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Friday -
October 8th
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A Long Look At The GeForce 256 9:03
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Ace's
Hardware has posted an article
they call, "A Long Look At the GeForce 256." This
article has got every detail you could possibly find on the technology
behind the GeForce 256.
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Another SOYO SY-6BA+IV Review 9:03
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Sharky
Extreme has posted their review
of SOYO's SY-6BA+IV i440BX based Slot-1 motherboard. Head over and
check out what they thought of this amazing board.
|
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New 3dfx Voodoo3 3500TV Drivers 8:55
AM EST - Email Us |
|
I noticed over at 3DFiles.com
that 3dfx has released new
drivers for the Voodoo3 3500TV card. This version has improved
stereo support and fixes a bug with apps not recording with video
settings if the user had changed the defaults. Grab it below:
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Matrox DualHead Technology 8:51
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Thresh's
Firing Squad has posted an article
on Matrox's DualHead technology which is found on the G400 series of
cards. This technology allows you to view two different desktops
on two different monitors with one video card!
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Spectrum Research Theatre 2000 8:40
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Mark over at 3DSoundSurge
has notified us that they've posted a review
of a rather interesting new device, the Theatre 2000. This is not
for your PC, but rather for your home theatre setup. Here is a bit
of info to give you a clue of what it does:
In mid July Spectrum Research, an engineering
and development firm specializing in advanced commercial and consumer
electronics, announced that it had licensed SRS Labs’ patented
virtual surround technology, TruSurround and their more widely known
SRS technology to use in their Theater 2000 virtual surround device.
TruSurround is a Dolby-certified technology that allows for a
virtualized surround sound experience from a two-speaker playback
using any decoded multi-channel audio source, including Dolby Digital,
Dolby Surround or Dolby Pro Logic.
TruSurround is included in many of the world's
leading home theater products, including DVD players from Philips and
Pioneer, digital televisions from Sony and home theater receivers from
Pioneer. The Theater 2000 from Spectrum Research is the first
TruSurround 'add-on' product!
What’s special about this device is its for
your home stereo system, not your computer, and it can take you from
stereo to certified virtual Dolby in the 5 minutes it will take you to
unpack and hook up the 169.95 unit!
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How To Build Your Own Peltier Cooler 8:40
AM EST - Email Us |
|
The Tech
Zone has posted an article
which shows you how you can build your own Peltier cooler. I don't
know about you, but I just don't have the time to spend time building my
own coolers, on the other hand it could be fun.
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SOYO SY-6BA+IV Mobo Review 8:36
AM EST - Email Us |
|
This one deserved its own separate
post. Overclockers.com
has also posted a review
of SOYO's new fully featured BX motherboard, the SY-6BA+IV. If you
want a board that overclocks better than any other board, has ATA-66
support and is just plain stable as can be, check this one out.
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Overclockers' Cooling Reviews 8:30
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Overclockers.com
has notified us that they've posted a few new reviews/articles.
You can check them out below:
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Weekly Hardware Pricewatch 8:25
AM EST - Email Us |
|
SystemLogic
has followed in the footsteps of AGNHardware and have posted their own weekly
hardware pricewatch. You can find the lowest processor, RAM and
video cards in this article so far, but they plan on adding more and
more items as time passes.
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Thursday -
October 7th
|
ASUS K7M Athlon Mobo Review 6:53
PM EST - Email Us |
|
BXBoards
has posted their review
of ASUS's K7M Athlon motherboard. This is the first board so far
to have built-in overclocking capabilities for the Athlon CPU.
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New MS Intellimouse 3.0 Software 6:46
PM EST - Email Us |
|
Microsoft
has released a new version of their IntelliPoint software for all
Microsoft Intellimice. You'll need Intellipoint version 1.1 (or
higher) already installed to install this new version. Grab it
below:
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Altec Lansing ADA880 4.1 Speakers 6:42
PM EST - Email Us |
|
GamePC
has posted a review
of Altec Lansing's new ADA880 4.1 speaker set. These are actually
support Dolby Pro Logic instead of Dolby Digital as advertised on the
box. Consumer tip: True Dolby Digital support must have a minimum
of 5 speakers and a subwoofer to adhere to the Dolby standard.
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More Details on ATI Rage Fury MAXX 6:34
PM EST - Email Us |
|
Gamespot
has posted a very interesting article
on ATI's Rage Fury MAXX card (Aurora Project) and most importantly of
all, some benchmarks. Check it out:
So how does it perform? Even though it
was still in beta stage, the board, demonstrated to us by ATI, tore
through the benchmarks. (Bear in mind that these results weren't
extrapolated in a controlled environment.) While running Rage's
Expendable timedemo on a Pentium III 600MHz, the MAXX scored the
following:
1024x768x16 = 59.1 frames per second
1024x768x32 = 55.0 frames per second
1600x1200x32 = 30.9 frames per second
The first result, run at 1024x768 at a 16-bit color depth, is quite a
bit better than we've seen from the Nvidia TNT2 Ultra's score. Even
more pleasing was the second score, which was run at the same
resolution but at 32-bit color depth. We expected a significant drop
in the overall performance, not just four frames per second. But the
real shocker was the MAXX's performance at 1600x1200x32, a setting
that'll bring most cards to their knees. Current top-of-the-line video
cards score somewhere in the low- to mid-teens at that high of a
setting - if they're lucky. The score of 30.9 is very respectable,
indeed.
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MS Sidewinder Gamepad Pro 6:27
PM EST - Email Us |
|
Tweak3D
has posted a short review
of Microsoft's Sidewinder Gamepad Pro. They gave it a 7/10.
They felt it was not a justifiable upgrade over the old (and still
awesome) MS Gamepad.
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3dfx CEO Greg Ballard Resigns 6:25
PM EST - Email Us |
|
This one is a bit of a shocker, 3dfx's
CEO Greg Ballard has announced his resignation today. Here is a
bit from the press
release:
"I have had an extraordinary three
years at 3dfx, in which sales have grown from almost nothing to an
annualized revenue rate of over $400 million," said L. Gregory
Ballard. "During this time we have created a dominant worldwide
brand and have been the consistent leader at retail. We have put in
place a strategy and management team that will solidify our leadership
position.
"I truly believe that the
challenges in this next phase of the Company's growth will be more
technical than marketing and strategic and that 3dfx can benefit from
the fresh perspective that a new CEO can bring," he added.
"3dfx has a great future, and I look forward to watching its
progress as an investor."
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ASUS Live 3.5B w/SECAM Support 6:22
PM EST - Email Us |
|
Andre has sent word that ASUS
has released a new version of their Live
utility for the V3400/3800/6600 series of cards. Here is the
info and a link to download:
1. Re-Design all setup dialog boxes as
property-sheet format.
2. Add hardware prefiltering function, you may select this option at
"Video Format" setting box under Live mode.
3. Support SECAM signal.
4. Support ASUS V6600
5. Add Video Recording may capture AVI filesize more than 2GB.
6. Add a new data file "asusfreq.ini", this file is designed
to store your TV channel data and tuning result, and is put in your
ASUSLive installed directory. You may backup this file to keep your
channel setting for you.
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Yet Another Rage Fury Pro Review 9:20
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Anand
Tech has also posted their review
of ATI's Rage Fury Pro card. The general consensus seems to be
that its an awesome all-around solution rather than a solution for
hardcore gamers. If you're a hardcore gamer, then wait until we
starting seeing some NVIDIA GeForce 256 vs. ATI Rage Fury MAXX
comparisons.
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Making Transform & Lighting Work 9:11
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Ga'ash Soffer over at Voodoo
Extreme has written up a very interesting article
on what it takes to support hardware T&L and what possible
improvements can be had by implementing it.
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Palo Alto PA-600 Mid Tower Case 9:07
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Ars
Technica has posted a review
of Palo Alto's PA-600 ATX Mid-Tower case. This is a nice looking
case and the internal construction is top-notch as well.
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ATI Rage Fury MAXX Announced 9:00
AM EST - Email Us |
|
I noticed over at Voodoo
Extreme, that ATI has officially
announced the Rage Fury MAXX card. This card will have 64MB of RAM
on it along with two Rage 128 Pro chips each rendering one frame at a
time. It should really have the horsepower to play games in
1024x768x32-bit color easily! Check out the press release here.
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GeForce 256 w/DDR RAM Article 8:56
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Gamespot
has posted an article
about GeForce 256 cards will be equipped with DDR RAM instead of
SDRAM. DDR RAM has double the data-transfer rate of SDRAM, but
also costs a heck of a lot more. For example, Creative Labs
GeForce Annihilator Pro is expected to sell for $349 USD!
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Another ATI Rage Fury Pro Review 8:50
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Gamer
Depot has posted their review
of ATI's new Rage Fury Pro card sporting the new higher clocked Rage 128
Pro chip. Here is a small bit from the review:
At under $150.00, the price/performance
delta on the Rage Fury Pro is, in my opinion, unequalled in today's
video card market. With a full set of features, DVD playback to
die for, and respectable gaming performance, this card should be on
every non-hardcore gamers radar scope.
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Addtronics 7869A Case Review 8:40
AM EST - Email Us |
|
The Tech
Zone has posted a review
of Addtronics 7896A Full Tower Case. This case has butterfly doors
that easily open an close for easy access to its internals.
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Wednesday
-
October 6th
|
ASUS K7M Athlon Mobo Review 9:42
PM EST - Email Us |
|
The
Lost Circuits has posted a review
of ASUS's brand new K7M motherboard, and the great thing is that it has
overclocking features built-in! Check out this bit:
All these features have their merits
but the one thing that has been missing from all Athlon systems was
the potential for overclocking, unless one was equipped with a high
end soldering station and a former AMD engineer to bring in the
necessary know how. With the K7M, ASUS, for the first time offers a
viable possibility for everyone to overclock the AMD Athlon without
doing irrevocable damage. This is done by means of a dip switch
battery through which the external bus frequency can be altered.
Frequencies supported are 100, 103, 105 and 110 MHz in hardware. That
is not too much, however, the fun only starts here because the BIOS
allows for further selectivity of the bus speed in 1 MHz increments up
to 125 MHz and further offers 133, 140 and 150 MHz. Wheee.
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Updated GeForce 256 Benchmarks 9:37
PM EST - Email Us |
|
Due to an overwhelming amount of email, Hardware-One
has once again updated
their Creative Labs GeForce Annihilator benchmarks to include some more
results including scores using an OC's P3 558MHz CPU.
|
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ATI Aurora Project Uncovered 6:00
PM EST - Email Us |
|
Even more interestingly, Sharky
Extreme has also posted an article
on ATI's Aurora Project which will manifest itself as the Rage Fury MAXX
next month with an expected price between $290 and $300. Are you
wondering what this card is going to be like? Well essentially its
a single card with 2 Rage 128 Pro chips on it! Check out this bit
from the article:
Even at the conservative 125MHz x 2
clock speed that the current Aurora test board runs at, we were seeing
shocking game-benchmark scores in the 40s, 50s, and 60s, at 1600 x
1200 x 32bpp when using a P3-600 CPU. For example, at 1600 x 1200 x 32
in our D3D Expendable timedemo, we achieved a score of 40.5 fps with
the Aurora test board, which is approximately 16 - 20 fps higher than
we've recorded with our in-house TNT2 Ultra cards at the same
resolution. That's nearly doubling the performance of an already
strong graphics chip.
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ATI Rage Fury Pro 32MB Review 5:56
PM EST - Email Us |
|
Sharky
Extreme has posted a review
of ATI's higher clocker Rage Fury Pro 32MB card. This AGP4X
supporting card is great for 3D games, and it also has the best DVD
decoding hardware implementation in its class. This is a great all
around solution.
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Creative Riva TNT/TNT2 Drivers 5:50
PM EST - Email Us |
|
Creative
Labs has released new
drivers for their TNT/TNT2 series of cards Here is the info and
links to download:
- Support for Virtual Desktop.
- Additional support for Arabic and Hebrew enabled Windows 98.
- based on NVIDIA reference v2.08
This release supports all of Creative's
TNT/TNT2 series of graphics cards, namely:
- Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT
- 3D Blaster RIVA TNT2
- 3D Blaster RIVA TNT2 Ultra
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Next Gen Mobo Platforms Part 2: i820
8:38
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Anand
Tech has posted the second
part of their article on next generation motherboard
platforms. This time they take a look at four i820 motherboards
and analyze their features, strengths and weaknesses.
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MS Intellimouse w/Intellieye Review 8:33
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Gamers
Depot has posted a review
of Microsoft's Intellimouse with the optical Intellieye instead of the
traditional ball. They seemed to really like the performance of
this mouse and would never go back to the old ball. Here is a bit
from the review:
How does this new mouse work you ask?
IntelliEye uses a tiny CMOS digital camera to take 1,500 pictures per
second of the surface beneath the mouse. A digital signal
processor then analyzes these pictures and translates movement of the
mouse into crisp movement of the cursor on your computer screen.
IntelliEye uses a 18 MIPS processor to give you great performance.
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Tom's i820 Chipset Review 8:26
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Tom's
Hardware Guide has posted their review
of Intel's i820 chipset. They posted quite a bit of information as
well as a ton of benchmarks for your viewing pleasure.
|
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New Savage3D/4 MiniGL Driver 8:24
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Looks like S3
is finallly coming through with some decent drivers for the Savage3D and
Savage4. Savage Daily News has
gotten hold on a new miniGL which apparently increased performance big
time in Quake II. Click here to
read all the info and download it.
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Aztech AMS 5.1 Speakers Review 8:17
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Hardware-One
has also sent word that they have posted a review
of Aztech's AMS 5.1 Speaker set. This package even has a remote
and a separate amp. Looks like a very decent 5.1 speaker set especially
if it has an attractive price.
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Updated GeForce 256 Benchmarks 8:15
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Hardware-One
has posted some more benchmarks
using their Creative Labs GeForce Annihilator card.
|
Tuesday -
October 5th
|
TennMax Stealth V3 3500TV Cooler 10:58
PM EST - Email Us |
|
TennMax
has just notified us that they have announced their a new Stealth V3
cooler for the Voodoo3 3500. They claim that it can elevate it
from 183MHz to an amazing 210MHz and it won't interfere with any other
slots. Check out the press release here.
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SOYO SY-6BA+IV Slot-1 Mobo 8:33
PM EST - Email Us |
|
Looks like the lucky guys at Anand
Tech are the first ones to be able to review
SOYO's new SY-6BA+IV motherboard. This board has built-in ATA-66
support (HPT366 Controller), 5 PCI slots, 4 DIMM slots, the highest
number of FSB speeds and it is PC-99 compliant too!
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AMD Sledgehammer Press Release 8:25
PM EST - Email Us |
|
AMD has
officially announced their Sledgehammer 64-bit CPU (formerly known as
the K8). This CPU will not be compatible with Intel's IA-64 apps
but will complete directly against it and supposedly provide much higher
performance. Check out this tidbit from the press
release:
"AMD's x86-64 architecture
provides an exciting alternative to Intel's IA 64 architecture,"
said Tom Copeland, vice president, workstations and high-performance
systems, IDC. "x86-64 is the only 64-bit, x86-compatible
alternative to IA 64. While IA 64 is a completely new architecture,
AMD has elected to extend the existing x86 architecture to include
64-bit computing. AMD's approach will provide an easy way for users to
continue to use their existing 32-bit applications and to adopt 64-bit
applications as needed."
"Time and again, processor
architects have looked at the inelegant x86 architecture and declared
it cannot be stretched to accommodate the latest innovations,"
said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst, Insight 64. "Time and
again, a clever designer has proven them wrong. It seems truly ironic
that Intel, the inventor of x86 architecture, has bet its 64-bit
future on a radical new design, while the upstart AMD proposes a more
conservative and compatible path. If AMD's approach pans out,
customers will benefit from a wider array of choices for their
high-end systems. Perhaps when architects in 2025 begin to debate the
move to 128-bit computing, they won't be so quick to reject extensions
to the x86-64 features AMD laid out today."
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MS Sidewinder Gamepad Pro Review 8:21
PM EST - Email Us |
|
AGNHardware
has also posted a review
of Microsoft's Sidewinder Gamepad Pro. This things looks ultra
cool and got an 8/10 on AGN's scale, and the price isn't too bad either.
|
|
Intel Pentium III 533 & 600B Review 8:19
PM EST - Email Us |
|
AGNHardware
has posted a review
of Intel's new 133MHz FSB CPU's the Pentium III 533B and 600B.
Basically, Intel just gave the P3 a new "B" and changed the
multiplier so that it would work on a 133MHz FSB.
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ASUS Motherboard BIOS Updates 8:14
PM EST - Email Us |
|
I noticed over at Betanews
that ASUS has released a whole
bunch of new BIOS updates for older motherboards.
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i440BX vs. VIA Apollo Pro 133 8:12
PM EST - Email Us |
|
Speaking of the Apollo Pro's 133
performance, BXBoards has also posted
a comparison
between Intel's i440BX chipset (which we all know and love so much) and
VIA new Apollo Pro 133 chipset. Head over and check it out.
|
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AOpen AX63Pro Slot-1 Mobo Review 8:10
PM EST - Email Us |
|
BXBoards
has posted a review
of AOpen's AX63Pro VIA Apollo Pro 133 based Slot-1 ATX motherboard. Head
over and check out how the new 133MHz FSB/ATA-66 supporting chipset
performs.
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Sensaura 3D Audio Technology 8:06
PM EST - Email Us |
|
3DSS
has also notified us that they've posted a list of chips and cards which
take use the Sensaura 3D Audio Technology. They have also posted a
list of games that support Sensaura's technologies. Here is a bit
of info and links to both articles:
Just to avoid any confusion, what they offer is
a technology, not an API (ZoomFX excluded) and their technology is
based on utilization of Microsoft's Direct Sound 3D along with all
other ‘open’ 3D sound APIs (i.e I3DL2 and EAX 1.0) As such, any
game that supports 3D audio using any of these APIs will automatically
support Sensaura's technology. For compatibility with early 3D audio
titles, Sensaura also provides legacy support for the A3D 1.x API by
translating the A3D 1.x calls back to DS3D.
Our reviews of products using Sensaura’s
technology, regardless of any shortcomings in the hardware, have all
spoken in glowing terms of their excellent 3D audio implementation.
Their recent technology enhancements include MacroFX and ZoomFX.
Sensaura’s MacroFX enables game developers to
be able to take advantage of near-field ‘in your ear’ effects,
adding a further dimension to the realism of their game. Sensaura’s
ZoomFX will soon enable game developers to represent realistic ‘big’
sound sources in their games, thus adding to the immersiveness of the
experience. Sensaura’s ZoomFX API will be a property set extension
of Microsoft’s Direct Sound 3D (DS3D). Following excellent initial
feedback from key developer organizations, Sensaura’s ZoomFX will be
rolled out to all developers in late 1999. No shipped game currently
implements ZoomFX, but games using this technology are expected during
early 2000.
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Audio Performance in UT Demo 8:00
PM EST - Email Us |
|
3DSoundSurge
has posted some benchmarks
of running the Unreal Tournament demo on the SB Live! and Vortex2.
Wondering how much of a performance drop you should expect? Then
head over and check it out.
|
|
SE's Diamond MX400 Preview 8:26
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Sharky
Extreme has also posted a preview
of S3's/Diamond's new ESS Canyon3D based Monster Sound MX400 sound
card. Hopefully they can resolve the high CPU utilization of the
Canyon3D before this card is launched, other than that it looks pretty
cool.
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Beta NVIDIA Win2k Drivers 8:26
AM EST - Email Us |
|
I noticed over at Voodoo
Extreme a link to some beta drivers for NVIDIA cards which will
enable Direct3D and OpenGL in Windows 2000. If you're on the beta
team, you'll know that NVIDIA is seriously slacking with the driver
support so these may be worth a try, but be careful as they may cause
some problems:
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AMD Sledgehammer Today 8:23
AM EST - Email Us |
|
This is quite interesting, according to this
short article from Reuters,
AMD is going to announce their 64-bit "Sledgehammer" CPU today
that is going to compete against Intel's Itanium but will not be
compatible with it. Check it out:
NEW YORK, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Advanced
Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE:AMD
- news) plans to
unveil Tuesday a new microprocessor that would compete with a new chip
Intel Corp. (NasdaqNM:INTC
- news) named Monday,
the Wall Street Journal said Tuesday.
The 64-bit ``SledgeHammer,'' designed
to compete with Intel's new ``Itanium,'' represents a change in
strategy for Advanced Micro, the Journal said.
Rather than copying Intel, with the new
chip Advanced Micro is introducing a chip that isn't compatible with
software written for chips made by its larger rival, the paper said.
Intel's ``Itanium'' is expected to
debut in the second half of 2000, while Advanced Micro won't launch
its chip until 2001, the Journal reported.
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|
FIC SD11 Athlon Mobo Review 8:19
AM EST - Email Us |
|
FPS3D has
posted a review of the
most popular Athlon motherboard currently, the FIC SD11. It
doesn't have much features, but it gets the job done and runs than
blazing fast Athlon stably and reliably, which is much more important
than features.
|
|
Case Cooling Fan Roundup 8:18
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Dan's Data
has posted a roundup
of six of the best known case cooling solution. Head over and see
which one they liked best.
|
|
Introduction to Peltier's & TEC 8:14
AM EST - Email Us |
|
The Tech
Zone has posted a good article
which explains what a TEC (Thermoelectric Cooler) is and how they
work. They are also known as Peltier elements. While you're
at the Tech Zone, you may as well check out their guide
to building a Rack-Mount PC Case to carry around for LAN parties and
stuff.
|
|
New Savage3D & Savage4 Drivers 8:07
AM EST - Email Us |
|
I noticed over at Betanews
that S3 has released some new beta
drivers for Savage3D and Savage4 based cards. Grab them below:
|
Monday -
October 4th
|
Creative GeForce 256 Review 5:53
PM EST - Email Us |
|
Hardware-One
has posted a review
of a store bought Creative Labs GeForce Annihilator card. They've
actually done a very good job, covering everything including drivers,
overclocking capabilities, heat issues and of course benchmarks.
Head over to see how this bare bones GeForce 256 card performs.
|
|
New MP3 Players & BH6 BIOS 5:43
PM EST - Email Us |
|
Ok so they're completely not related at all,
but since I noticed them all at the same place (Betanews),
I thought I'd try and save a little space :) Anyway, grab the
goods below:
|
|
Merced Officially Named: Itanium 5:33
PM EST - Email Us |
|
Wow, this was a bit of surprise. I
noticed over at Betanews, that
Intel has issued a press
release on the name of their upcoming IA-64 processor. Most of
you know it by its code name, Merced, but now Intel has changed it to
Itanium. I kind of like it! I always liked the "-ium"
sound :) Check out the press release here.
|
|
Diamond Monster Sound MX400 Preview 9:05
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Thresh's
Firing Squad has posted a preview
of Diamond's Monster Sound MX400. It won't be using an Aureal chip
this time around though, it will instead be using ESS's Canyon3D
chip. Head over to check out all the details.
|
|
Three Athlon 700MHz Reviews 8:45
AM EST - Email Us |
|
So far, three AMD
Athlon 700MHz reviews were posted this morning. There are a ton of
benchmarks in all three reviews and they are just mind blowing. Check
them out below:
|
|
Monsoon MM-1000 Speakers Review 8:40
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Voodoo
Extreme has posted a review
of Sonigistix Monsoon MM-1000 flat panel 3-piece speaker set. They
thought these speakers sound much more crisper and clearer than the
Boston Acoustics Media Theatre's (and that's no easy task!).
However, they do cost quite a bit of money.
|
|
Cambridge DTT2500 5.1 Speaker Set 8:38
AM EST - Email Us |
|
GA Source
has posted a review
of Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Theatre 5.1 DTT2500 Dolby Digital
Decoder/Amp/Speaker package. If you're really into watching DVD's
on your PC, these are definitely worth looking at.
|
|
Modem Tweak Guide 8:30
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Tweak3D
has updated their Modem
Tweak Guide. I was taking a quick look at it and there are
quite a few tips on how to speed up your dial-up connection, head over
and check it out.
|
|
Athlon vs. P3 Price Comparison v7 8:26
AM EST - Email Us |
|
CPUReview
has also posted a new version of their Athlon
vs. Pentium III price comparison. If you haven't already
heard, the entire Athlon line is now cheaper than the same speed
P3's! Now the only thing we have to wait for is better
motherboards.
|
|
E2C-2E Super Cooler Review 8:21
AM EST - Email Us |
|
CPUReview
has posted a review
of the E2C-2E Super Cooler. This is a 5.25" drive bay/hard
drive cooler. However, it also displays the current ambient
temperature and allows you to monitor the temperature of 2 other devices
via thermal probes. The E2C-8E allows you to monitor up to 8
devices.
|
Sunday -
October 3rd
|
Athlon 500 vs. Pentium III 500 10:46
AM EST - Email Us |
|
BXBoards
has also posted a comparison
between AMD's Athlon 500MHz CPU and Intel's Pentium III 500MHz
CPU. Of course the Athlon easily beats the P3, but in case you
don't believe me, head over and check it out .. there are lots of
benchmarks.
|
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FIC SD11 Athlon Mobo Review 10:43
AM EST - Email Us |
|
BXBoards
has posted a review
of FIC's SD11 Athlon motherboard. This is currently the easiest
Athlon motherboard to find and the most stable as well. Here is a
bit from the review:
Its
difficult to say how good (or bad) the SD11 is. Compared to some of
the later BX based mainboards on the market right now, it is feature
light. Nevertheless, the SD11 has some commendable and vital features.
It is super stable and easy to set up, which is ideal as the Athlon is
new to all of us right now. All these are essential ingredients to
make a successful first generation board.
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|
Future Power - Power Series P3 500 10:36
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Anand
Tech has posted their first full
system review. They have taken a look at Future Power's $1499
Power Series P3 500 system.
|
|
Linksys 4-Port USB Hub Review 10:33
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Speedy3D
has posted a review
of Linksys' 4-Port USB hub. If you need more USB ports, this is a
quick and easy solution. You need not worry about straining the
USB spec because it was designed to allow up to 128 devices connected to
the system.
|
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GA660 Turbo vs. MSI 3DAGPhantom 10:31
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Hot
Hardware has posted a comparison
between Gigabyte's GA660 Turbo TNT2 card and MSI's 3DAGPhantom TNT2
card. Head over to see which one won the battle.
|
|
Compro 7503 8X Write CD-R Drive 10:24
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Hardware-One
has posted a review
of Compro's 7503 8X Write/20X Read SCSI CD-Recordable drive.
Looks like a decent CD-R drive, especially if you need 8X burning
speeds, unfortunately it only has a 2MB buffer instead of 4MB (probably
to save on costs).
|
|
AOpen AX6BC Pro Slot-1 Mobo 10:13
AM EST - Email Us |
|
The Tech
Zone has posted a review
of AOpen's AX6BC Pro i440BX based Slot-1 ATX motherboard. If
you're looking for a top quality board, with some very decent
overclocking capabilities, check this one out. Here is a bit from
the review:
AOpen has done a good job on the AX6BC
Pro. It's super stable, well laid out and offers enough FSB adjustment
to get good speed out of most CPUs. Would I consider this motherboard?
That would depend on which CPU I'm running. The AX6BC Pro works great
with the P3-500. If I was using a Celeron 366, then I would go for an
Abit BE6-II or BP6 because of better FSB selections. If you have no
intention of overclocking your CPU or don't wish to push your CPU to
its limits, then the AOpen AX6BC Pro should be on your short list of
motherboards to look at.
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Transform & Lighting Article 10:08
AM EST - Email Us |
|
3Dimensional
has posted an article
which explains what Transform & Lighting it and how chips like the
GeForce 256 will be able to speed games up immensely when doing T&L
onboard.
|
|
NVIDIA Ref 3.34 Drivers Reg Key 10:06
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Riva3D
has posted a registry key for the 3.34 NVIDIA reference drivers which
allows you to turn VSYNC off in both Direct3D and OpenGL, but more
importantly, it unlocks an overclocking panel! Just download it
and run it:
|
Saturday -
October 2nd
|
ELSA 3D Revelator Review 11:30
AM EST - Email Us |
|
WickedPC
has posted a review
of ELSA's 3D Revelator stereoscopic glasses. These glasses are
actually quite enjoyable and work with every Direct3D game without any
hassle. You can even get them bundled with a ELSA Erazor III card
which is a pretty good deal. Check out our review of the 3D
Revelator here.
|
|
Aureal Vortex2 SQ2500 Review 11:25
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Thresh's
Firing Squad has posted a review
of Aureal's brand spanking new SQ2500 Vortex2 card. This card has
it all, a revised Vortex2 chip, quad speaker support, S/PDIF out and a
great software bundle.
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Home Networking Guide 11:18
AM EST - Email Us |
|
GamePC
has posted a Home
Networking Guide. In case you haven't connected your two or
three PC's in your house, your missing out on a lot! Check out this
guide for tips and instructions on how to do it.
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Tweaking Your PC: Part 4 11:14
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Tweak3D
has posted the fourth
and final part of Keith "Farrel" McClellan's Tweak
Guide. This part talks about keeping your drivers current, system
cleanup utilties, and how to tweak certain games for maximum
performance.
|
|
Sony 21" 500ps Monitor Review 11:12
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Gamewire
has posted a review
of Sony's 21" 500ps monitor. For those of you with the money
to splurge (unfortunately, I don't fit in this group), I suggest you
check this one out, it looks very good.
|
|
MS Intellimouse Explorer Review 11:09
AM EST - Email Us |
|
AGNHardware
has posted a review
of Microsoft's Intellimouse Explorer. This is MS's attempt to use
optical technology instead of the old ball method. For the sake of
precision and a lot less cleaning, it should be an awesome mouse.
Head over and see if it works like its supposed to.
|
Friday -
October 1st
|
ASUS P3B-F Beta BIOS Update 3:27
PM EST - Email Us |
|
I noticed over at Betanews,
that ASUS has released a new Beta BIOS
for the P3B-F motherboard. No idea what it fixes, so only use it
if you're having some kind of problem related to the motherboard (or you
just want something to do :)
|
|
NVIDIA GeForce 256 Ultra Specs 3:25
PM EST - Email Us |
|
Don't you just love leaked
information? I noticed over at Tweak3D
that NVIDIA is also going to release a GeForce 256 Ultra chip which will
run at 150MHz core and 200MHz memory. That means, 600 Mpix/s fill
rate and 19M poly/s! Check out the leaded .pdf file here.
|
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New NVIDIA Reference Drivers 8:45
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Moto over at the
Tech Zone has notified us that geforce-fr.com
has gotten hold of some new NVIDIA beta drivers which should work the
the TNT, TNT2, TNT2 M64, VANTA and GeForce 256. They are
supposedly DirectX 7 compatible. Since they are beta, use them at
your own risk. I've personally tried them out on my Leaktek TNT2
and they work great. You'll be really surprised when you check out
the display properties applets, there are many more options now!
For example, there is an option which lets you choose what color depth
you run OpenGL games in (it no longer depends on what your desktop is
set to). Also, there is a video overlay applet which lets you
adjust the brightness, contrast, hue, etc of your DVD movies!
Awesome stuff, grab it below:
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|
AMD K8 & Ultra Athlon Details - Next Week 8:40
AM EST - Email Us |
|
According to this article
over at Cnet
News.com, AMD is going to release
details on their upcoming 64-bit K8 CPU as well as the Athlon Ultra
CPU's at next week's Microprocessor Forum in San Jose. Here is a
bit from the article:
Weber also likely will discuss the
Athlon Ultra, a version of AMD's latest chip that can be used in
multiprocessor servers and workstations. Ultras, coming next year, are
expected to have buses
that run faster than 200 MHz, the current Athlon standard, and contain
up to 8MB of secondary cache, or four times the amount found on Xeon
processors.
|
|
Intel Anypoint USB Wireless Network 8:35
AM EST - Email Us |
|
SystemLogic
has posted a review
of Intel's Anypoint USB Wireless Home Networking Kit. Looks like a
good kit for doing simple sharing of small files or Internet sharing and
even the occasional game, but its speed is way to slow for hardcore
gaming and doing large file transfers.
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|
What Happened To Hercules? 8:32
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Many of you have heard that Hercules has
gone under, but many of us have no idea why this would happen,
considering the huge demand for their Dynamite TNT2 Ultra card. Thresh's
Firing Squad has posted an interview
with a former employee of Hercules whom sheds a lot of light on the
issue.
|
|
FANBUS Cooling Fan Hub Review 8:23
AM EST - Email Us |
|
FPS3D has
posted a review of
Cliff Anderson's FANBUS product. This is like a power hub for all
your cooling fans in your system to help organize things and reduce
clutter which in turn provides better airflow.
|
|
Sharky's Motherboard Guide: Part 2 8:18
AM EST - Email Us |
|
Sharky
Extreme has posted the second
part of their Motherboard Guide. This guide teaches you about
all the important components on a motherboard which you should be
looking for when you purchase one. They talk about capictors,
voltage regulators, clock chip generators, etc.
|
|
Abit BE6 II Slot-1 Mobo Review 8:14
AM EST - Email Us |
|
iXBT
Hardware has posted a review
of Abit's new BE6-II motherboard. So what's new with this board?
Check out this bit:
Due to the new Realtek RTM520-39D clock
generator (by the way, Chaintech is already using similar microchips
everywhere) ABIT BE6-II supports 119 different system bus
frequencies. This range includes 66, 75MHz and all the values
between 83 and 200MHz taken with the step equal to 1MHz. Well, we
believe you haven't yet seen anything like that, have you? However,
this richness can't make you profit as much as you probably hope to.
Of course, if the FSB frequency exceeds 140-150MHz, the proper work of
the memory, AGP and PCI is really doubtful.
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