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March
25 - 31,
2000: Archive
Friday
- March 31st
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Thresh's Firing Squad has
posted an interview
with 3dfx's recently acquired Gigapixel corp. Here is an
interesting bit from the interview:
FiringSquad: What new technology does GigaPixel bring to 3dfx?
Why are you calling it a "disruptive" 3d technology?
Bubba: It is a "disruptive" technology in that it
dramatically reduces the memory bandwidth and power requirements to
render very high quality 3D. Just as the competitive landscape changed
in the graphics business with the transition from 2D to 3D, we believe
the market is about to enter another transitory period where some
vendors will figure out how to really take 3D to the next step while
other vendors will not. With this acquisition, we intend to take the
lead and bring to market products which fundamentally change the way
3D is rendered - products that will offer substantially better
performance, image quality, and more features than our competition.
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Sharky Extreme has posted a review
of this fantastic 5 piece speaker set from Klipsch. If you're a
big audiophile, do yourself a favor and check these out!
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Diamond/S3 has released a new
metal driver for their Viper II Savage2000 card for use with Unreal
Tournament. Here is the info and a link to download:
5. Changes
A. Added additional support for 4.05B update of Unreal Tournament
B. Added support for 3 textures in a single pass.
C. General optimizations.
D. Minor texture corruption fixes
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ATI has released a new
driver for their Rage 128 Pro chip. Grab it below:
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HardwareCentral has posted
a review
of PowerLeap's PL-Pro/II Pentium Pro upgrade. This custom designed
kit comes with a special Slocket for the Socket 8 and a Celeron 500 or
533, so you can throw away that old Pentium Pro. These kit's also
work in dual processor mode.
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PCExtremes has posted a review
of Pioneer's 10X (DVD-104S) Slot-loaded ATAPI DVD-ROM drive. I
remember when these were available for $140 CAD 4-5 months ago. Now I
can't seem to find any, and if I do, they cost $200.
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The Tech Zone has posted a review
of Northwind Computers' GFD Rev 2.0 Athlon overclocking card. This
one requires no external power supply and looks very professionally
made.
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3DAlpha has posted their review
of Best Data's Theatrix 5.1 channel PCI sound card. When you look
at the specs it looks great, but unfortunately, as with most things, you
get what you pay for. Check out our review here.
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Thursday
- March 30th
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Electric.com has let us
know that Soyo has released a whole
shitload of BIOS updates for their most popular motherboards. Here
are the details and a link to grab the one you need:
Motherboard: 6BA+ III BIOS files
BIOS revision: BA+ III_2BA2
Changes: Fixed PCB B,D version can't boot AFTER USER UPDATE TO 2BA1 (PII/PIII
CPU).
Motherboard: 6BA+ IV BIOS files
BIOS revision: BA+ IV_2BA1
Changes: Update Highpoint Bios v1.23
Motherboard: 6IBM BIOS files
BIOS revision: IBM-2BA1
Changes: Support for Windows 2000.
Motherboard: 6VCA BIOS files
BIOS revision: 6VCA-2AP2
Changes: AntiVirus function disabled, fixed SCSI Boot fail.
Motherboard: 6VBA 133 BIOS files
BIOS revision: 6VBA-2BA5
Changes: Support for the VIA 596B chipset CE version.
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Planet Hardware has posted a
review
of Iwill's Slocket II Socket-370 to Slot-1 converter card. For
those of you planning to buy an FC-PGA Pentium III or Celeron II and
stick it in your good old BX motherboard, this is a good choice.
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Sharky Extreme has also
posted an article
which takes a look at Intel's latest consumer and business CPU and
chipset roadmap. Here is a bit from the article:
Faster Celerons are on their way. They will hit 700MHz in Q4 2000
and 733+MHz in Q1 2001. SSE will be included with new Celerons,
starting with the 600MHz model in Q2 2000.
1.3GHz and 1.4GHz Willamette CPUs will hit the market in Q4 2000. A
1.5GHz or faster Willamette will come in Q1 2001. Willamette will be
matched to the upcoming Tehama chipset.
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Sharky Extreme has updated
their CPU
price list. The Athlon 1GHz is now available on the market and
there were some pretty decent drops on the lower speed grade Pentium
III's.
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Thresh's Firing Squad has
posted a report
of the latest unofficial NVIDIA drivers, version 5.13. These drivers
increase performance by a huge margin over the 3.68 drivers and now have
an option for Full Scene Anti-Aliasing for OpenGL games. As a side
note, these ones now work perfectly with Half-Life, with 5.08 the game
was crashing like mad.
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Hardware-One has posted a comparison
between a hacked Promise Ultra66 controller card and Iwill's sIDE RAID66
controller card. A very detailed and interesting comparison, be
sure to read it if you want maximum performance from your ATA-66
drives.
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G3D has posted a review
of the Super Duper Slot Fan. It moves a lot of air and cools down
your case significantly, so it's well worth the purchase.
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Dan over at Dan's Data has posted
some news of a cheap
GeForce DDR card from Gainward, the CARDEXPERT GeForce. The only
problem is trying to find one of these. You'll most likely have to
buy online.
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Overclockers Australia has
posted a review
of Thermaltake's Golden Orb heatsink/fan. This thing looks really
cool, but does it perform as well as it looks? The nice thing is
that they are really cheap!
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PCExtremes has posted posted a review
of AMK's Vblock material. This material is used to eliminate the
vibration caused from fan's touching the metal of the case. When
you have a lot of fans in your system, the noise can get quite annoying.
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HardwareCentral has posted
a review
of OmniSky's new wireless internet service for the Palm V and Vx
devices. Wouldn't it be amazing to access the internet from a
device this small without any need for a telephone line or Ethernet
connection?
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This is an oldie, but resembles the PSX controller's so many people like
them. Check out 3D Alpha's
review of the Gamepad Pro here.
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The Tech Zone has posted a review
of MidiLand's ADS-2000 Digital Station. This external device is a
Dolby Digital decoder for your PC sound system. If you want to
watch DVD's on your PC and you're sound card doesn't decode Dolby
Digital, this is what you'll need.
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iXBT Hardware has posted a review
of ASUS's AGP-V6800 GeForce DDR card. If you don't need all the
features, the deluxe version has then this is a better & cheaper
choice.
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Wednesday
- March 29th
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We've put together a short preview
of Gallant Computer's AudioStorm PST Surround Sound audio system for the
Playstation 2 (and other surround sound capable consoles). If
you're going to get a PSX2, and you don't already have a good sound
system, check out this package.
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PC Accelerate has posted a review
of Gigabyte's GA-6CXC i820 based Slot-1 motherboard. This board is an
SDRAM-only board with a memory translator hub, so don't expect
performance to be that great.
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While I was over at Anand's place,
I also noticed that they've posted a review
of Tyan's Trinity K7 S2380 VIA KX133 Slot-A motherboard. Tyan has
been known for making great motherboards, but it only got a 6.5/10 on
their scale.
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Anand Tech has posted a review
of Intel's Celeron II 600MHz CPU as well. If you want every single
detail about this new processor and a boatload of benchmarks, you
definitely want to check out this review.
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Extreme Hardware has posted a review
of Trancend's TS-ABX11 i440BX based Slot-1 motherboard. This board
only has 5 PCI slots and 3 DIMM's and no extraordinary features.
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HipHardware has posted a review
of Logitech's Wingman Force Feedback steering wheel/pedal system.
With Need For Speed: Porche Unleached just released, you'll need one of
these :)
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PCinsight has posted a review
of ASUS's P3B-F i440BX based Slot-1 motherboard. This board is
still one of the hottest selling boards around. Too bad it doesn't
have an ATA-66 controller built-in.
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PCExtremes has posted a review
of PowerColor's Sniper 2 card. This board is based on NVIDIA's
TNT2 Pro chip and has 32MB of SDRAM.
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The GameDen has posted a shootout
between Logitech's Cordless Mouseman and Microsoft's Intellimouse
Explorer. They both have their own merits and I guess it depends
on what you want more, cordless action or a more precise mouse.
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Overclockin.com has posted a review
of Northwind's GFD Rev. 2 Athlon overclocking card. The layout of
this card is extremely clean and it doesn't require an external power
connection!
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HardwareCentral has posted
a review
of Intel's new Celeron II processor. This new Celeron has the
exact same core as a Pentium III Coppermine, but only has 128KB of cache
and runs on a 66MHz bus. Head over to see the benchmarks.
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G3D has posted a review
of the AirCooler Pro. This device fits in an expansion slot and
pulls hot air out of the case. I'm starting to wish there was a
better way to cool things, the noise of all these fans makes a system undesirable
to use in my opinion.
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Tuesday
- March 28th
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3DAlpha is back online! And today,
they've posted the second
part of their SCSI vs. IDE article. They've actually posted a
bunch of responses they got in regards to the first article.
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3DHardware has posted a review
of CDI's Alaska Cool Case Full Tower. This case looks very cool, and has
a boatload of cooling options.
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HardwareCentral has posted
an editorial
which explores the GigaPixel buyout by 3dfx Interactive. The
article sheds some light on why they chose GigaPixel and what they will
bring to the table.
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Voodoo Extreme has gotten
hold of the latest NVIDIA beta drivers which work with NVIDIA's
chips ranging from the TNT to the GeForce. These supposedly
increase stability and performance further and have an option to turn
on/off FSAA in the control panel. Grab them below:
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Thresh's Firing Squad has
posted an article
which examines how far an Intel PIII 600E (Coppermine) will go.
Keep in mind, that all chips vary in quality, but from my experiences,
you're most likely to get a good one. I've tried 4 different 550's
and they've all made it to 733 without a hitch.
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Sharky Extreme has posted a review
of MSI's BXMaster i440BX based Slot-1 motherboard. This great
board, has 6 PCI slots, 4 DIMM slots, a PROMISE Tech ATA-66 controller
built-in and very good overclocking capabilities.
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3DSpotlight has updated their modem
tweak guide. If you want to squeeze that last ounce of performance
from your 2400bps modem, check out this article.
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ELSA has released a new Win9x driver
for the 3D Revelator LCD glasses. Grab it below:
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Tech-Review has updated their CPU
price list with the latest price hikes and drops. Head over
and see what they think is the best buy.
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SystemLogic has posted a review
of Iwill's sIDE RAID66 controller card. To my knowledge, this is
the first card based on High Point Tech's HPT368 chip. If you want
an inexpensive RAID setup, give this card a once over.
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got apex? has posted their review
of ASUS's K7M Athlon motherboard which is based on the AMD 750
chipset. Still one of the best Athlon motherboards you can get.
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HardwareCentral visited
3dfx last week and now have a report
of what they experiences. This article covers a lot of the new
features of the VSA-100 and is a lot more in-depth than most of the
other previews we've seen.
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PC Stats has posted an editorial
about what PC hardware is selling well right now and what isn't.
They cover all the main categories, and provide advice.
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BXBoards has posted a review
of AOpen's new AK72 VIA KX133 based Slot-A motherboard. It didn't
score too well on overclocked stability.
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Monday
- March 27th
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Gamers Depot has posted a very
detailed review
of Midiland's S4 8200 5.1 channel speaker system. This is one heck
of a great set, but will set you back about $300 USD.
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The Tech Zone has posted the second
phase of j.c.f's Athlon overclocking adventure. In this phase,
he took a huge specialized Alpha heatsink, a 5 1/4" fan and a
peltier unit. Head over and see how far he got his 500MHz Athlon.
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Electric.com has notified us that Abit
has announced their new VT6X4
motherboard which will be based on the very popular and feature
packed VIA Apollo Pro 133A chipset. This chipset along with Abit's
expertise in overclocking, should make this a heck of of board for PIII
Coppermine overclocking.
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G3D has posted a review
of TennMax's Lasagna BGA (video chip) cooler. If you want a replacement
or a better fan for your 3D card, check out this sleek cooler.
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Aureal has released a Windows
2000 Beta driver for the Vortex2 PCI audio chip. Any card that
uses this chip, should be able to use this driver. Since it's beta
and has not been certified by Microsoft, it may be a tad difficult to
install. Read the installation guide before starting:
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Pioneer has started shipping the
fastest DVD-ROM drive in the world, their 16X model (DVD-115).
Check out the press
release over at CNewz.
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Woah, this is pretty interesting news and should heat up the NVIDIA vs.
3dfx battle. 3dfx Interactive is
going to buy GigaPixel Corp.
Here is a bit from the press
release:
SAN JOSE, Calif., March 27 /PRNewswire/ -- 3dfx Interactive® Inc.
(Nasdaq: TDFX
- news), a global
leader in developing and marketing 3D technology for personal
computers, today announced that it has entered into a definitive
agreement to acquire privately-held GigaPixel Corporation of Santa
Clara, CA for approximately $186 million, to be paid in approximately
15.6 million 3dfx common shares and options.
GigaPixel, founded in 1997, specializes in the design, development
and licensing of 3D core technology. Designed to dramatically reduce
the memory bandwidth and high gate count designs traditionally
required for 3D acceleration, the GigaPixel technology for the first
time enables high quality 3D display capabilities in low power, cost
sensitive environments.
Here are the key benefits of the acquisition:
- ``The second key benefit of this transaction is an expansion of
our target markets,'' Leupp said. ``With the GigaPixel technology
and existing business relationships, we expect to be the leader in
providing 3D cores and intellectual property to our partners leading
the market with 3D capable consumer devices. These 3D capable
consumer devices will usher in the era of three dimensional visual
communications.''
- ``The third key benefit of this transaction is access to a team of
over 40 engineers skilled in 3D design and algorithm expertise,'' he
said. ``This will augment our existing engineering staff and allow
us to produce highly innovative products on a rapid schedule. In
many ways, this acquisition is about speed,'' Leupp continued. ``We
will increase the speed we bring products to market by being able to
leverage the talented GigaPixel engineering team and their state of
the art design methodology. We will also increase the speed at which
we increase the performance levels of our products by utilizing the
unique GigaPixel 3D technology. And we will increase the speed at
which we provide solutions for new emerging consumer electronics
markets to augment our existing PC 3D accelerator business.''
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HipHardware has updated their CPU
price list. Want to know the price differences between various
CPU's and where you can get them for the lowest price? Then head
over and check it out.
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3DHardware has posted a review
of Phillips 3-piece DSS330 speaker set. Here is an interesting bit
from the review:
For those of you looking for a set of USB speakers, Philips has a
new addition to its line of fully digital speakers with the DSS330.
It's a 3-piece speaker system that runs in both fully digital mode
through your USB port, or in traditional analog mode through your
sound card. The DSS330 comes with two 2.5" driver satellites and
a 4" driver subwoofer with a 5" passive radiator. You also
get a nifty coaster-like remote. Philips suggested a retail price of
$130, but all you thrifty shoppers out there should be able to find it
for less.
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HardwareCentral has posted
an article
which explains the differences between Software and Hardware DVD
decoding. Hardware decoding used to be the hands-down winner, but
now with better video cards with motion compensation and great software
decoders, the battle is much more heated.
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Dan's Data has posted a comparison
of three LCD Flat Panel monitors, the Sony SDM-N50, Samsung SyncMaster
570S and the IBM T85A. With flat panel monitors still a relatively
new field in the computer industry, you should be very careful of what
you buy.
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TargetPC has posted a review
of Maxtor's 30.7GB DiamondMax Plus 40 hard drive. This drive spins
at 7200 RPM, uses the ATA-66 interface and has a 9ms average seek time.
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Anand Tech has posted a roundup
of pretty much all the well known Athlon motherboards, including ones
based on both the AMD 750 and VIA KX133 chipsets. Head over and
see which one(s) came out on top.
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Entechtaiwan has released a
new version of Powerstrip that has some small improvements and
fixes. Grab it below:
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Sharky Extreme has posted a review
of the ReplayTV 2020 Personal Digital Recorder. This device lets
you record TV/Satellite media and store in a high-quality format.
It uses a standard PC hard drive, and this particular model can store up
to 20 hours of VHS quality material and 7-hours of near-DVD quality
material.
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Intel has released a new set of
Windows 2000 drivers for the i810 chipset. Grab them below:
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3D Accelerated has posted
their review
of the Cambridge Soundworks Four Point Surround 2000 speaker set. I
can't think of a more well-rounded set of speakers: great sound,
great surround/3D capabilities, very nice look, and a pretty good
price.
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G3D is hosting a contest.
They are giving away the following items:
- Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer!!
- Abit Be6 Motherboard
- Brand New Athlon Overclocking card, Freespeed.
- Brand New D-Link Network in a Box with hub and 2 cards.
Click here to
see what you have to do.
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Here are a couple of reviews of Linksys'
new Ethernet Cable/DSL router. This device is great for sharing a
broadband internet connection using a single IP, and it works as a
hub/switch at the same time! Check them out below:
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Saturday
- March 25th
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GameSpot has posted a short article
on the time they got to spend with a Voodoo5 card. They briefly
explained their experiences playing Falcon 4 and Homeworld, but there is
nothing very revealing. When are we going to see some numbers!
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3D Spotlight has posted a review
of S3/Diamond's Viper II Z200 Savage200 based video card. They gave it a
very decent 8/10 rating. The best thing this card has going for
it, is it's relatively low price.
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S3/Diamond has released a new Windows
2000 driver for the Viper II Savage2000 card. Grab it below:
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The Firing Squad has also
posted an article about their visit to the offices of 3dfx Inc. to see
the Voodoo5
in action. They've got some screenshots with FSAA and some
interesting info, but we have not seen anything yet in terms of what
kind of frame rates the V5 is pushing.
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Anand Tech has posted a few new
reviews in the past couple of days. At the rate their going,
they'll have every product ever produced reviewed. Check them out
below:
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3D-Unlimited has posted a review
of the i2Go Portable MP3 player. I've never heard of this player, but
they seemed to like it very much.
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3D GameForce has posted a review
of Diamond's Viper V770 Ultra TNT2 card. This card is quite old
now, but still has great performance and is a good buy if you can't
afford a GeForce.
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