beloftes tot verbetering neemt de Consumentenbond geen genoegen meer", aldus de bond.

Fiets voor meer info even naar WebWereld.

Speedy 3D heeft een stukje tekst online gezet over het koud houden van je kast. Alle mogelijke soorten lucht koelers komen langs, zoals: hardeschijf, card en slot coolers. Jammer genoeg wordt niet overal even diep op ingegaan maar voor een 'newbie' toch wel het lezen waard:

The first big step in cooling your case is getting an intake fan. This fan will sit in the very front of your case, sucking in cool air from the outside of your case and dispersing it with-in. This is the first step in creating a steady airflow. The general rule of case cooling is this; bring air in the bottom front of your case, and blow it out at the rear top. Since heat rises, all the heat from your components should gather near the top, and hopefully sucked out. While the best way to suck the hot air out is creating a blowhole, most power-supply's does have a fan that sucks air out. This works well enough for the average user, and it does create steady airflow. For best cooling performance, using any fan smaller than 80mm is not recommended. Standard 80mm fans push 30 - 40cfm of air, while larger 120mm fans general push 75 - 140cfm.

[...] Cooling your case is not only beneficial to overclockers, but it can save you from costly hardware replacements and data loss due to heat related crashes. Just because you want a cool case, doesn't mean you need to drill holes left and right. Case cooling can be easy as screwing in a fan or two.

CNET's GameCenter heeft nu ook een preview van de STMicro Kyro geschreven. Langzamerhand beginnen we steeds meer te weten over deze kaart, over de tile rendering feature hebben we nu al veel gehoord. Hier een stukje over de andere features:

Kyro does other cool tricks as well. The most notable is the True Internal Color feature, in which the entire rendering process is done in 32-bit color. This has two effects that will be noticeable to even the most novice user. One is that there's only a minor performance hit if you up a game from 16- to 32-bit color. Secondly, Kyro's 16-bit color rendering looks better than that of other chips; for example, banding and dithering (seen in transparent items such as the smoke in a rocket trail) isn't apparent with Kyro. In fact, the overall image quality in every game we threw at Kyro was outstanding. Looking at the Quake III Arena benchmarks, you can see an amazing similarity between 16-bit and 32-bit scores at the same pixel resolution. (Unfortunately, Quake III was the only game that didn't lock up before finishing a demo and determining an average frame rate.) The new chip also supports environmental bump mapping, making it only the second 3D chipset to do so (the other is the Matrox G400). It'll do full-scene antialiasing and every trick in the DirectX 7.0 feature set. Most significantly, Kyro supports multitexturing--not dual or triple texturing, but eight-layer multitexturing (the maximum number of textures allowed in Direct3D). Kyro is able to apply any number of textures in a single pass through a single pipeline, thanks to its tile-based system.

CTNews heeft een review geschreven van de 16X DVD-speler van Pioneer. De drive presteerde extreem goed onder allerlei omstandigheden en deed ook bij het afspelen van CD-ROMs niet onder voor een snelle CD-ROM speler.

With the drive speeds we are talking about there is no real loss of speed when going from a fairly fast CD-ROM to these drives. The access times are still mighty slow but that is an industry wide thing. The drives smooth mechanics are top notch. The installation is easy as long as your make this drive a master on the secondary channel. The price is a bit stiff if all you're going to do is use it as a CD-ROM reader, but these day’s why limit your media choices? So here is my recommendation: Get a DVD Player, and get a fast one. And, the Pioneer DVD-115 is the current speed champ. Mark up one for the tech types from Pioneer. This one is the most important point of all. This 16x-speed Pioneer DVD Player is a winner!

Ace's Hardware brengt ons het blije bericht dat er misschien toch binnenkort een Slot A -> Socket A converter op de markt komt! Eerder werd gemeld dat fabrikanten zich hier niet aan zouden wagen, omdat de kosten te hoog zouden zijn. Nu vertelt Ace's dat op deze Duitse site geschreven wordt dat fabrikant NMC PE binnen zes weken uitkomt met een converter. Hieronder het nieuws:

Um seinen aktuellen und zukünftigen Kunden einen Investitionsschutz zu geben, kooperiert NMC PE Peripehrals Europe mit einem Hersteller von Adaptern. Dieser Hersteller wird NMC in den nächsten zwei Wochen einen "Slot A -/Socket A-Adapter" (Slotket) zur Verfügung stellen, den NMC PE umfangreichen Tests unterziehen wird. Technisch gesehen ist dieses möglich, obwohl es viele anderslautende Informationen (z.B. von AMD) gibt. Wir rechnen damit, diesen Adapter in ca. 6 Wochen dem Markt anbieten zu können.

GA-Hardware heeft een kort interview gehad met Eric Boeing van Abit. In het interview wordt wat gepraat over de BH6 en Abit's entree op de videokaartmarkt. Ook wordt er gesproken over het 'lef' van Abit:

Q7: ABIT Corp. has always been a 'daredevil' in the PC industry with regularly releasing products that provided much more than what your competitors could offer. Here I especially refer to your Hot Rod series or your multi-processor solution for Intel Celeron CPUs. Do you plan to retain this bold and user-friendly policy in the future as well? A: Absolutely. Our KA7 and KA7-100, as far as I know, are the only KX133 motherboards with no onboard sound or AMR, which are features that most ABIT customers aren't interested in. Our KA7-100 was the first motherboard with ATA/100 support, and it shows that we're determined to give people an eight IDE device capacity. Also, we'd had plans to put an onboard Goldfinger device on our next Athlon board, but AMD's multiplier-locking the Thunderbirds has forced us to scrap that. We're also looking at a couple of dual Flip-Chip solutions, and you could very well see a follow-up to the BP6 soon.

SLotA.com heeft een review klaar van de FIC AZ11, een Socket A moederbord met 1xAGP, 5xPCI en verder geen AMR of CNR dingetjes. De AZ11 bleek een goede stabiele plank tot en met 107MHz FSB. Wellicht had er meer ingezeten als er een mogelijk was om het voltage wat te uppen. In vergelijking met de MSI K7 Pro die ze eerder testte was dit Ficcie ietsie sneller:

I love that this board has 5 PCI slots and no ISA slots. You also will not find any pesky AMR or CNR slots to get in the way.

The software bundle is packed with many useful utilities and some Norton software to boot. There are several nice features for the bios on boot up including hot key and bios gaurdian.

I ran into no stability issues with the AZ11 during testing. It was on par with the MSI K7TPro and the VIA KT133 demo board.

Performance of the board was as good or better than the K7TPro except in Sysmark2000. The latest bios update gave it a nice boost.

Thanks dEjAvU voor de tip.

Sony heeft gisteren aangekondigd dat zij hun Mavica-reeks van digitale camera's uitbreidt met een nieuwe camera die zijn foto's, jawel, opslaat op CD-R! Hiervoor worden kleine 3.5" CD-R's gebruikt met een capaciteit van 156MB, wat toch een heleboel meer is dan de flashcards van vandaag. De CD-R's zijn gewoon af te spelen in iedere PC met CD-ROM speler. De CD-R's gaan zo'n $4 per stuk kosten (duur voor een CD-R, maar erg goedkoop in vergelijking met Flashcards). En de CD-R is niet de enige feature van deze camera:

High Resolution -- 10x Optical Zoom -- Advanced Features Above and beyond the innovative use of CD-R technology, the Mavica MVC-CD1000 offers advanced picture quality, including 2.1 mega-pixel resolution and the ability to shoot in TIFF and high quality MPEG (MPEG HQ) modes. Sony's implementation of the CD-R format enables faster image processing, dramatically decreasing image recording time. Images captured with the MVC-CD1000 can be recorded in several modes, including JPEG compression or TIFF in UXGA, SXGA, XGA or VGA image sizes. The MVC-CD1000's powerful combination of high resolution and 10x optical zoom -- equivalent to a 35mm camera 400mm lens -- enables the MVC-CD1000 to fill the frame with subjects from a greater distance and capture them with greater clarity. Working with the powerful zoom, Sony has also added a feature rarely seen in the digital camera marketplace: a through-the-lens viewfinder using a bright, crisp color LCD to ensure that what you see is what you shoot.

De camera wordt geleverd vanaf augustus en gaat $1300 kosten, inclusief 5 CD-R's. Lees het hele artikel hier.

=Alpha=Psycho schrijft: "Na een lange tijd niks gehoord te hebben pleziert Matrox ons dan toch met een geheel nieuwe Win9x driver, en ook een nieuwe Win2k driver":

G400 Windows9x Drivers
v6.00.010 Beta
Date: 06/12/00
Size: 2.8mb
Download Here

Release Notes:
- This driver is a Beta release
- Sorry, release notes are not available at this time

-------------------------------

G400 Windows2k Drivers
v5.10.012 Beta
Date: 06/12/00
Size: 2.2mb
Download Here

Release Notes:
- This is a Beta driver release
- Sorry, No release notes available for this release

GaMeOvEr schrijft: "Anandtech komt ons vandaag verblijden met zijn 2e deel van zijn verslag van de Computex. Vandaag gaat het over moederborden en de chipsets die ze erop plakken":

There weren't any DDR Athlon motherboards on display other than the reference board from ALi that wasn't even functional. But DDR motherboards weren't the only thing that wasn't seen on the show floor, motherboards based on Intel's 820 and 820E chipsets could hardly be seen.

Among the more interesting products we saw from the motherboard manufacturers were a handful of Dual Processor boards based on the VIA Apollo Pro 133A chipset as well as the ServerWorks ServerSet III LE chipset. For those of you that aren't familiar with the ServerSet III LE chipset it supports the 100/133MHz FSB, PC133 SDRAM, 64-bit PCI (66/33MHz), Ultra ATA 66 and 4 USB ports. As far as performance goes, there haven't been any numbers indicating the expected performance of the ServerSet III LE chipset so we can't really judge the boards until they are finally available. Assuming the performance is up to par with the competition, the ServerSet III LE could be a very interesting solution since it does support dual processors as well as PC133 SDRAM.

Another feature that was pretty big around the show was the simple migration from Slot-1 to Socket-370, while we still saw a number of Slot-1 motherboards at Comdex, they were definitely scarce at Computex. The same can be said about Slot-A versus Socket-A, there is a very noticeable trend towards the socketed CPUs from both their manufacturers and the motherboard makers as well.

Voor de rest weinig boeiende info, vooral veel pics van o.a. Abit, Asus en AOpen plankjes zoals we die in eerdere Computex artikelen ook tegenkwamen.

Microsoft is gisteren officieel in beroep gegaan tegen het vonnis van de rechter om het bedrijf in tweeën te hakken. De bedoeling van Bill is uiteraard om nu zolang mogelijk de zaak te rekken. De DOJ wil dit echter voorkomen door de hele meuk meteen door te spelen naar het Hooggerechtshof. Lees het verhaal bij Nu.nl

Microsoft is dinsdag officieel in beroep gegaan tegen het vonnis van districtsrechter Thomas Penfield Jackson om het concern te delen in twee ondernemingen. Het ministerie van Justitie heeft Jackson daarop gevraagd de zaak direct naar het hoogste gerechtshof te verwijzen.

Microsoft wil met het beroep proberen de zaak tegen het eigen bedrijf zolang mogelijk te rekken. Het idee daarbij is een jaren durende gang te maken via allerlei arrondissementsrechtbanken en de gang naar de hoogste beroepsrechter zo lang mogelijk uit te stellen.

Het Amerikaanse ministerie van Justitie probeert hier nu een stokje voor te steken. Het verzoekt de rechter om de kwestie direct aan het Hooggerechtshof voor te leggen en het Hof van Appèl over te slaan. Mocht dat lukken, dan kan er al volgend jaar een oplossing komen. Justitie is zelfs bereid daarvoor een schikking te treffen.

Alex 'Sharky' Ross himself heeft een Voodoo5 5500, een 64MB Hercules GeForce2 en een 32MB Leadtek GeForce2 getest op zijn nieuwe 1GHz Athlon Thunderbird systeem. De GeForce's heersen in alle benchmarks, met de 64MB Hercules als koning in hoge resoluties. Hieronder een gedeelte, klik hier voor de rest.

Performing solidly across the board, the Hercules GeForce2 GTS 64MB beats the Voodoo5 5500 by a significant margin (26%@640x480) at the lower resolutions and by even more at the higher resolutions (70%@1600x1200).

The LeadTek GeForce2 GTS actually beats the Hercules 64MB GeForce2 GTS by 4 to 5% at 640x480 and 800x600 and just barely at 1024x768. This may or may not have something to do with us using the NVIDIA reference drivers for all tests instead of Guillemot's.

At higher resolutions though, the 64MB GeForce2 GTS scores a higher than the 32MB GeForce2 GTS as would be expected because the extra 32MB of memory really come into play at higher fillrates. The gap is most noticeable at 1600x1200 with a performance jump of nearly 19%.

Bij Silicon Investor staat een nieuwsberichtje met wat info over de nieuwe generatie 3dfx videokaarten. Een daarvan is Rampage, waar helaas nog geen info over bekend is behalve dan dat release nog dit jaar zou zijn. Napalm LC zal een low-end versie van de VSA-100 chip zijn met dezelfde eigenschappen. Het model moet erg prijsgunstig worden en dus interessant voor het lagere marktsegment en de OEM's.

1) Next Generation product ("Rampage")

I'll have to listen closely, but I do not think that Dave Zacarias ever called it "Rampage". He did joke that 3dfx's code names seem to get around. I asked if marketing or a serious threat of missing the year was why it was not discussed in the Q1 conference call. He said that marketing was the main reason, that the V5 5500 shipment announcement had been made just the day before and 3dfx wanted to focus attention on the launch, not on upcoming products.

Dave stressed that there always is the real risk of schedule slippage. 3dfx has not discussed timelines for the next generation product, but it is assumed that it is sometime late this year, but Dave repeated that there is always the risk that they will not finish in time for the end of the year.

He did give a few details about the design (it is modular and it sounded like he didn't mean a bunch of different chips), but no specs and no real detailed discussion on the chip. He is the CFO, so he's not the best person for all the technical details. I was more interested in the fact that he was reasonably confident they'll make it out this year.

2) Napalm LC. A cost reduction (presumably to .18u) of the VSA-100 with the similar functionality. Will lower the cost of the chip and should allow them to also lower the total board cost. This will allow them to target a lower end retail segment as well as OEMs where cost is the most important.

Verderop in het het verhaal nog wat geblaat over de V5-5500 recall van een tijdje terug en wordt de release voor de V5-6000 stroommonster nogmaals vastgepint op 'ergens deze zomer'. Thanks Underdog voor de link.

DPC stond gisteren weer op 1!
Met ruim 1.1M blokjes hadden we bijna 180K meer dan AnandTech, die op de 4e plaats eindigde. De tweede en derde plaats werden bezet door de twee Russische teams.
Op het forum van AnandTech is alweer te lezen dat we gedecimeerd gaan worden door TA. Oei, oei...

DPC had gisteren 2238 leden, 11 meer dan eergisteren. Kijk hier voor meer info en doe ook met DPC mee!

De DPC hitparade top 10 van 13 juni

1. 81.069 [Dutch Power Cows]\-Killemall eats cows for lunch- (65, Totaal: 378.727)
2. 57.211 [Dutch Power Cows] Interior Lulu (2, Totaal: 5.517.999)
3. 48.584 [Dutch Power Cows] wiho (1, Totaal: 9.950.630)
4. 22.100 2fast4u [Dutch Power Cows] (9, Totaal: 1.128.145)
5. 19.793 [Dutch Power Cows] Tuur (41, Totaal: 517.818)
6. 18.050 [DPC] Quakers United | Cewle Coown' Cadavers (14, Totaal: 836.116)
7. 16.421 [Dutch Power Cows] Pinball (43, Totaal: 493.327)
8. 14.512 [Dutch Power Cows] Sub-Team Hack BV (23, Totaal: 742.319)
9. 13.499 [Dutch Power Cows] The LawnMooh'er Men (5, Totaal: 1.639.233)
10. 13.395 [Dutch Power Cows] Elissen (576, Totaal: 28.137)

En de nummers 11 tot en met 30

11. 12.532 [Dutch Power Cows] willie (597, Totaal: 26.704)
12. 10.517 [Dutch Power Cows] BaDMaN (19, Totaal: 761.018)
13. 9.857 [Dutch Power Cows] Collin de Grazer! (197, Totaal: 123.543)
14. 9.828 [Dutch Power Cows] EdVe (42, Totaal: 516.590)
15. 9.538 Nijntje (548, Totaal: 31.709)
16. 8.728 [Dutch Power Cows] Team |>Just dU It!<| (35, Totaal: 641.569)
17. 8.611 [Dutch Power Cows] Dredge (317, Totaal: 68.800)
18. 8.510 [Dutch Power Cows] BeeSmart (76, Totaal: 307.702)
19. 8.208 [DPC] Cyber Cows Unlimited (28, Totaal: 712.552)
20. 8.159 [Dutch Power Cows] Team Ferion (71, Totaal: 324.695)
21. 7.204 [Dutch Power Cows] RTo (87, Totaal: 258.961)
22. 6.911 [Dutch power Cows] Predator (979, Totaal: 10.691)
23. 6.859 [Dutch power Cows] Ronnie Tober (109, Totaal: 204.416)
24. 6.654 [Dutch Power Cows] Hobbylijm (101, Totaal: 224.967)
25. 6.400 [Dutch Power Cows] ThE RaVeR (31, Totaal: 693.184)
26. 6.375 Arjan Keij (234, Totaal: 106.451)
27. 6.262 coen (244, Totaal: 99.939)
28. 6.213 [Dutch Power Cows] -=Marsman=- (47, Totaal: 472.099)
29. 6.066 WebAct (338, Totaal: 62.696)
30. 6.061 [Dutch Power Cows] Jobe (16, Totaal: 830.285)

De Top 15 teams

1. (1) 1.105.159 Dutch Power Cows
2. (3) 1.001.861 Russian Team
3. (1) 947.116 HackZone Team -- Combined power of Russia and exUSSR countries
4. (3) 926.723 AnandTech
5. (2) 813.591 Slashdot.org
6. (1) 489.787 The Amiga RC5 Team effort
7. (15) 470.281 Team Hungary STB+
8. (0) 442.735 Team Warped (OS/2)
9. (0) 419.885 Team EvangeLista (Macs Rule! :-)
10. (160) 343.677 Prima e.V.
11. (1) 330.356 Libertarians for Privacy (1-800-ELECT-US)
12. (1) 321.141 Japan FreeBSD Users Group
13. (7) 319.302 Japan Windows NT Users Group
14. (2) 271.115 Team Slacker <oow umop episdn>
15. (1) 260.425 @stake L0pht Labs

Teams om ons heen (total stats)

9. () Libertarians for Privacy (1-800-ELECT-US) (Tot: 151.285.654, Gis: 330.356)
10. () @stake L0pht Labs (Tot: 145.630.727, Gis: 260.425)
11. () Japan Linux Users Group (Tot: 145.320.616, Gis: 196.187)
12. () Japan Windows NT Users Group (Tot: 131.993.689, Gis: 319.302)
13. () Dutch Power Cows (Tot: 121.289.310, Gis: 1.105.159)
14. () Team Hungary STB+ (Tot: 118.109.442, Gis: 470.281)
15. () Team Win32 (Windows) (Tot: 112.204.683, Gis: 250.561)
16. () Czech RC5 Team (Tot: 107.893.664, Gis: 194.663)
17. () CCC.de (Tot: 102.266.107, Gis: 259.735)
(Teams waarvan de score van gisteren ontbreekt, hadden geen score in de top 100!)

Wanneer halen we ze in

Libertarians for Privacy (1-800-ELECT-US): 39 dagen
@stake L0pht Labs: 29 dagen
Japan Linux Users Group: 27 dagen
Japan Windows NT Users Group: 14 dagen

Mijlpalen

MegaFlush 6 stats

Gisteren: 161.319
Totaal: 909.588

Dutch Power Cows is vandaag 1e en heeft een kans van één op 42 om de sleutel te vinden!

bami schrijft: "Het draadloos geweld barst los. Motorola begint met leveren van bluetooth wireless devices aan de notebook makers." Begint er wat schot te komen in echt bestaande devices met bluetooth-technologie.

Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola introduced two accessories, an internal PC card and an external Universal Serial Bus (USB) device, based upon Bluetooth, a low-power wireless technology designed to easily connect handheld computers, mobile phones and other devices to the Internet and one another.

Motorola's two new PC devices will allow handheld computers, such as the Palm line of organizers, to exchange data with desktop PCs without being connected via the standard cradle-and-wire system most consumers use today.

At a major Bluetooth convention in Monte Carlo, Monaco, Motorola also announced a Bluetooth-based wireless car-phone kit designed to free drivers from holding the handset or tangling with wired earpieces. The company also said it plans to work to develop the technology with major PC makers IBM and Toshiba, two of the early backers of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, an organization charged with testing and administering the wireless standard.

De mensen van Ars Technica hadden even niets te doen en besloten ons toen maar te verblijden met een review van het Soyo SY-6VCA moederbord, gebaseerd op de welbekende VIA Apollo Pro 133A chipset. Het moederbord was erg stabiel op standaardsnelheden en de performance was ook goed te noemen. Over de overclockbaarheid (overklokkibariteit?) van dit bord heeft Ars Technica het volgende te melden:

Once everything was set, I started running benchmarks at the stock 500MHz, then started overclocking. I hate to admit it, but overclocking on this board is too easy. I moved the FSB up to 133, booted up and was clocking along at 667. Run all the benchmarks, and overclock up to a 140MHz bus. 'Twas without a hitch until I tried to clear the 140MHz mark. The best I could get was 143MHz, but the board wasn't stable enough to call it worth benchmarking. Here's the cool thing about this board: it keeps the PCI bus as close to 33MHz as it can, automagically. When you choose a FSB, it tells you right there what the PCI will be, as opposed to other boards where you have to do a 1/3 or 1/4 division of the FSB to get your PCI. Once you know what your cards can (and can't) handle, you'll know what FSBs you can use right away. It varies bus speed to bus speed, but rarely ever exceeds 40Mhz below 150+MHz FSB. Speaking of the BIOS, I really like the way it's done on this board.