Oct 25 - 31, 1999
Archive

Saturday - October 30th

  Motherboard Monitor 4.11 Released  12:33 PM EST  - Email Us
I saw over at Betanews, that Alex Van Kaam has released Motherboard Monitor 4.11. This is a great utility to monitor your CPU and case temperature as well as Fan RPM speeds, if your motherboard supports all these functions.  Grab it here:
  Updated Hardware Price Guide  12:31 PM EST  - Email Us
System Logic has updated their Hardware Price Guide.  They have a bunch of the best components for building a system and where you can get them for the cheapest price.

 

  Creative SB Live! Platinum Review  12:28 PM EST  - Email Us
Hardware-One has posted a review of Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! Platinum package.  Here is a bit from their review:

The Platinum bundle I received also included the long-awaited Live!Ware 3.0, which is a complete collection of Creative’s new updates with new features, functionality and software together with all previous Live!Ware releases available since its first introduction. Live! Ware 3.0, leverages further on the power of the EMU10K1 processor on the Sound Blaster Live! Platinum, to enable one to experience what Creative term - the “Internet Lifestyle” and “Personal Digital Entertainment” (PDE). The whole package and software bundle seems to be tailored for the Internet in various ways, encompassing how you hear and see your music and the way you communicate through the Internet. The Sound Blaster Live! Platinum seems designed to enhance your audio experience on the web.
  i820 - The Story of One Failure  12:17 PM EST  - Email Us
iXBT Hardware has posted a very long article on the whole Rambus/Intel story dating back to 1990.  It's actually a pretty interesting read, head over and check it out.

 

  Another Soyo SY-6BA+IV Review  12:11 PM EST  - Email Us
The Tech Zone has also posted their review of Soyo's new SY-6BA+IV Slot-1 i440BX based ATX motherboard.  Here is a bit from the review:

The Soyo SY-6BA+IV is an ATX motherboard with a name that's way too long. This is Soyo's answer to the Abit BE6-II. Soyo basically took their SY-6BA+III and added ATA/66 support plus a few more features. You might wonder with the coming of the Camino chipset why Soyo would chose to do an ATA/66 motherboard based on the BX chipset?  Well, Camino is still suffering from production problems and RAMBUS is damn expensive and according to tests done by Apex it has questionable performance benefits. By itself, the BX chipset does not support ATA/66. Both Soyo and Abit use a controller chip made by Highpoint.

Friday - October 29th

  3D Card Roundup  6:25 PM EST  - Email Us
Fast Graphics has posted a roundup of quite a few new 3D accelerators, including the Creative Labs 3D Annihilator Pro, ELSA Erazor X, Guillemot 3D Prophet & Cougar (TNT2 M64), ATI Rage Fury Pro, G400, G400 MAX and Diamond Stealth III S540 Xtreme.  Head over and check out this great comparison.

 

  Cornerstone P17000 21" Monitor  6:20 PM EST  - Email Us
GamePC has posted a review of Cornerstone's P17000 21" Monitor.  I've never heard of them before, but it seems like a decent monitor, but as they say in the review, you definitely get what you pay for when it comes to monitors.

 

  Another Soyo SY-6BA+IV Review  4:36 PM EST  - Email Us
3DHardware.net has also posted their review of Soyo's SY-6BA+IV Slot-1 i440BX based motherboard.  Head over and check out this wonderful piece of equipment.

 

  G400 Cooling, TurboGL & OC'ing  4:28 PM EST  - Email Us
Active Hardware has posted a article on the proper cooling and overclocking of a Matrox Millennium G400 card as well as the performance benefits achieved using the new TurboGL mini ICD.

 

  Guillemot Acquires Hercules!  4:24 PM EST  - Email Us
Wow, this was a bit of shocker, don't you think?  Guillemot has announced that they have acquired Hercules, the makers of the awesome Dynamite TNT2 Ultra card.  Here is a bit from the press release:

MONTREAL, October 29, 1999 - Guillemot is pleased to announce its acquisition of American manufacturer Hercules Computer Technology Inc. This purchase allows Guillemot Corporation to combine its 3D technological know-how with a first rate brand, enabling the company to increase its rate of international development substantially.

" Our objective in acquiring Hercules was to reinforce our products branding worldwide ", explains Claude Guillemot, President of Guillemot Corporation. " We intend to continue to build on Hercules' name for high performance graphic products ".
  3DCool Tornado 1000 ATX Case  4:15 PM EST  - Email Us
Tweak3D has also posted a review of 3DCool's  Tornado 1000 Mid-ATX case.  This thing was designed for airflow, it brought down case temperature to 24 degrees Celsius.  Not too bad at all!

 

  Modem/LAN Tweak Guide  4:04 PM EST  - Email Us
Tweak3D has updated their Modem/LAN tweak guide with some new information.  Head over to see how you can maximize your net connection and LAN.

 

  S3 Savage 2000 Party  4:04 PM EST  - Email Us
Thresh's Firing Squad had the opportunity to attend S3's Savage 2000 benchmarking party.  Sounds like fun doesn't it? Anyway, they did manage to bring back quite a bit of interesting information, head over and check it out.

 

  Sharky Extreme Articles  4:00 PM EST  - Email Us
Sharky Extreme has posted way too much stuff to post in separate news posts, so I though I'd group them all together in a nicely organized format, so you can check them all out:

I know what you're thinking... "They're all interesting articles, which one should I read first?" I had the same dilemma myself :)  I have to hand it to those guys at Sharky Extreme, they rock!

 

  Guillemot Xentor16/32 Drivers  3:53 PM EST  - Email Us
Guillemot has released new drivers for their Maxi Gamer Xentor16/32 TNT2 cards.  I have no idea what's been changed, but grab them here if you like:
  BIOS Optimization Guide 5.0  3:45 PM EST  - Email Us
Adrian over at Adrian's Rojak Pot has notified us that he has posted v5.0 of his BIOS Optimization Guide.  New in this version is information of SDRAM timing settings and UltraDMA/66 controllers.

 

  New Banshee/Voodoo3 Drivers  3:30 PM EST  - Email Us
I noticed at 3Dfiles, that 3dfx has released new drivers for their Banshee and Voodoo3 2000/3000 cards.  These drivers are now DirectX 7 compatible and fix various bugs like corruption, power management and screensaver problems. Grab them below:
  Aureal Vortex SQ2500 Review  3:23 PM EST  - Email Us
3DSoundSurge has posted a review of Aureal's new SQ2500 sound card.  This board has S/PDIF out, a 98 S/N ratio and supposedly lower CPU usage due to a new Vortex2 chip an awesome software bundle.  Head over and see what the Sound Pro's thought of it.

 

  ATI Rage 128 & Rage PRO Drivers  3:18 PM EST  - Email Us
ATI has released new drivers for cards based on the ATI Rage 128 and Rage PRO chips.  Grab them below:
  Shuttle 56X CD-ROM Drive Review  3:04 PM EST  - Email Us
BXBoards has also notified us that they've posted a review of Shuttle's 56X CD-ROM drive.  Head over and see how it performs, but more importantly, if its quiet enough to justify the speed.

 

  Soyo SY-6BA+IV Mobo Review  3:00 PM EST  - Email Us
BXBoards has posted their review of Soyo's hot SY-6BA+IV Slot-1 motherboard.  This board has a huge selection of FSB's, 5 PCI slots, 4 DIMM slots and the HPT366 UltraDMA/66 controller.  No other motherboard offers this many features in such a reliable board.  It got a perfect 5/5 on BXBoards scale!  Look for our review very soon.  Here is a bit from their review:

Soyo have clearly taken a leaf out of Abit's book in the development of their latest boards - with L2 latency and UDMA/66 on BX, previously a Abit only feature - making a surprising but welcome appearance. Soyo seem to have deposed the old masters for now - their boards overclock just as well, but are faster, higher quality and more stable at higher bus speeds. This is praise indeed, and the SY-6BA+ IV is the best BX board we've seen to date. The BX chipset may be getting old, but if boards of this sort of quality become the norm, and Camino continues to fail to deliver, there is life in the old dog yet!
  Soyo SY-6VBA133 Mobo Review  2:52 PM EST  - Email Us
Hardware Central has posted a review of Soyo's SY-6BA133 VIA Apollo Pro 133 based Slot-1 motherboard.  If you're going to get a motherboard with a VIA chipset, you're better off getting one with the VIA Apollo Pro 133+ chipset as it provides more features and better performance.

 

  Reason For Lack of Updates  2:50 PM EST  - Email Us
I'm terribly sorry about the lack of updates to the news over the past few days.  Both Tom and I have been extremely preoccupied with Midterms so were unable to work on the site.  Those are all finished now, so get ready for an onslaught of news :)

Wednesday - October 27th

  Athlon Motherboard Shootout  9:22 AM EST  - Email Us
Ars Technica has posted a shootout of the 4 most readily available Athlon motherboards available on the market:  The FIC SD11, Gigabyte GA-7IX, BCMGVC QS750 and MSI's MS-6167.

 

  NVIDIA GeForce 256 SDR & DDR  9:13 AM EST  - Email Us
AGNHardware has posted a review of both a reference GeForce 256 DDR card and Creative Labs GeForce Annihilator SDR card.  The nice thing about this review is that they run their benchmarks on an Athlon 700 and P3 600 so that the CPU should not be the limiting factor.

 

  D-Link 10/100 Network In A Box  8:58 AM EST  - Email Us
WickedPC has posted a review of D-Link's DFE-910 10/100Mbps Network In a Box.  This package comes with two good PCI NIC cards, a hub and a decent length of CAT-5 cable.

 

  NVIDIA GeForce 256 In-Depth  8:52 AM EST  - Email Us
Sharky Extreme has posted an in-depth look at NVIDIA's new powerhouse, the GeForce 256.  This is a very good read if you want more details on the differences between the GeForce 256 and a TNT2.

 

  Intel Pentium III E FC-PGA Review  8:47 AM EST  - Email Us
Anand has slapped up his Intel Pentium III E "Coppermine" FC-PGA (Socket-370) review. This is the same as the Slot-1 version, but comes in the Socket-370 variant and will only work on i810e based motherboards.  Head over and see how this affects performance. 

 

  TweakAll 1.2.3 Released  8:30 AM EST  - Email Us
Abtons Shed has released a new version of TweakAll.  This utility will allow you to customize your Windows 95/98 system the way you want it.  It will also allow you to tweak your net connection as well as overclock your video card.  Grab it below:
  Intel:  The Phantom Lead  8:25 AM EST  - Email Us
Bill over at CPUReview has once again posted a very interesting and very justified article on the Intel Coppermine press coverage.  He has noted how a lot of the press coverage is saying that Intel has regained the lead in the MHz race, but are you actually able to go out and buy a Coppermine today?  the answer is no.  However, you can go out a buy an Athlon 700.  He also talks a bit about memory subsystems and where he thinks the industry is going (or should go).

 

  3dfx T-Buffer Explained  8:19 AM EST  - Email Us
The Reverend Pulpit has posted a summary of the T-Buffer by Gary Tarolli (Chief Technology Officer at 3dfx).  This article is not overly technical, so it should be easy to understand. 

 

  3dfxCOOL Cooler Reviews  8:16 AM EST  - Email Us
3D-Unlimited has reviewed a few good coolers for 3dfxCOOL including the Big-Mo-Fo-Processor Fan, hddHO Hard Drive fans, and the Voodoo Cooler.

 

  A Gamer's Guide To CPU's  8:14 AM EST  - Email Us
Gamecenter has posted a Gamer's Guide To CPU's.  They cover all offerings from AMD, Intel and Motorola/IBM too.  They also have some good benchmarks comparing all the CPU's.

Tuesday - October 26th

  Intel Coppermine 800MHz Preview  2:00 PM EST  - Email Us
Sharky Extreme has gotten an opportunity to test and preview an Intel Pentium III EB 800MHz CPU.  Running this on stable i820 or i840 platform must be a real pleasure.

 

  Creative SB Live! Platinum Review  1:57 PM EST  - Email Us
GamePC has posted a review of Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! Platinum sound card. This board is one the best sounding, most feature packed boards you can get, so its definitely worth checking out if you're an audio enthusiast.

 

  Voodoo3 Tweak Guide  1:53 PM EST  - Email Us
3DSpotlight has posted their Voodoo3 Tweak Guide.  Want to know what all those control panel options do? and how you can increase visual quality/performance, then head over and check it out.

 

  ATI Rage Mobility 128 Announced  1:48 PM EST  - Email Us
ATI has announced their ATI Rage Mobility 128 chip for notebook computers. (Read Press Release) People who've shopped for a notebook/or own one, know how lacking they are in the graphics department especially for gaming.  The S3 mobile Savage chips were the only one to provide decent 3D acceleration up until now.

 

  Intel Pentium III Coppermine Review  1:45 PM EST  - Email Us
Anand over at Anand Tech has posted his review of Intel's Pentium III EB "Coppermine" processor.  He has included the standard truck-load of very interesting and informative information plus tons of benchmarks, including many other CPU's.

 

  MS Intellimouse w/Intellieye Reviews  1:42 PM EST  - Email Us
Dan's Data has posted their review of Microsoft's Intellimouse Explorer and Intellimouse both which use the new optical Intellieye technology.

 

  The Great White North Memory Rip-Off  1:38 PM EST  - Email Us
Finally, someone cares about us Canadians!  Bill over at CPUReview has written an article about Canadian retailers who always take forever to catch up with their US counterparts when it comes to pricing.  As you know, memory prices have finally started dropping again and Canadian retailers are still charging quite a bit for them.

 

  Gigabyte GA-660 Plus TNT2-A Review  1:33 PM EST  - Email Us
Hot Hardware has posted their review of the only known TNT2-A based card so far, the Gigabyte GA660 Plus.  Head over and see how it compares to the regular TNT2 and Ultra.

Monday - October 25th

  Intensor LX 350 Gaming Chair  9:27 AM EST  - Email Us
3DSoundSurge has posted a review of Intensor's LX 350 Gaming Chair.  Hey, If you're a hardcore gamer, you need the total package right?  Head over and check out this interesting chair and see what they thought of it.

 

  Plextor PlexWriter 8/2/20 Review  9:22 AM EST  - Email Us
Thresh's Firing Squad has posted a review of Plextor's awesome 8/2/20 CD-RW drive.  If you want one of the fastest, most reliable drives on the market, this is the one!  This one even allows 2X ReWrite which is nice, but should have been higher.  If you don't need ReWrite, then it may be cheaper to go with the PlexWriter 8/20.

 

  Q3A SMP Benchmarks @504 x 2  9:19 AM EST  - Email Us
HardOCP has posted some benchmarks of Q3A Arena running in SMP mode with a couple of Celeron 504MHz CPU's.  Head over to see the performance increase using a TNT2.  Too bad they didn't use a GeForce 256 to eliminate the fillrate factor.

 

  Modified Athlon 500 w/DIP Switches  9:16 AM EST  - Email Us
Overclockin.com has posted some interesting pictures of a pre-modified Athlon 500MHz CPU that has wires running all over it some DIP switches to change the clock multiplier of that baby.  People are claiming that the 500 reaches 650 quite easily.

 

  Coppermine 733, 700, 667, 650 & 600  9:08 AM EST  - Email Us
Sharky Extreme has posted a review of Intel's Coppermine 733, 700, 667, 650 and 600MHz CPU's.  They've also compared all these speed grades to a an Athlon 700.  Head over to see the benchmarks.

 

  PC Accelerator 3000 Deluxe  9:00 AM EST  - Email Us
I noticed over at 3DFiles, that Smartalec Corp has released a new version of their PC Accelerator 3000 Deluxe utility.  This amazing utility has a ton of options to speed up various aspects of your system.  Here are the updates and a link to download:
  • PC Accelerator 3000 XL, a utility that optimizes system and internet performance by up to 40%
  • ICQ Backup '99, a utility that lets you backup and restore your critical ICQ files in seconds!
  • Game Vault, a game code database that can be used to store, view, and print codes, walkthroughs, and high scores.
  • Security Control, a security program that protects your windows environment
  • Voyager, a internet explorer based browser that protects users from pornographic and other indecent material on the web
  • Cache Killer, a program that cleans out cache and temporary directories at specified time intervals
  • Game Config, a program that allows you to optimize popular first-person games by up to 40%!
  • Quick Shutdown, a systray based program that allows you to launch programs and other functions with one or two clicks of the mouse.

  • PC Accelerator 3000 Deluxe (Win9X - 1.2 MB)
  Coppermine 733 vs. Athlon 700  8:57 AM EST  - Email Us
Ace's Hardware has posted a comparison between Intel's new Pentium III 733EB (coppermine) CPU and AMD's Athlon 700 (as well as a few other CPU's thrown into the mix).  The Athlon still does better at FPU intensive stuff, like games, but the Coppermine beat it in business apps.

 

  S3 Interview @Savage2000  8:43 AM EST  - Email Us
A new site, Savage2000.com has conducted an interview with Paul Ayscough, Director of Marketing at S3 Inc.  There is some interesting info in this interview about the Savage2000 chip.

 

  3D Card Industry: Investor POV  8:40 AM EST  - Email Us
GA Source has posted an article on the 3D Card Industry from an Investors point of view.  They discuss what's happening in the market right now, strategic moves by each of the companies, strengths and weakness of certain products, etc.

 

  Gigabyte GA660 Plus TNT2-A Review  8:34 AM EST  - Email Us
Hot Hardware has posted a review of Gigabyte's GA660 Plus card which is based on NVIDIA's new 0.22 micron TNT-A chip.  This chip should easily make it up to and beyond TNT2 Ultra speeds.


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