October 17 - 23, 1998
Archive

The key feature of the Freestyle is the motion sensing technology that the controller uses. By pushing a button to enable the sensors, you can bypass the D-Pad and tilt the controller for movement. The tilt feature of the controller is very easy to use, and offers more precise control for the game then the D-Pad. With the D-Pad if you push left, the only thing the onscreen character does is move left. With the sensors if you tilt left, it can translate the level that the controller is tilted as an analog control. This means that the more that the controller is tilted, the faster that you go.

 

The Diamond card is the best performing Banshee card so far, beating both cards from Guillemot. But this is for obvious reasons: The clockspeed of the Diamond Monster Fusion is higher than that on the other Banshee cards. This is not at all a problem since Diamond has added a real good active cooler which makes sure that the chip stays a lot cooler at its high clockspeed than the chips on the other Banshee cards which are running at less high clockspeed without the active cooling. With a price of $ 149 it's quite a bit more expensive than the Guillemot Maxi Gamer Phoenix cards which go for about $ 90 But then again, you get a chip that's cooled far better and offers superior performance. The choice it up to you......

 

• Matrox Overclock EXE Update (version 2.0.2a - 49 KB)

• STB Velocity 4400 Driver (Win9X - version 1.42 - 1.5 MB)

 

• ConXion San Jose
• ConXion Washington D.C.
• ConXion Chicago
• Microsoft Software Library

 

• 3D Labs Permedia 2 Driver (WinNT4 - version 2.11-0554 - 1.16 MB)
• 3D Labs Permedia 2 Driver (Win9X - version 2105-0358 - 1.0 MB)

 

Unlike Altec Lansing's "USB" ACS-305 speakers, which only use the USB cable for volume control, the DSS 80 set can actually transmit digital audio via USB if your system can handle it. Because the subwoofer has its own DSP, sound can bypass your sound card altogether, leaving your machine as unfettered digital information. In all-digital mode, CDs sound fabulous and games are crystal clear. A ten-band graphic equalizer and Microsoft Surround Sound technology are both available strictly through USB as well.

• Diamond Fusion Driver (Win9X - version 2.06 - 3.42 MB)
• Diamond Fusion miniGL Driver (132 KB)

 

To summarize, Voodoo 2 won in the categories of Low- to Mid-Range PC Performance and Game Compatibility, while TNT took the prize for 3D Feature Set and Image Quality. We declared a tie in the categories of High-End PC Performance and Longevity. TNT is no Voodoo 2 killer, but it matches Voodoo 2 in performance, and it clearly surpasses Voodoo 2 in many key technical areas.

 

I have listened to both the EAX and A3D 2.0 and have to admit that I was more impressed by the A3D 2.0 implementation of 3D sound. Do not take this wrong, EAX is not a slouch in any way. It is just that the A3D 2.0 provided a more realistic reproduction of the 3D sound. The added feature of occlusion and the use of wavetracing provided for more realistic sound modeling when compared to EAX. EAX on the other hand had a habit of over exaggerating the reverb, creating a slightly artificial bite on the sound

Additional PC-DVD Encore 5X Features:

• Transfers DVD-ROM data at up to five times the speed of the first generation DVD drive
• Simultaneous connection to PC and TV with composite or S-Video outputs
• Double scans to 60 fields per second, including vertical and horizontal dynamic interpolation
• 1280 x 1024 full-screen resolution
• Interfaces with Dolby Digital devices such as DeskTop Theater 5.1 or Dolby Digital receivers for 5.1 channel Dolby Digital (AC-3) audio
• Fully supports all popular CD-ROM formats, including CD-Recordable and CD-RW media
• Blazing CD-ROM drive speed at transfer rate of 32x and 90ms access time

To raise FPU-performance, semi-conductors manufacturers developed different strategies :

1. Raise the frequency, more mhz. Pretty simple, huh?
2. Pipeline the FPU.
3. Lower the latencies of the FPU.
4. SIMD FPU (Single Instruction, Multiple Data)
5. A parallel pipelinded FPU (surprise, surprise…)

The first is so simple, we won't discuss it. The second was Intel’s strategy for the Pentium/PII FPU, the third was the one of AMD K6 FPU. The forth is the path AMD chose with the K6-2 and 3dnow!, and now Intel will do the same with KNI and the Katmai. And the fifth? We discovered that one at the Microprocessor Forum in San Jose, California (K7). But first, what is a pipelined FPU? And what about a lower latency FPU?

• Windows NT 4.0 SP4 (17.6 MB)

 

An included up-link cable connects your PC's USB port to the back of the monitor. With this connection, the included display utility allows you to use the keyboard and mouse to control all of the monitor's display settings. More importantly, however, the monitor acts as a USB hub, providing four additional USB ports: two on each side of the monitor, toward the front. These ports are very conveniently located for plugging in USB peripherals such as game controllers, Web cams, or digital cameras

 

• Matrox Overclock (Win9X - version 2.0.2 - 159 KB)
• DirectControl 2.0.6 (Win9X - version 2.0.6 - 112 KB)

No Abit BX6/BH6? Want to overclock but need to increase the voltage? Don't let your choice of motherboard hold you back. We tell you how to adjust the voltage on ANY Slot 1 motherboard.

 

Remember the first time you played Hard Drivin' at the arcade and experienced force feedback in a steering wheel? Or perhaps it was San Francisco Rush's force feedback wheel that got you. Well, here it is, on your desktop. The experience is nothing less than what you'll get in the best arcade machines you stick a dollar at a time into. Or how about that time you were in the car and locked up the brakes while sliding on ice or snow? Here it is. The SideWinder Force Feedback Wheel delivers the arcade experience to your desktop in spades, and even a little more realism. Not all is perfect in the promised land though.

 

• Abit BH6 BIOS Update

 

A variety of companies are collaborating on a standard for so-called G.lite DSL modems, which would offer consumers download speeds of up to 1.5 mbps.

This is many times faster than today's 56-kbps dial-up modems and close to speeds achieved on cable modems. The DSL standard would ensure that all DSL modems could speak with one other, meaning that customers won't have to worry about what technology to buy

 

Wow! Something different here.... In graphics, the AMD K6-2 appears to beat the Celeron 300A flat in 2D and rivals even the faster Celerons. In Direct3D, the K6-2 edged past the Celeron 300A and remains quite close to the Celeron 300A in OpenGL. Unless you overclock the Celeron, it's not a very good processor for those intent on doing high-end 2D graphics. The 3D performance isn't too bad as the processor core is the same as the Pentium II. Therefore, you can expect good 3D performance from the Celeron, especially the overclocked ones.

 

The ASUS P2B is a well built and reliable motherboard, continuing the ASUS tradition.  The biggest gripes have to be the lack of jumperless CPU settings and the fairly small amount of DIMM slots.  Also, ASUS motherboards are usually more expensive than others, so its up to you to decide if the added reliability of the ASUS name warrants the higher price  (as of this writing, around $130 for the P2B).  The P2B is a highly configurable and easily overclockable solution for the hard core tweaker.  Overclockers will have to determine if reliability is worth the inconvenience of jumpers.

 

In May of 1997, Intel took the first steps towards a dark future in the eyes of two of their major competitors, AMD and Cyrix.  With the introduction of their Pentium II processor a handful of precedents were set in the world of PC hardware that would exhibit an incredibly changing effect upon the entire microprocessor industry.

 

At the MX300 launch you mentioned that A3D 2.0 and the Vortex 2 have gone beyond 4 speaker panning and now use HRTFs.

Q: Can you talk about the 4 speaker HRTF? Is the HRTF used on all 4 speakers? What about up/down virtualization?

Toni: HRTFs are used on the front speakers. The fronts basically do similar processing as they do in 2 speaker mode until the sound moves in the region behind you. At that point the rear speakers kick in to fill in panning information for the behind locations. This gives you the best of both worlds: nice spread, immersion and some up/down by using HRTFs on the fronts, and strong behind cues from the rear speakers.

Q: Is there a negative impact on the HRTFs from using 4 speakers?

Toni: There is no negative impact I can think of. In the worst case, i.e. if you are sitting way outside the sweet spot, the system more or less sounds like a standard 4 speaker panning system.

 

The on-board EMU DSP definitely seems powerful, and hopefully we are only starting to see its capabilities. Via AudioHQ, an environment can be set up for the DSP which is then carried on until turned off. This environment applies to games or any other sounds, including mp3 music. Plus, with the DSP doing the work, the system does not take a performance hit. Quake II did not take any framerate hits with the sound on, much unlike ISA soundcards which steal precious CPU cycles away.

• VENGEANCE REVIEW
• NEW V2 DRIVER COMMENTS
• V2 AND BANSHEE PRICES
• NFS3 DASHBOARD & SLI
• CONTEST AT GD
• SHOGO READER REVIES
• Games, patches, and other great stuff.

 

I'm sure we all remember the Voodoo Rush, whether we want to or not. I feel that this card will have the same fate, if not a worse one. This Banshee upgrade was good for me, but not good for most other hard-core gamers. I'm not totally pleased with the card, and it would be nice to have SLI support, but hey, you can't get everything for free regardless of what the songs say.  If you're a Q1/Q2 fan and plan to play every first-person shooter that will ever be made, grab Voodoo 2 or so and SLI some ass into triple-digit frame rates. Otherwise, if you're a happy medium gamer, decide between the Banshee, or the TNT. Banshee has Glide support, but TNT beats its ass off in performance and compatibility. You make the decision ultimately, I just hope I've helped you make the right one.

 

• KHG SBLive! patch (69 KB)

 

This is the perfect video card for everyone. As I said in the beginning, I'll probably get flamed for the score, but this thing is never leaving my computer (unless I have to benchmark some other card)!

Score: 100%

 

Kudos to NVIDIA for supplying us such a sassy chip to use, even if they couldn't fully deliver the promised performance, which I'm sure will come next year when they go to the .25 micron FAB. But by then, who knows, I'm sure that someone else will come out with something that'll blow us all away. I just hope that going to the new micron process for the TNT doesn't "prove too little, too late:"

If you are considering the ultimate 2D/3D solution, than look no further than the V550 or the V4400. Both of which are worthy competitors, and should keep you fraggin' nice and fast into the new year!

If your going to be taking advantage of the TV output, then you might want to lean toward the V4400, if you want better desktop controls then go with the V550 which uses the "In Control Tools". Either way you can't go wrong!

 

I was wanting to know which is better to have in a graphics card,  High Fill Rates or High Bus Transfer speed?  What do they do and where would you most likely be able to tell the difference in high and low numbers?   My question is in regards to the two new boards out, I have both a 3dfx Banshee by Wicked and the Riva TNT by Creative.    I've toyed with both, and scores on Final Reality have raised this question of mine.  The Banshee doubled any card I've ever tested with the benchmark, but its fill rate was one of the lowest I've ever seen too.   In all it scored well almost as high as my Obsidian X24, (but the 2d numbers helped it there.....can't compare that can we).    The TNT scored well also, the difference was in the bus transfer and fill rates.   What does the POWER Gamer want and look for??

 

As we've seen so far this year, Intel has been dominating the processor market, grabbing 85% of the market share, and what seemed to be releasing a new processor every few weeks. So far they have topped off the consumer processor market, maxing out at 450 MHZ, which will probably stay their highest processor until 1999, as they go into high gear developing the upcoming Katmai and Merced processors. Katmai is a definite to premiere in early 1999 at 500-MHZ, along with the 440JX chipset. Even though Katmai will still be based on a 32-bit processor core, the hype surrounding the new processor instructions, named Katmai NI (Katmai New Instructions), and the 440JX chipset's support for RDRAM (Rambus DRAM) should drive Katmai sales through the charts.

With frame rates exceeding 40fps for many computers, speed is no longer what most gamers look for. Its difficult to distinguish the difference between frame rates once you hit the plateau of 30fps. So now the new goal for most gamers is image quality. In 3D games jagged edges and artifacts formed by low resolution are often apparent. There are two ways to get rid of these. One is to increase the resolution. The other is not yet in widespread implementation and takes tremendous amount of rendering power, anti aliasing (by supersampling).

 

• TweakIt (Win9X - version 3.0.6 - 192 KB)
• VoodooDoctor (Win9X - 1.0.0 - 113 KB)
• DirectControl (Win9X - 2.0.6 - 142 KB)
• Matrox Overclock (Win9X - 2.0.2 - 172 KB)

 

What do we think? Well, we think a lot, but one special though always comes to mind: WOW. The Sound Blaster Live! is truly a great piece of hardware. But is it affordable? Yes, this version I wouldn't recommend to the avid gamer but I'd recommend this to musicians and people who just need the digital I/O port and gold plated contacts. For all gamers and home entertainers, the Sound Blaster Live! Value version is an excellent choice. The Sound Blaster Live!, whether the full or Value version, is definitely one of the most impressive hardware this year. It has great versatility, functionality and quality. On the surface it's really simple to use, but if you want to create your own environments, you'll have to be prepared to sit long hours in front of the screen. I've been at it for a week now and still I find new things to try. But beware, with a soundcard of this class, you'll need good speakers. There's no use having great sound hardware if your speakers just sucks. We tried the Sound Blaster Live! with Cambridge Soundworks' PCWorks FourPointSurround. This speaker package is well suited for the Live! and is also the "official" Sound Blaster Live! speaker system. Although the subwoofer contained in the package isn't amongst the best, it's certainly adequate for me.

 

• Creative Labs Graphics Blaster Banshee Review
• Creative Labs Graphics Blaster TNT Review

 

• Need For Speed 3 Banshee Fix
• Klingon Honor Guard Banshee Fix

 

I noticed over at voodoo eXtreme an easy way to adjust that slider bar the in the Diamond Monster 3D 2 control panel applet to any range you want other than 90-95 MHz, check it out:

As you may all know Diamond Monster 3D II have a control panel that lets you change the clockrate from 90-95MHz, but there is a way to change the limit of both the highest and the lowest limit clockrate.   All you need to do is just run the registry editor and then goto HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Diamond\Monster 3D II\panel\.  You could see two Dword values, "PERFMAX" with states and max clockrate and "PERFMIN" that states the lowest clockrate, just double click anyone of them and select "Decimal" and change the number to anything you wish, but beware, anything over 108MHz could fry up your card! (using the latest Diamond Monster3D II driver)

As you can see the performance is not nearly up par with the rest of the field. Hopefully this is because the board and /or the drivers that I've got here are early, otherwise I fear the worst for this chipset. The image quality is pretty good, but not stunning so that isn't the problem with this chipset. The real problems seems to be the fill-rate. If Number Nine can crank that up by something like two times, this chipset might become interesting. For now: Have a look at the other chipsets above, where my personal favorite is the Riva TNT.

 

Gamers have been arguing about the sound quality of the MX300 for a while, and it's been difficult to talk about since Diamond has been fairly quiet about the card. Last evening, a demo run by Aureal's VP of marketing, Toni Schneider, showed off some of the card's MP3 playback features and the card's abilities. For games, the MX300 showed off some of its abilities when playing Unreal and Half-Life. Schneider said that while Unreal only currently supports A3D 1.0, it will support A3D 2.0 soon. Not only will this mean good things for Unreal owners, but any other game that runs the Unreal engine will benefit from the support as well.

 

In keeping with an aggressive pre-Comdex update policy, the latest 2.29.4 beta build of the PowerStrip includes a new color temperature control for DTP, an automatically-generated "Voodoo equalized" gamma ramp for gamers, an improved Glide-switcher for Banshee plus Voodoo configurations, and resurrected fast memory timing options for the Riva128/ZX and TNT, amongst other things.

• Powerstrip (Win9X/NT4 - version 2.29.4 Beta - 747 KB)

 

• Rendition V1K and V2k Drivers (Win9X - 1.3 MB)