Addendum to the triple 1Ghz CPU comparison
September 29, 2000
To those who have already read our article about the performance comparison of three 1Ghz processors, we would like to let you know that 3 more pages of tests results just went to be added to this article. To those who didn't read it yet, a 9 pages article comparing the Intel CuMine 1Ghz, Athlon classic IGhz and Athlon Thunderbird 1 Ghz is waiting for you :) Enjoy your reading and have a nice weekend :)
Posted by Chris Verr
Review of the DFI AK74-SC mainboard
September 29, 2000
The DFI AK74-SC mainboard is the new socket A from DFI. With its excellent design abilities, DFI has presented us another great products full of very interesting features such has 1Mhz increment FSB adjusment. Solid rock performance and great ease of use are two other chnaracteristics of the AK-74SX. For all the details, please read our review :)
Posted by Chris Verr
The Evolution of NTFS: NTFS 5.0
September 28, 2000
ArsTechnica's Matt "Panders" Anderson has come out swinging with Part II of his guide to NTFS. This time, "Panders" is taking on NTFS 5.0 - the native filing system of Win2K. Here's a snip of what he had to say:
"What's in Part II? Part II is all about NTFS as it stands in Windows 2000. I'm going to cover most of the more highly touted features of the semi-new filesystem, including Encrypting Filesystem (EFS), Distributed Link Tracking, Quotas, and more. NTFS 5.0, as it's called in Windows 2000, is an important new step in the world of Win32 OSes, and even folks who don't use NTWin2K should be interested. How is it important? Well, from an overview perspective, most of the new techs that I covered in Windows 2000: 5-n-5 Top Features require the added functionality laid down by the new NTFS release. No matter what you're using now, if you're a Microsoft OS user, you'll be getting acquainted with a form of NTFS in the near future..."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
One late chip leads to another for Sun
September 28, 2000
Cnet has put up an article that throws a little cold water on the Sun NetEffect Event. As you may know, Sun officially announced availability of the Sun UltraSparc III processor yesterday, after a two-year delay. As Cnet's Stephen Shankland points out, that has resulted in a delay of Sun's next two CPUs the UltraSparc IV & V.
The news isn't all bad though. As a result of the delays with the UltraSparc III, the chip went under several changes which should allow it to scale to speeds of 1.5GHz. The UltraSparc IV, which features the same core as the III, will hit its stride at 1.8GHz. The UltraSparc V, which will feature another new core, is expected to hit the streets at 2.1GHz sometime in the second half of 2002.
Here's a brief snip:
"Sun's original schedule put the arrival of UltraSparc V at the end of 2001, but an updated plan released today now calls for the debut to take place in the second half of 2003, said Fadhi Azhari, Sun's processor-group marketing manager. In addition, the UltraSparc IV, a relatively minor update to the UltraSparc III, was due in December of this year but now is scheduled to arrive in the second half of 2002, Azhari said.
The UltraSparc V design team is the largest within Sun, totaling about 200, Azhari said.
The schedule slips hurt Sun but are to be expected with any complex design, said MicroDesign Resources analyst Peter Glaskowsky. "It certainly would be better for their business if they could deliver faster processors sooner, but the Sun delays are merely the latest in a string of hundreds of companies that have been late delivering complex microprocessors," he said. "Hardly anybody does this on time."
Engineers often recognize the difficulty of introducing new designs, but marketing personnel, ever aware of competitive pressures, are likely to push schedules farther than is reasonable, he added...."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
PowerPC G4 Plus taped out
September 28, 2000
Hio Plus Fanatics,
Tony Smith, of The Register, is citing sources left & right that Motorola has finally 'taped out' the G4 Plus processor (aka, the G4e, the G4+, V'Ger...). Essentially, that would mean that the chip is ready to go into the early stages of production. This leads us into the following Good News, Bad News scenario:
The Good News is that the G4 Plus has apparently been sampling for the last few weeks, will be built on a smaller process than the G4, include 3 new Altivec/Velocity Engine/SIMD units, 2 new integer units, and debut at 750MHz - as well as sporting all the features of the current G4 (i.e. SMP support, Maxbus, etc...).
The Bad News is that some sources are citing mid-Summer 2001 for full production. Ouch. That would certainly put it in a bad neighbourhood.... Here's a clip:
"Of course, while the chip may be feature complete and fully operational, Motorola will now have to work on producing good, marketable yields, so don't expect a G4 Plus-powered Mac just yet. Apple itself will have to test the chip and verify that it operates with its current hardware - if not, motherboards will have to be modified accordingly.
MacCentral's own mole showed Motorola's new-found conservatism when he finally admitted that Apple would be able to ship product based on the chip by "mid-summer" 2001. Given the problems Motorola had getting the yields right on the PPC 7400, which is still stuck at 500MHz, and the trouble it got into with Apple - remember Apple's damning complaint against the chipmaker in its autumn 1999 fiscal statement? - it's not surprising Motorola is playing it cautious..."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
ABIT Introduces the VP6 for Dual PIII CPUs
September 27, 2000
ABIT Introduces the VP6 for Dual PIII CPUs
Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. Friday, September 22, 2000—ABIT is proud to announce the launch of the VP6. This dual processor motherboard is a follow-up to the immensely popular BP6. The VP6 is an ATX form-factor mainboard designed for use with all PIII Coppermine FC-PGA 370 Processors. It supports all normal industry standard functions, including Advanced Configuration and Power Management Interface (ACPI), AGP 1X/2X/4X and 100/133MHz SDRAM Memory Bus Settings. The VP6 features four 168-pin DIMM sockets supporting up to 2GB memory.
DUAL Pentium III
The VP6 is a dual processor system. With computing tasks becoming more and more CPU-intensive, a dual CPU system is the answer for running your computer smoothly. Dual processor systems allow for increased performance. In fact, performance can be increased by 25% – 85% when running software designed for dual (SMP-based) CPU systems.
Processor-intensive applications such as burning CDs, playing games, working on spreadsheets, multimedia and the like, leave your system open to lag and errors. The VP6 dual processor system can allow you to easily run several CPU-intensive tasks without such problems. Be it playing SMP-enabled games while burning a CD or working on a project while playing MP3s, a dual processor system such as the VP6 will allow your system to cope successfully where a single processor system could have troubles.
ATA/100 and RAID
The VP6 includes the HPT370 controller which adds ATA/100 and RAID support. The ATA/100 interface has a 100 MB/sec transfer rate, thereby maximizing disk performance. RAID 0 (striping), RAID 1 (mirroring), and RAID 0+1 (striping + mirroring) are all supported by the VP6. The RAID 0 array is designed for performance. By using two hard disks, the information can be split evenly between the two, effectively doubling performance. By setting a RAID 1 array, you are automatically backing up all data. RAID 1 is a mirroring setup that writes the data to both hard disks whenever saving to hard disk. RAID 0+1 gives the user the performance of RAID 0 and the security of RAID 1.
SoftMenu™ III
Only ABIT has SoftMenu™, and on the VP6, you will find ABIT’s unique SoftMenu™ III. The VP6’s SoftMenu™ III has special added features and functions that will allow for maximum performance and enhancement tweaks. The SoftMenu™ III of the VP6 includes a massive range of FSB settings. The base FSB settings are 66, 68, 75, 80, 83, 100, 103. 105, 110, 112, 115, 120, 124, 133, 140, 145 and 150MHz. From these base settings, adjustments of 0-28 MHz can be selected in increments of 1MHz.
Multi I/O Functions
The VP6 includes 4+4 Channels of Bus Master IDE which support Ultra DMA 100/66/33. In addition to the normal serial and parallel ports the VP6 has 2 USB ports, plus an extra header for 2 extra USB channels. A USB cable is also included for use with this header. The System BIOS features and supports Award Plug and Play BIOS and Write-Protect Anti-Virus function by AWARD BIOS.
AboutABIT
ABIT Computer Corporation designs, and sells a complete family of award-winning mainboards and video cards that support industry-leading technology and provide leading quality and performance for system integration of computer components supporting a broad range of PC applications, such as for e-commerce, e-business, entertainment and education. Corporate headquarters are located in Taiwan. For more information visit the Company's web site at http://www.abit.com.tw
Posted by Colin Cordner
Slot A TBird 700 CPU Review @ CPUReview
September 27, 2000
Bill Henning has gotten his mitts on a brand new 700MHz Athlon "Thunderbird" processor, and put through the benchmark wringer, all for you viewing pleasure. Here's a brief clip of his review:
"Did you build an Athlon system when the original Athlons came out?
Do you want some extra oomph out of your system?
Well, I thought I'd find out how big a performance jump you would get
from switching to a 700MHz TBird from an original Athlon 500.
While I was at it, I threw in some benchmark results from a 1GHz original
style Athlon system...
[Benchmarks used: Final Reality, Incoming, Forsaken, Turok, Quake II, Q
uake III, 3DMarks, POV-Ray, RC5Des, Indy3D]..."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
ATI's RAGE Mobility 128(TM)Chip transforms Apple's iBook
September 27, 2000
ATI's RAGE Mobility 128(TM)Chip transforms Apple's iBook into a gamer's
delight and a multimedia powerhouse
*Apple's iBook offers no compromise ATI graphics and hardware
*DVD playback for home and education users
Toronto, Canada, September 26, 2000 - ATI Technologies Inc. (TSE:ATY, NASDAQ:ATYT) announced today that the RAGE Mobility 128(TM) chip ships standard in Apple's new iBook line, offering industry-leading 3D and 2D graphics and DVD playback.
The ATI RAGE Mobility 128 is the world's fastest 2D, 3D and multimedia graphics accelerator. The RAGE Mobility 128 provides true no-compromise desktop performance for the new iBook and iBook Special Edition. iBook, with a suggested retail price of US$1,499, features best-in-class performance and comes pre-installed with Apple's iMovie software, offering the ability to create desktop movies to go. iBook Special Edition also features DVD playback. The hardware DVD decoding performed by the RAGE Mobility 128 chip brings consumer electronics quality DVD playback to the iBook, and with 8MB of integrated SDRAM also takes the strain off the CPU, while saving power.
"ATI is very pleased that Apple's new iBook line ships standard with the RAGE Mobility 128," said Lou Leung, vice president, mobile business unit, ATI Technologies Inc. "The iBook has become a very popular system for the home and education user, and RAGE Mobility 128 will provide them with top flight graphics and DVD capabilities."
About the RAGE Mobility 128, ATI's next generation mobile accelerator
Based on the RAGE128 PRO(TM) graphics chip, the RAGE Mobility 128 is the fastest and most complete mobile graphics solution available on the market today. Comprising a complete graphics subsystem on a single chip including 8MB of video memory, the RAGE Mobility 128 offers a space saving solution for notebooks while providing all the capabilities of today's performance PCs.
The RAGE Mobility 128 provides remarkable multimedia functionality, all in true 32-bit color, and incorporates an integrated MPEG-2/DVD decoder with iDCT and motion compensation, which enables full frame rate DVD playback combined with very low CPU utilization. The RAGE Mobility 128's high-quality TV-out solution produces DVD playback the equal of stand-alone consumer electronic market DVD players.
Corporate Profile
ATI Technologies Inc., the world's largest supplier of 3D graphics and multimedia technology, designs, manufactures and markets innovative and award-winning multimedia solutions and graphics components for the personal computer, set-top box and consumer electronics appliance markets. An ISO 9002 company, ATI is the world's leading supplier of video and 2D/3D graphics accelerators to OEM and retail customers. Founded in l985, ATI employs more than 1,800 people at headquarters in Thornhill, Ontario, and in offices in the United States, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Barbados, Malaysia, Japan and Hong Kong. ATI is a public company whose shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange and NASDAQ.
For other ATI news releases visit our web site at http://www.ati.com Copyright 2000. ATI Technologies Inc. All rights reserved. ATI, RAGE Mobility 128 and RAGE 128 Pro are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of ATI Technologies Inc. All other products are trademarks of their respective companies. Features, pricing, availability and specifications are subject to change without notice.
- 30 ?
For further information contact:
ATI Technologies Inc.
Brian Hentschel, Media Relations
(905) 882-2600 (ext. 8130)
bhentsch@ati.com
www.ati.com
Anne Ferguson
BenchMark Porter Novelli
(416) 422-7154
aferguson@bmporternovelli.com
Posted by Colin Cordner
Sun's UltraSparc III processor arrives (at last!)
September 27, 2000
Yes RISC fans, it's true! Earlier today Sun officially announced the release of the UltraSparc III (Cheetah) processor at the NetEffect Event in New York City. The new 64-bit CPU will be made available in 600MHz, 750MHz, and 900MHz variations, feature a 150MHz system bus, and sport on on-die memory controller. Oh yeah, and it also kicks the PIII 1GHz in the head, hard, in Spec benchmarks. For more, here's the word from Ace's Hardware:
"As you can see, these are SPEC CPU2000 results for the 900 MHz Sun Blade, compared to other systems. The results are fairly respectable. The 900 MHz UltraSPARC III is head-to-head with the 1 GHz Pentium III in SPECint, while it has a substantial advantage over Intel's best in floating-point results. The chip is also doing very well in the RISC pack, and particularly against HP. In fact, the only chip outperforming the USIII is the Alpha EV67, which has an appreciable lead at similiar clock-rates. It will be interesting to see how things turn out when the EV68 is finally released, as we will eventually be able to compare these two on an above-1 GHz landscape.
One major advantage the UltraSPARC III has over its contemporaries is its memory subsystem. The integrated memory controller allows memory bandwidth to scale as more and more CPUs are added, and the chip has been designed to scale up to 1000 processors..."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Motorola's New MPC7410 Microprocessor Delivers on the Promise of High Performance Smart Networks
September 27, 2000
NEW MPC7410 MICROPROCESSOR
FOR RELEASE:
26 September 2000
Motorola's New MPC7410 Microprocessor Delivers on the Promise of High Performance Smart Networks
Networking infrastructure applications to benefit from computational performance and high bandwidth
AUSTIN, TEXAS -- September 26, 2000 -- Delivering new levels of performance, Motorola (NYSE:MOT) today introduced the second of its fourth-generation (G4) PowerPC™ microprocessors, the MPC7410 with AltiVec™ technology. Designed for high-performance, high-bandwidth applications, the MPC7410 offers unrivaled PowerPC performance and provides a compelling solution for host processor requirements in next generation networking equipment. Motorola's G4 family of PowerPC microprocessors with AltiVec technology are ideal for network control and storage, telecommunications, high-end embedded, scientific and computing applications.
"Our customers demand host processors with high performance and low power dissipation to drive their systems. Delivering PowerPC performance within the Smart Networks Platform offers them an open environment to develop a wide range of products, " commented Brian Wilkie, corporate vice president and general manager of Motorola's Computing Platform Division. "The foundation of Motorola's Smart Networks Platform is the vast amount of application software that runs on the PowerPC family developed specifically for the networking and communications marketplace."
The MPC7410, like the MPC7400, supports full symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) capabilities necessary for designing highly scalable and dense networking systems. Additionally, the MPC7410 implements Motorola's high-bandwidth MPX system bus, capable of achieving data rates up to 6.4 Gigabits/second, which can provide up to 5 times the bus performance over previous generation G3 processors. A unique L2 private memory mode allows system designers the choice of operating the processor's L2 cache as either a fast backside cache or as high-speed system memory, ideal for storing interrupt service routines or critical data structures.
To further enrich performance, software can be optimized to utilize the MPC7410's AltiVec technology to help achieve huge gains in performance ideal for signal processing in addition to host processor functionality.
"Building a Carrier Class product requires scale and flexibility to quickly adapt to the stringent and varying needs of our target customers," said John O'Hara, vice president of engineering, WaveSmith Networks. "The key features of the MPC7410 that locked up our decision were the internal 128-bit AltiVec technology and MPX bus capabilities, along with the excellent upgrade path of the G4 family and track record of software compatibility that Motorola has shown again and again."
Compatible with the entire PowerPC family of microprocessors dating to 1991, the MPC7410 is the first of Motorola's microprocessors to be manufactured in the HiPerMOS 6 (HiP6) 0.18-micron copper fabrication process. This move to Motorola's most advanced manufacturing process make the MPC7410 ideal for high performance networking systems.
"Motorola's new low power MPC7410 microprocessor adds performance and flexibility to its existing G4 family. Viewed in the context of other recent introductions in the networking market, the MPC7410 reveals Motorola's strategy to be a leading one-stop shopping provider for advanced systems," said Max Baron, principal analyst for Cahners In-Stat Group.
The MPC7410 PowerPC microprocessor with AltiVec technology is available in 400, 450, and 500 MHz versions. Suggested list pricing is $95, $135 and $195 respectively, in quantities of 10,000 units.
Motorola is highlighting updates to the Smart Networks Platform this week in booth #516 at the Embedded Systems Conference and booth #4354 at the Networld+Interop tradeshows.
For technical specifications, application notes, and more information visit: http://www.motorola.com/smartnetworks
About Motorola
As the world's #1 producer of embedded processors, Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector offers multiple DigitalDNA™ technologies which enable its customers to create "smart" products and new business opportunities in the networking and computing, wireless communications, transportation, and imaging and entertainment markets. Motorola's worldwide semiconductor sales were $7.4 billion (USD) in 1999. http://www.motorola.com/semiconductors/
Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT) is a global leader in providing integrated communications solutions and embedded electronic solutions. Sales in 1999 were $33.1 billion. http://www.motorola.com
# # #
MOTOROLA, the Stylized M Logo and all other trademarks indicated as such herein are trademarks of Motorola, Inc. Reg. U.S Pat. & Tm Off. All other product or service names are the property of their trademark owner respective owners.
© 2000 Motorola, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.
Editorial Contact:
US: Jennifer Richter
MS&L Global Technology
Phone: +805-230-8280
Email: jrichter@msltech.com
Reader Contact:
Nelda Currah
Motorola
Phone: +512-933-8536
Email: nelda.currah@motorola.com
Posted by Colin Cordner
Motorola releases updated PowerPC "G4" processor
September 27, 2000
Hio SIMD Fans,
The first bit of CPU news for the day comes from the fine folks at Motorola Inc. who have just announced the release of a new, updated "G4" processor: the PowerPC 7410. Essentially, the PPC7410 is an updated PPC7400, with the only differences being the former's lower power consumption (6W-7W for the PPC7410 vs. 10W-12W for the PPC7400), and a finer manufacturing process, which has the 7410 printed with 0.18 micron line-widths (as opposed to the 7400's 0.22 micron process).
Other than that, of course, 'tis the same old, same old; though Motorola reps are expecting the new processor to ramp up to 550MHz immediately. Up until now, Motorola has had a difficult time getting G4's to run at over 500MHz, so this does qualify as a sort of milestone.
The big news, of course, will still be the final launch of the long-awaited G4e CPU, which is rumoured to utilize Silicon-On-Insulator technology, as well as an enhanced core, and SIMD unit. Just around the corner, we're told.........
(For more info on the Motorola announcement, scoot over to our Press-Release section for the full moxie)
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Review of the Gigabyte GA-6OXM7E mainboard
September 26, 2000
The Gigabyte GA-60XM7E is practically identical to the GA-60XM7. The only actual differences on the 6OXM7E consist of the 4 (rather than 3) DIMM sockets, the Dual BIOS system, and an optional integrated Creative CT5880 sound card, plus a handful of other functions. By being an ATX format board, though, the GA-60XM7E manages to distinguish itself from the majority of i815E logic-boards we've received for testing of late as most of the previous boards were micro ATX boards. To learn more about this new product from Gigabyte, read the review :)
Posted by Chris Verr
New Screens Mean True 3-D For PCs
September 26, 2000
Wired News has an an interesting article detailing a true 3D monitor. That's right: no more of that "3-dimensions, rendered to a 2-dimensional medium" stuff for us. Deep Video Imaging Ltd's flat-panel display actually sandwiches two LCD panels on top of each other, the front-most of which is translucent. The result of this setup is the ability to render a seperate image to each layer, thus creating a truly "3D" image (okay, so its actually two, overlaid 2D images, but that's definetly a step forward). Better yet, the system is cross-platform, and is capable of working with a variety of Windows, Macintosh, and Unix systems.
The down-side? Well, it seems that a 3-D LCD will set your bank-account back by about $7500(USD), or $15000(USD) if you happen to be purchasing the development kit. Yikes. Here's a snip from the article:
"Even with that relatively thin design, an image can be made to look far off in the distance and then brought forward, according to Hamish MacLeod, director of business development for Deep Video, based in Hamilton, New Zealand.
To achieve the 3-D image, the 12bx LCD panel requires PCs with two 3-D graphics cards that support Microsoft's Direct3D API. The display also works with Macintosh, Unix or other system that use standard analog video (SVGA) output and support 3-D..."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Intel release 850MHz mobile Pentium III processor
September 26, 2000
Intel's New Pentium® III Processors Bring Top Performance And Optimal Battery Life To Mobile PCs
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 25, 2000 - Intel Corporation today introduced new mobile Pentium® III processors with Intel® SpeedStep™ technology that bring higher performance and optimum battery life to mobile PCs. The world's leading PC manufacturers are introducing full size as well as "thin and light" notebooks based on the new Intel processors, delivering as much as five to six hours of battery life depending on system configuration.
Intel SpeedStep technology is the industry's first dynamic frequency and voltage scaling technology, automatically detecting whether the user is on AC power or battery power to deliver the optimum balance between performance and battery life. The new mobile Pentium III processor 850 MHz featuring Intel SpeedStep technology runs at 1.65 volts in Maximum Performance Mode and automatically drops to 1.35 volts and 700 MHz in Battery Optimized Mode. The mobile Pentium III processor 800 MHz with Intel SpeedStep technology runs at 1.65 volts in Maximum Performance Mode and automatically drops to 1.35 volts and 650 MHz in Battery Optimized Mode. Both consume less than two watts of power to enable longer battery life.
The company also introduced a mobile Intel® Celeron™ processor at 700 MHz, the top-performing processor for value mobile PCs. All three processors are available immediately.
"The world's leading PC manufacturers are using Intel mobile technology to provide users with the best combination of high performance and battery life for today's advanced PC and Internet software," said Don MacDonald, marketing director at Intel's Mobile Platforms Group. "Intel SpeedStep technology is helping PC makers deliver near desktop-equivalent performance in smaller, lighter mobile PCs that run longer."
The new processors also take advantage of Intel's QuickStart technology, which automatically places the processor in a power-saving mode of below one-half watt when full performance is not required -- such as between key strokes -- and instantly returns to full performance when needed.
Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom.
* Third party marks and brands are property of their respective holders
** For more information on Intel's mobile power measurement, please visit: http://intel.com/mobile/index.htm
Posted by Colin Cordner
Microsoft Windows®2000 Patch for AGP Applications on AMD Athlon™ and AMD Duron™ Processors
September 26, 2000
A patch has been released for AMD Athlon & Duron systems that have been experiencing AGP troubles when running Windows 2000. You can get the patch here.
Thanks go out to the gents at RIVA Station for the heads up!
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Review of DIV Games Studio @ 3DGameGear
September 26, 2000
Well, it may not be strictly hardware related, but what good natured hardware freak doesn't enjoy stressing their system under the latest 3D frag-a-thon? Well, it seems that at least one software house has decided to make the whole escapade a lot freakyier by letting you develop your own pixel-stressing games, with a minimum of fuss. Here's a clip from the 3DGG review:
"This software is a complete programming package in one. It contains an art program for creating realistic monsters, or highly detailed animated heroes. It can read BMPs, PCXs, and itís own special MAP files. A sound programming is also included for recording specialized sound effects or for converting .WAV files. And a versatile font generator for making your title screen pop out of the screen. All of these are including right in the program, no closing down DIV to get to the art program. Just open up files directly from itís desktop. Anyone with a 486 or higher can make a complete game in under 30 minutes..."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Launch of Case Modders Australia
September 26, 2000
Hio Launch Fans,
The theme of the day seems to be site launches, with the case in point being these guys: another bunch of wacky OZites who will go to no end of trouble to tweak their systems! Here's what they had to say for themselves:
"Hiya :) Case Modders Australia is a new site run and managed by yours truly. It is mostly a site dedicated to us overclockers who love to mod our cases silly by doing all manner of weird stuff to them for coolness and well.. coolness :) At this stage my site has only been running for about a month and have current news, a case mod's gallery and articles. Reviews are sure to come in due course. For the meantime im sending you this to tell you about a new article i have posted about 'rounding' IDE cables. I also have articles about modding a case, a PSU and changing front LED's on a PC. a Paintjob article is coming soon. Thanks for your time and support by giving a new site a plug and if you have case mod or cooling stuff and would like the favor returned email away! :) Cheers. Andrew Battye aka: Junkz."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
S3 Graphics and VIA Launch First Integrated Graphics Core Logic Chipset withFull AMD Support
September 26, 2000
<<...>>
VIA Technologies, Inc.
533 Chung Cheng Road 8F | Hsin Tien, Taipei | Taiwan
Tel: (8862) 2218-5452 | Fax: (8862) 2218-5453 | http://www.via.com.tw
For Immediate Release
S3 Graphics and VIA Launch First Integrated Graphics Core Logic Chipset with Full AMD Support
ProSavageTM KM133 - Powerful New Joint Venture Product Sets New Industry Standard for Scalability and Performance
SANTA CLARA, CA. - September 26, 2000 - As part of their joint venture, S3
Graphics, a division of S3* Incorporated (Nasdaq: SIII), and VIA Technologies, Inc. today announced the availability of the ProSavage KM133, the first integrated graphics core logic chipset with full support for the Socket A AMD DuronTM and AthlonTM processors. Combining VIA's industry-leading Apollo KT133 chipset with the award-winning S3 Savage4TM 3D and Savage2000TM 2D graphics engines, the ProSavage KM133 sets a new standard for high performance integrated chipsets in high-volume AMD-based value PCs.
"AMD is excited about the performance the VIA ProSavage KM133 chipset delivers to value-conscious users when paired with AMD's high-speed 200MHz front side bus and performance enhancing cache technology included in both the Athlon and Duron processors," said Richard Heye, Vice President and General Manager, AMD's Texas Microprocessor Division. "When placed next to the rich video features of the integrated S3 Savage4 AGP 4X graphics core, which includes advanced 3D texturing technology, hardware DVD support and multiple display options, you are left with a low-priced machine with high-performance power."
"The VIA Apollo KT133 chipset maximizes the full performance of AMD's Duron and Athlon Socket A processors. This, combined with S3 Graphics' market leading Savage4 and Savage2000 graphics engines, sets a new benchmark for AMD-based systems," commented Wen-Chi Chen, President and CEO of VIA Technologies. "This integrated graphics core logic chipset provides unrivalled competitive advantages for OEMs and Systems Integrators looking to build powerful, feature-rich PCs addressing multiple market segments."
"The launch of the ProSavage KM133 closely follows the successful shipment of our first joint venture product, the Intel compatible ProSavage PM133 and shows our commitment to bringing the best in high-performance chipsets to the value PC market," commented Rick Bergman, Chief Operating Officer, S3 Graphics. "The breaking of technological barriers through continued innovation in our respective fields of expertise will continue to be a key objective of the joint venture between S3 Graphics and VIA."
ProSavage KM133 Features
The ProSavage KM133 is a Shared Memory Architecture (SMA) chipset for the high-volume Value PC segment that integrates the VIA Apollo KT133 and the S3 Savage4 graphics core in a single, compact and cost-effective form. With a high speed 200 MHz Front Side Bus and supporting up to 2GB of the latest PC133 SDRAM and VC133 DRAM, the ProSavage KM133 is designed to optimize the performance of the full range of AMD Socket Athlon and Duron processors.
The ProSavage KM133 integrates key graphics features such as AGP4X, 32-bit full color rendering, S3TC texture compression, multi-texturing, hardware motion compensation for high quality DVD playback, and flexible display options for TVs or DVI 1.0 compliant Digital Flat Panels. To provide OEMs and Systems Integrators with flexible future graphics upgrade options, the ProSavage KM133 also features and optional expansion port.
In addition, the South Bridge offers AC-97 audio, MC-97 modem, Super I/O and ATA-66/100 support, networking or Home PNA, four USB ports, and LPC (Low Pin Count) bus, enabling the low cost integration of a full range of multimedia and communications features for AMD Duron processor-based Value PC systems.
Key Features
Supports AMD Athlon and AMD Duron processors
200MHz Front Side Bus
Integrated S3 Graphics' Savage4 3D graphics engine
External AGP4X expansion interface for optional graphics card upgrades
Supports up to 2.0GB of 100/133MHz SDRAM and VCM memory types
PCI 2.2
ATA 33/66/100
4 USB ports
Integrated AC-Link for AC-97 audio and HSP Modem
Integrated Super I/O and Hardware Monitoring
Integrated KBC, RTC
Integrated Network Controller to support either 10/100 Base-T Ethernet or
1/10MB Home PNA
Supports AMD PowerNowTM and advanced system power management with ACPI and
OnNow
North Bridge: 552-pin BGA VT8365
South Bridge: 376-pin BGA VT8231
Pricing & Availability
Samples of the ProSavage KM133 are available now, and the product will enter mass production in Q4 2000. The ProSavage KM133 is priced at $40 in OEM quantities. Motherboards featuring the ProSavage KM133 will be on display at the forthcoming VIA Technology Forums in Taipei on 20-21st September, Tokyo on 22nd September, Beijing on 25th September and Munich 27th September 2000.
About VIA Technologies, Inc
VIA Technologies, Inc is the world's leading fabless supplier of PC core logic chipsets, microprocessors, and multimedia and communications chips. VIA delivers value to the PC industry by designing, marketing, and selling high-performance VIA Apollo core logic chipsets for the full range of PC platforms, as well as cost-effective VIA Cyrix* processors for Value PCs and Internet Appliances. Its customers include the world's top OEMs, mainboard manufacturers, and system integrators.
VIA is headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, at the center of the Greater China high-tech manufacturing engine, and has branch offices in the US, China and Europe. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE2388), and achieved annual revenues of US$356 million in 1999.
About S3 Graphics
S3 Graphics, a division of S3 Incorporated, has signed a formal agreement to enter into a joint venture with VIA Technologies. S3 Graphics specializes in discrete and integrated graphics for the mobile and desktop market. The joint venture harnesses the product strengths of both companies combining S3's cutting-edge graphics and video capabilities with VIA's market-leading core logic chipset technology. S3 Graphics has already shipped two integrated products for the desktop with VIA, and is working to an exciting and aggressive roadmap of future product releases.
About S3 Incorporated
Relaunched as an Internet appliance company, S3 is focused on creating products and partnerships that help build the digital home. With significant financial assets, global marketing capabilities and a focused technology portfolio, that includes RioTM digital audio players, HomeFreeTM home networking solutions, internet access products, discrete and integrated graphics chips, and forthcoming information appliances, S3 is now set to relaunch itself as a leading innovator in the rapidly converging Internet and consumer device markets.
VIA PR Contacts
US Contact: Timothy Chen International Contact:Richard Brown
Phone: (510)-908-9697 Phone: (886)-2-2218-5452 #6201
Fax: (510)-683-3301 Fax: (886)-2-2218-5453
Email: Timothy_Chen@via.com.tw Email: Richard_Brown@via.com.tw
S3 PR Contact
UK Contact: Hypa Creative Ltd Deborah Hermans
Phone: +44 208 742 8668
Email: deb@hypacreative.com
Note to reporters, editors and writers: VIA is spelled in ALL CAPS.
Posted by Colin Cordner
Microsoft Windows "Whistler" Preview @ Bootmax
September 25, 2000
Bootmax.com is currently featuring a short & mostly-sweet preview of an early build of Microsoft's next, post-Millenium Windows OS: "Whistler". Here a brief clip of what they had to share:
"Microsoft is finally working on an OS that merges the 9x and NT technologies! That means no more useless 9x upgrades that do almost nothing, (like Windows 98SE and ME). Hopefully this new Windows OS will meet expectations of both gamers and businesses. Microsoft originally planned a NT based consumer OS codenamed Neptune, which was an upgrade to the just released Windows Millennium. Odyssey was also in the works at Microsoft which was the next Windows 2000 version for businesses, but now both Neptune and Odyssey are now being developed into a single OS codenamed: Whistler...!"
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Thermaltake "Chrome Orb" heatsink review @ Hexus.net
September 25, 2000
Hexus.net has performed a review of Thermaltake's latest addition to the Socket A platform: the Chrome Orb heatsink/fan. Asides from being real pretty to look at, the Chrome Orb also seems to move more than its share of heat. Here's a clip:
"Right then first things first I cleaned off the thermal pad that came with this, this is the pink stuff make sure this goes! Also remove the pink tab from the cooler. (you don't have to do this but I am a Perfectionist!!) and clean the surface with medical alcohol (No this isn't my favorite tipple) and apply a thin amount of white heat sink compound to the CPU and ORB.
Mounting of the ORB was very easy even though it does get very close to the capacitors by the Socket A Housing. I was very impressed that on one side of the mounting clip there were three eyelets compared to the normal one on most Socket A heatsinks, this stopped the ORB from moving around whilst securing the other side of the mounting clip and thus gave me plenty of confidence that I hadn't spread the heatsink compound everywhere which is the general feeling I get when fitting me generic heatsink with only one eyelet either side and which also can rock about too much and chip the edge of your CPU off which is highly dangerous...!"
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Overclock System Bundle Review @ The Tech Zone
September 25, 2000
For something a little less "hands on" than the average Overclocking project, you may want to check out The Tech Zone's review of the Overclock System Bundle from the OverclockWarehouse. The Overclock System Bundle holds everything you need to clock your system beyond its rated limits, and its all under warranty! Here's a snip:
"As the "art" of overclocking has taken a foothold among the PC elite, specialist companies, started by guys like you and me, have started popping up, catering to the needs of the overclocker. These companies do the hard work of finding workable combinations of system boards, cpu's, memory, and heatsinks, and sell them as a bundle, often with a warranty. The whole idea of course is to make the process of building an overclocked system generally as painless as building a regular system, albeit at an additional cost. The guy that's done the homework for you certainly deserves a buck or two for his troubles. Enter OverclockWarehouse...!"
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
ASUS CUSL2 motherboard review @ Flipchip
September 25, 2000
Flipchip has performed their very own review of the CUSL2 motherboard from Asus, and sent along this clip for your viewing enjoyement:
"Question: What does the African Rainforest and the CUSL2 have in common?
Answer: BUGS! Flipchip.net has a review of the ASUS CUSL2 with the Intel 815E chipset and although happy with the overall performance and stability found the bugs to more than just the average nuisance! The other monitoring functions of the PC probe are just as reliable. The voltage readings for no apparent reason drop off the scale every 5 minutes or so with the +12V instantly falling to 4V or the 12V spiking to -3V! Fan readings crap out on demand and even send their fun errata over to the Hmon causing readings of 14,000+ RPMs. I am not a scientist or have a major on the laws of centrifugal force but I think that if any of the fans inside my case suddenly began spinning at 14,673 RPMs things could get real ugly...!"
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Asus A7V Review @ Hexus.net
September 25, 2000
Hio Tracelings,
Today is a day for motherboard reviews, and to kick things off, we have news of this review by Hexus.net of the Asus A7V. Here's a clip:
"The A7V is the only Socket a motherboard in Asus' range, but if experiences with its previous motherboards are anything to go by, the A7V will sure be a winner. There seem to be three revisions of this board in existence, one with Onboard Audio, one with Multiplier Dip-Switches and one with both of these features. The latter is very rear, but the one with Multiplier Dip-Switches is the most interesting, as it allows limitless overclocking potential when used with a willing CPU. The version that I tested is revision 1.01, which has no onboard audio but does have the dipswitches..."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
New & Improved CPU Price Guide @ AthlonOC
September 22, 2000
The folks at AthlonOC dropped us a line recently to tell us that they've tweaked their CPU Price Guide to include the PIII, Athlon "T-Bird", the Intel Celeron, and the AMD Duron. Here's the word, straight from the 'clocker's mouth:
"Finally we will be able to update the old price guide once every two weeks, except now with the Duron and the Tbird out we decided to compare the Duron, Tbird, Pentium 3, and Celeron. We thought that maybe if we did this it would help keep you away from the darkside AKA Intel. Also a new feature is I'll be showing you a price/performance ratio, keep in mind a very simple one, that should allow you to see which CPU really has the most bang for it's buck. Afterall, that's what we are all about isn't it? Getting the most for our money? Hell yes it is...!"
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Arctic Silver Review @ Hexus.net
September 22, 2000
Well, as every good Overclocker 'aught to know, these days the best paste 'ain't for eating, but rather for pasting; on your best CPU that is! Yessir we're speaking of Arctic Silver thermal paste - the kind that'll make your heatsink & CPU tighter than a gaggle of bank execs - and Hexus.net has taped up their own review of the stuff. Here's a bit of what they had to say:
"To achieve this smooth service it is a lot of work, a lot of people when the first batch of celerons were out people went out and lapped the cpus to make it in to a mirror setup. They did this to get rid of the air in the gaps, air sucks to be honest the only use is to let you breathe. You could mill your heatsink and cpu and make it perfectly flat, but how many people do you know with a milling machine? well nor do I. Also this would be expensive to take to a shop to do.
So whets the next best thing, well Thermal paste, this has been around a long time it was used on the 486s to hold the heatsinks on the cpus, but back then they didn't understand what was the best way to do it, they just put a massive glob on the cpu and stuck the heatsink to it using this, which didn't help much, but the cpus didn't get too hot and therefore it didn't matter, nowadays it is a different story..."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Z3 Heatsink Series Review @ ClubOverclocker
September 22, 2000
For some good 'ole, down-home heatsinkin', and Overclockin', head no further folks than ClubOverclocker, and their review of the Z3 series! Here's a clip you'll love I guarunteee ;P:
"I have no problems saying that the Z3 series heatsinks are the best liquid cooled heatsinks I have ever seen! The review samples I've looked at not only have an excellent design to ensure maximum cooling, but they are also professionally built with the highest level of quality that can only be compared to the likes of Alpha. Let's hope CPUfx keeps up the awesome work!"
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
How to kill an Athlon...
September 22, 2000
A tragedy occured at CPUReview earlier this week, when a young, yet valued member of the crew met with an unexpected Overclocking mishap, and was zapped of this mortal coil well before the date of its first birthday... Yes friends, I'm speaking of Bill Henning's favorite "Slot A" Athlon 500MHz. It is survived by it two siblings, Duron, and Thunderbird, as well as its second cousins of the K6 family. It will be missed. Here's a clip from the dear departed's eulogy, as spoken by Mr. Henning :
"Argh.
Since I painfully found out how NOT to disassemble an Athlon I thought I'd share my experiences with my readers... hopefully preventing some more premature Athlon deaths.
If you think your readers would be interested, I'd appreciate a mention on your fine news page. Maybe we can save some Athlons out there...
Best Regards,
Bill"
"Alas poor K7, I knew him well Horatio..." ;)
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Videologic Vivid! 32Mb Kyro Review @ Chick's Hardware
September 22, 2000
In this time of rampant domination of the 3D graphics market by a little company named nVidia, it comes as a bit of a relief to hear of a review of a card that doesn't include the digits "256". To whit, we have news of Chick's Hardware, and their review of the Videologic Vivid! 32MB Kyro graphics card, which is based on the new Kyro chipset from Imagination Technologies. Here's a clip:
"With the current trend of 'I have more graphics chips than you' and 'I have a bigger fillrate than you' it's refreshing to see a graphics card with a different perspective. Enter the Kyro processor from PowerVR - effectively the PowerVR3. Designed in Britain by Imagination Technologies and built by STMicro, the Kyro Processor employs Tile Based Rendering to pull off miracles with a fill rate others would be ashamed off. Can the British likely lads pull off this party trick better than their previous attempts...?"
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Everglide Mouse Bungee Review @ Tweaktown
September 22, 2000
If bungees are your thing, but you spend most of your day chained to the desk, it may be time to bring the bungee experience to work with the Mouse Bungee! Or at least Tweaktown's http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/mousebungee/" target="new">review of the device... Here's a clip:
"What, your kidding aren't you? This is what I thought when Everglide contacted us asking if we would like to do a review of the new "Mouse Bungee" mouse control device. According to the box the
Mouse Bungee will, "Wipe out mousecord snags and drags!" I have seen products like this a few years ago which archive the same purpose, the Mouse Bungee is by far more sexier and efficient. Now your asking "How can one of these things be more efficient?" Simple, they take up less room and work in a more effective way. Also, according to the box the Mouse Bungee is perfect for any desktop, and if you do not have a cordless mouse, you shouldn't experience any "compatibility problems". Heh!"
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Boston Acoutsitcs BA4800 speaker review @ 3AG
September 22, 2000
Hio Audiophiles,
To start the day off on a good note, and to soundly answer all of your needs, we have news of 3AG's review of the Boston Acoustics BA4800 speaker set. Here's what David Hanson had to chime in:
"In the quest for good speakers that do not cost too much money, we look into many names which have been previously established in the home theater and car audio markets and are know venturing to the PC audio arena. One of these companies is Boston Acoustics. They have a respected namesake that has been recognized with time for quality in car and home audio..."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Living Up to Gordon's Expectations...
September 21, 2000
Of all the technologies that have changed the world in the last 50 years, the transistor has taken a pre-eminent place in our imaginations. The invention that has allowed scientists, and engineers to create fabulously tiny integrated circuits (ICs) has also allowed the economy to be neatly flipped on its head. While the IC will continue to be the driving force behind a great deal of our future technological, economic, and cultural change, the people behind its continued evolution are increasingly faced with problems arising from the miniaturization of the IC's many components.
To find out what our beloved collaborator Colin Cordner has writen on the subject of microminiaturisation, read "Living Up to Gordon's Expectations".
Posted by Chris Verr
Dell Demos Itanium Workstation
September 21, 2000
Dell demonstrated a prototype Itanium-based workstation late yesterday night, according to this article at Techweb. The prototype was apparently equipped with two 733MHz Itanium microprocessors from Intel, and was demonstrated running an pre-Alpha build of Microsoft's forthcoming 64-bit "Wistler" rendition of the Windows operating system. Here's a brief snip from the article:
"The Precision workstation demonstrated a functional version of build 2257 of the Microsoft “Whistler” 64-bit operating system, adapted for workstations. The workstation also ran a functional 64-bit version of NewTek Inc.'s Lightwave 6.0 3-D animation tool. Dell's Precision will include 7 PCI slots, an AGP Pro graphics slot, and an 800-watt power supply,
"Itanium will be needed in workstations for two reasons," the Dell manager said. "First, there will be the higher floating-point performance. Second, even workstations will run into the 2-Gbyte-per-processor limit [of 32-bit operating systems and processors]..."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
VIA Announces Launch of VIA Cyrix® III Mobile Processor featuring Innovative LongHaul™ Power Saving Technology
September 21, 2000
VIA Announces Launch of VIA Cyrix® III Mobile Processor featuring Innovative LongHaul™ Power Saving Technology
Extends battery life by up to 50% to provide a cost-effective, power-efficient plug-in processor solution for Socket 370 Value notebooks
Taipei, Taiwan, 20 September, 2000 -- VIA Technologies, Inc. today announced the launch of the Mobile VIA Cyrix III® processor featuring innovative LongHaul™ power saving technology, which extends notebook battery life by up to 50%.
Available at speeds of 500MHz to 600MHz, the VIA Cyrix® III mobile processor delivers dependable performance for a full range of Internet and personal and office productivity applications to provide the ideal plug-in solution for value notebooks based on a standard Socket 370 form factor. It also has an exceptionally small die size of 76mm2, which minimizes heat dissipation and power consumption.
"The VIA Cyrix® III mobile processor gives value notebook users such as businesspeople and students the performance, reliability, and power saving properties they need when they're away from their desks," commented Richard Brown, VIA's Director of Marketing "With VIA's innovative LongHaul™ power management technology, the VIA Cyrix® III helps them to significantly increase their productivity as a result of the notebook's extended battery life."
VIA's LongHaul™ Technology
VIA's LongHaul™ power management technology optimizes battery life by allowing the processor to run at different voltages and frequencies through a combination of hardware and software controls. When the notebook is connected to AC power, the processor runs at maximum voltage and frequency in High Performance Mode. When the notebook is disconnected, the user can switch the device to Performance Mode or Power Saving Mode via a simple control panel in Windows®. Under Performance Mode, the system monitors usage and changes the voltage and operating frequency on demand while minimizing power consumption, while under Power Saving Mode, the processor runs at the minimum voltage and frequency to maximize battery life.
Pricing & Availability
The VIA Cyrix® III mobile processor is available now at speeds of 500MHz to 600MHz. Prices start at US$55 for a minimum 1K order. Further information is available upon request.
PR Contacts
US Contact
Timothy Chen
Tel: (510)-908-9697
e-mail: Timothy_Chen@via.com.tw
International Contact
Richard Brown
Tel: (886) 2-2218-5452 x6201
e-mail: Richard_Brown@via.com.tw
Posted by Colin Cordner
Review of AT&T fixed wireless Internet service
September 21, 2000
BoomGames.com has wrapped up a review of a new form of "broadband" Internet service currently being tested by AT&T in the U.S.A.
The new tech is a fixed, 2-way, wireless connection which promises to offer T1 speeds, without the need to wire the neighbourhood, or your home. With all good things, though, there is usually a catch. In this case, it seems to be AT&T's questionable customer service... Here's a snip:
"The difference between fixed wireless and other high speed internet connections is a few nice additions on the high speed arena - the most obvious being that it is a wireless connection to the internet. AT&T has placed digital broadband towers in the general vicinity to broadcast and receive data from the subscribers' homes. The subscribers, in turn, would place a transmitter/receiver on the roof of their houses facing the tower. The device in question is approximately the size of a clipboard, and about as thick as a pizza box. The device is made of stainless steel with a plastic facial, so you don't have to worry about rust..."
Thanks to ArsTechnica for the link.
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
The basics of NTFS: an initial detailing
September 21, 2000
If you've ever - even for a moment - considered replacing your Win9x operating system with something a bit more... uhhhh, with-it, the natural "upgrade" that has probably occured to you is to adopt one of Microsoft's "industrial" OSes: Windows NT, or Windows 2000. Of course, as anyone who has ever used either will tell you, there's a long road seperating the Win90's from 2000.
One of the more important differences, in fact, is the NTFS file system, and all the funky new powers & trials that go with it. No worries though, because to help you out with your ordeal in decyphering this juggernaut, ArsTechnica's Matt "Panders" Anderson has written up a little something he likes to call "The Evolution of NTFS". Here's a snip:
"As big of a change NTFS was (as you'll see), Microsoft has managed to deliver a high-quality file system that shames FAT (16 or 32), and easily rivals the other systems UNIX flavors use. And they have managed (by maintaining 8.3 truncation support) to do this in a way that legacy apps like WordPerfect 6.1 can still run on top of it. In short NTFS is an example of something done quite well..."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Handspring to release new colour PDA
September 21, 2000
Hio Fellow Condensor Freaks,
The Rumour-Of-The-Day for the 21st of September, is this report from ZDNet which reports that Handspring is planning to release a PDA capable of displaying 65 536 (16-bit) colours.
The Handspring Visor PDA is based upon the Palm OS, and the new model is expected to compete with Palm's own IIIc, 8-bit colour PDA. The expected release date for the new Visor, and - incidently - a new cellular module, is October 19, and September 25 respectively. Here's a snip from the ZDNet article:
"Handspring's first PDA with a color screen is the $449 Visor Prism. Palm released its color IIIc earlier this year, but the display was limited to 256 colors. The Prism will have 16-bit color screen generating 65,536 colors and will be pushed as a game player. It will be bundled with at least one game.
Competing PDAs from Compaq and HP, based on Microsoft's Pocket PC platform, have been using color displays for about three years..."
Cheers!
"
Posted by Colin Cordner
SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. ANNOUNCES A TWO-FOR-ONE STOCK SPLIT
September 21, 2000
SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. ANNOUNCES A TWO-FOR-ONE STOCK SPLIT
PALO ALTO, CA -- August 17, 2000 -- Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) announced that its Board of Directors, at its regularly scheduled meeting on August 16, 2000, approved a two-for-one stock split, to be effected in the form of a stock dividend, subject to stockholder approval of an increase in the Company's authorized shares of Common Stock to 7.2 billion shares. Such approval will be sought at the Company's Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on November 8, 2000 (the record date for which is September 12, 2000). Subject to receiving such stockholder approval, the Record Date for the stock split will be November 9, 2000. Stock certificates representing one additional share for each share held on the Record Date will be mailed to stockholders on or about December 5, 2000, the Payable Date. Should stockholder approval be obtained, the stock split will increase the number of shares outstanding from approximately 1,604,000,000 to approximately 3,208,000,000 shares.
About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision - The Network Is The Computer[tm] -- has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW), to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that power the Internet and allow companies worldwide to dot-com their businesses. With $15.7 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 170 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com.
PR Contacts for Press and Analysts:
Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Investors) Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Media) Sun Microsystems, Inc.
(Analysts)
Mark Paisley
(650)336-2238
mark.paisley@sun.com
Elizabeth McNichols
(650) 786-0368
elizabeth.mcnichols@sun.com
Angela Grady
(650) 786-7252
angela.grady@sun.com
Posted by Colin Cordner
Celeron 2 Overclocking with Unix
September 20, 2000
For something completely different, you may want to give this article a try-on. In it, Hexus.net goes on an Overclocking spin, with the novel difference of performing their usual voodoo under a different OS: Linux. Not a bad change of pace, all said. Here's a snip:
"As you can see the motherboard is packed full of goodies. The motherboard worked well straight out of the box with a vanilla 2.2.16 kernel. To get some of the extra features some more options needed to be compiled in. The motherboard and Linux worked very very well together and unlike some manufacturers there were no real headaches involved in getting it up and running..."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
The Future of Set-top Boxes
September 20, 2000
Hio Fellow Couch Potatoes,
Today, for your entertainment pleasure, we have news of the Digital Silence's latest article: The Future of Set-top Boxes. Here's a snip:
"Microsoft TV? No thanks...
The big companies of Set-top Boxes are starting to look elsewhere...to vendors like Larry Ellisons' Liberate. Why? Because they have a massive customer list (http://customers.liberate.com/index.html).
Liberate has just sealed a contract from one of Europe's largest cable operators, UPC, (http://press.liberate.com/archives/2000/090900_upc.html) consisting of almost 500,000 users. UPC was going to use Microsoft TV software, but because of delays, UPC went to Liberate. AT&T, the largest operator of cable TV networks in the US, might go that way as well (also waiting on Microsoft).
Now, Microsoft might say, "yeah, but Phillips has licensed Microsoft TV software" (http://www.microsoft.com/tv/news/ne_philips_etv.asp). However, Philips already had an agreement with Liberate (http://press.liberate.com/archives/2000/090800_ibc.html)...."
It's got chills, it's got thrills, it's even got jullian fries! Hmmmm, who the heck is Jullian Fries anyhow... ;P
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Matrox G450 graphics card review @ TechnoYard.com
September 19, 2000
Today, we've also got more news on the Matrox G450 graphics card in the form of this review by the gents at TechnoYard.com. Here's a snip of what they had to say:
"A dualHead G400 still costs around $180-200. Where as the G450 will be available for just $145.Essentially what Matrox has done with their new offering is focus on the strengths of the G400 for business use and hold back competing in the gaming market for a newer chip. In other words the G450 is a jazzed up and tweaked version of the G400, focusing on the DualHead feature. When I spoke to a personal from Matrox he was very clear in pointing out, that the G450 is mainly for the corporate user and not the every day gamer. We will check out how far this statement complies with the G450's performance at the benchmarks.
The chip uses the new .18-micron process, which makes the chip run cooler, makes it more compact and consume less power than the .25-micro process of the G400..."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Vantec Bay Freezer Review @ ClubOverClocker
September 19, 2000
Lest you get the impression that every bit of news here at Active-Hardware is necessarily good news, we've also come up with a link to ClubOverClocker's review of the Vantec Bay Freezer - the cooling kit that just may break a poor geek's heart. Think "Some Assembly Required". Here's a clip from the execution:
""Vantec really dropped the ball on this one. Our "fully assembled" product wasn't exactly FULLY ASSEMBLED. Both fans blades were popped off the fan motors so we had to repair the Bay Freezer before we could test it! It is possible that this could have happened during shipping but it looks more like a result of shoddy assembly work. The quality and performance this product was no where near what we expected from Vantec..."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Abit KT7-Raid Review: CPUReview Editor's Choice Sep./00
September 19, 2000
It seems that Bill Henning has gone and reviewed the KT7-Raid motherboard from Abit, and boy does he like it. So much infact, that he's giving it his patented CPUReview Editor's Choice award. Here's a bit of what he had to say:
"I've reviewed Abit's KT7-RAID motherboard. The article includes
benchmark results (with a Duron 650) running at
600/650/700/750/800/850/900MHz.
(Overclock??? Who? Me????)
Did I mention that this board kicks *ss for overclocking????
I liked the board so much I gave it
"CPUReview Editor's Choice Award for Sep./00"
This is probably the best board I've ever used."
What else do you need to hear? Well, I suppose you might actually want to read the review of course. No prob, just click here.
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
AMK-3333 Overclocker's Case Review @ The Tech Zone
September 19, 2000
So you're looking for a decent computer case, and after diving through the local landfill for a couple of hours you come up for air and say, "Aww, to heck with this; I'll stick my new board in an old cardboard box!". Well, before you do anything rash that the fire dept may very well regret, you may want to loosen your purse strings, and peel your peepers for The Tech Zone's review of the AMK-3333 Overclocker's case. Here's a clip:
"So you want to make an overclocker's case but am scare to cut holes? Then take a look at The Tech Zone's review of the AMK-3333. This is a 19" mid tower case built for overclockers. All the blow holes and fans has been done for you. Good price too."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Via Technologies pre-announces DDR-compatible chipsets
September 19, 2000
With the launch of the VIA Apollo Pro266 and VIA Apollo KT266, VIA provides highest-performance and most scaleable chipset solutions for both the IntelÒ Socket 370 and AMD Socket A processor platforms
Taipei, Taiwan, 20 September, 2000 - VIA Technologies, Inc. today announced the launch of the VIA Apollo Pro266 and VIA Apollo KT266 chipsets, enabling the industry-wide adoption of Double Data Rate (DDR266) DRAM as the next generation memory standard for high-performance server, workstation, and PC applications on the IntelÒ Socket 370 and AMD Socket A processor platforms.
With their support for DDR266 DRAM, the VIA Apollo Pro266 and VIA Apollo KT266 provide the headroom necessary to deliver optimum system performance by doubling memory data throughput and reaching a peak memory bandwidth of 2.1GB per second. To ensure balanced overall system performance, the chipsets also come with a host of other leading-edge features, including a 133MHz Front Side Bus, AGP4X, ATA-100 support, and a new high-speed low-latency V-Link bus that doubles the communication bandwidth between the North and South Bridge to 266MB per second.
"With the launch of the VIA Apollo Pro266 and VIA Apollo KT266, VIA is enabling a rapid industry-wide transition to DDR memory on both the leading processor platforms," commented Wen Chi Chen, President and CEO of VIA. "DDR provides the most appropriate memory solution for solving the system performance bottleneck while leveraging the cost benefits of the existing SDRAM infrastructure."
VIA Apollo Pro266
The VIA Apollo Pro266 is the first chipset on the market to enhance the performance of single and dual IntelÒ PentiumÒ III processor based systems with its support for the new generation of high-speed DDR266 DRAM. To provide a smooth migration path for existing system designs, it also supports PC133 and VCM DRAM. In addition to a 133MHz Front Side Bus, AGP4X, and ATA-100 support, the VIA Apollo Pro266 also features a new high-speed V-Link bus that doubles the communication bandwidth between the North and South Bridge to 266MB per second. The V-Link bus is an extension of the internal memory bus structure and further boosts performance with a guaranteed turn-around time and low latency.
A two-chip set consisting of the VT8363 North Bridge and VT8233 South Bridge, the VIA Apollo Pro266 also comes with integrated six channel advanced audio, six USB ports, LPC bus, and integrated 10/100Mbps Ethernet and Home PNA.
• Supports Singe/Dual Intelâ PentiumÒ III processors as well as Intelâ Celeronä , & VIA Cyrixâ III processors
• 66/100/133MHz FSB settings
• Support for AGP 2X/4X
• Supports up to 4GB DDR266 SDRAM as well as PC133/66/100 SDRAM and Virtual Channel memory
• 266MB/sec high bandwidth North/South Bridge V-Link Bus
• Support for Advanced Communications Riser (ACR)
• Integrated 6 channel AC-97 Audio
• Integrated MC-97 Modem
• Integrated 10/100 BaseT Ethernet controller or Home PNA
• Support for ATA 33/66/100
• 6 USB ports, UHCI compliant
• Integrated I/O APIC for dual processor support
• Advanced power management capabilities
• 552-pin BGA VT8633 North Bridge
• 376-pin BGA VT8233 South Bridge
VIA Apollo KT266
Combining support for high-speed DDR266 DRAM with an ultra-fast Front Side Bus, AGP4X, and ATA-100 support, the VIA Apollo KT266 delivers a new level of performance for AMD AthlonÔ processor based systems. Other features include the new high-speed V-Link bus, as integrated six channel advanced audio, six USB ports, LPC bus, and integrated 10/100Mbps Ethernet and Home PNA.
Pricing & Availability
The VIA Apollo Pro266 and the VIA Apollo KT266 are manufactured at TSMC in a .22 micron, 3 metal layer process, and are priced at $40 in OEM quantities. Product photographs and product backgrounders are available upon request. Please contact VIA for more information. Motherboards featuring the VIA Apollo Pro266 will be on display at the forthcoming VIA Technology Forum in Taipei on 20-21 September.
AAbout VIA Technologies, Inc
VIA Technologies, Inc is the world's leading fabless supplier of PC core logic chipsets, microprocessors, and multimedia and communications chips. VIA delivers value to the PC industry by designing, marketing, and selling high-performance VIA Apollo core logic chipsets for the full range of PC platforms, as well as cost-effective VIA CyrixÒ processors for Value PCs and Internet Appliances. Its customers include the world's top OEMs, mainboard manufacturers, and system integrators.
VIA is headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, at the center of the Greater China high-tech manufacturing engine, and has branch offices in the US, China and Europe. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE2388), and achieved annual revenues of US$356 million in 1999.
Founded in 1987, VIA Technologies, Inc., designs, engineers, and manufactures cost-effective, highly integrated, high functionality x86 processors, system logic chipsets and associated peripherals for manufacturers of desktop and portable PC systems.
Company
Marketing Contact
DDR Zone
PR Contacts
US Contact
Timothy Chen
Tel: (510)-908-9697
e-mail: Timothy_Chen@via.com.tw
International Contact
Richard Brown
Tel: (886) 2-2218-5452 x6201
e-mail: Richard_Brown@via.com.tw
Posted by Colin Cordner
MacOS X betas en route, tracking info may be wrong
September 19, 2000
Hio Beta Buddies,
The fun continues down at Cupertino today, as Apple scrambles to ship hard-copies of the MacOS X Public Beta to the more than 80 000 customers that have ordered it since last week. Either way you look at it, that's a lot of CDs (and demand is expected to top 100 000 by Friday!), and things aren't being helped much by an apparent bug in Apple's tracking system...
The result? Many irrate or confused X-hopefuls calling the Apple Support line to ask if their CDs have shipped or not. 'Durned tracking system :)... Anywho, here's a clip from the e-mail Apple has sent out to all its X customers (so to speak :)):
""Thank you for your recent purchase of Mac OS X Beta," reads the e-mail. "Your order has shipped!"
"Due to an error we encountered with our shipment tracking system, your tracking information may not be correct," says the Apple Store e-mail. "As a result, you may be unable to track your shipment online. You should receive your shipment of Mac OS X Beta within 7 business days (UPS) or 3 business days (Federal Express.)"
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
1394 Trade Association, IDB Forum Announce Preliminary Specification for 1394-Equipped Cars, Trucks
September 19, 2000
1394 Trade Association, IDB Forum Announce Preliminary Specification for 1394-Equipped Cars, Trucks
-- First Step in Bringing New Audio and Video Capabilities into Cars, Trucks Using the IEEE 1394 (FireWire, i.LINK) Multimedia Standard --
Santa Clara, Calif., Sept. 19, 2000 - The 1394 multimedia standard took a major step into automotive applications today, as the 1394 Trade Association and the IDB Forum (Intelligent Transportation System Data Bus) jointly introduced a draft specification defining the enabling requirements for 1394-equipped vehicles. The new specification establishes the basic architecture, plastic fiber and copper connector specifications for a 1394 multimedia backbone that will provide consumers with 1394-equipped embedded devices and let them connect portable consumer electronics products - such as CD players, DVDs, games or computers - in their cars. The 1394 Trade Association's Automotive Work Group, chaired by Brad Little of Texas Instruments and co-chaired by Frank Desjarlais of Ford Motor, has worked closely with the IDB Forum and the 1394 Trade Association's Cable/Connector Working Group to complete the specification.
"What we are developing is a complete 1394-based multimedia backbone that will enable vehicle manufacturers to embed exciting new audio and video capabilities into cars, trucks, SUVs and any other vehicle," said Max Bassler of Molex, vice chairman of the 1394 Trade Association. "The specification also includes a Customer Convenience Port that will let drivers and passengers bring their portable CD players, laptop computers, PDAs, or other devices into the vehicle and plug them in. The port will use the pending 1394b standard so consumers will be able to use the same cable in their home or car, interchangeably."
"IDB-1394 bridges the gaps between automotive electronics and consumer electronics by enabling the connection and interoperability of portable consumer electronic devices over the embedded network," said Arlan Stehney, executive director of the IDB Forum. Stehney said the Forum and the Trade Association will work closely with leading auto makers to bring initial demonstrations of 1394-enabled vehicles to the annual Convergence 2000 automotive electronics show in Detroit October 16-18.
New Specification Outlines Architecture for 1394-Equipped Vehicles
The IDB-1394 specification is supplemental to the IEEE1394-1995, 1394a-2000 and the upcoming 1394b standard. The next step is completion of the 1394 automotive power management specification, due for completion before the end of this year, Little said.
"The 1394 bus is becoming a pipeline for audio and video in the vehicle," said Desjarlais. "The hardware and software is coming together now for an October demonstration of exciting 1394 products - video displays, DVD, a Playstation II, and other consumer electronics products - in the car."
The System Architecture
The 1394 Joint Automotive Working Group was formed in January 2000 to leverage the IEEE 1394 standard -- which is also known as FireWire and i.LINK -- for extension into automotive multimedia applications. IDB-1394 defines the automotive grade physical layers, including cables and connectors, power modes, and higher layer protocols required so all 1394 devices can interoperate with embedded automotive IDB-1394 devices.
The auto architecture is divided into an embedded network and a Customer Convenience Port, or CCP, as shown in the diagram below. The embedded network consists of the fiber optic physical network. Residing on the network are various auto components such as DVD players, video displays, navigation systems, radio head units (telematic devices) and other multimedia applications.
The CCP port, which consists of an automotive grade bilingual 1394b physical layer and connector, lets users bring portable consumer electronics devices into their car or truck to access audio and video services over the IDB-1394 interface.
The system topology consists of an embedded plastic optical fiber vehicle network, the embedded devices, one or more CCP interfaces, and the ability to attach hot-pluggable portable devices. The embedded network will support 1394 products running at 100, 200 or 400 Mbits/second.
Also shown is a gateway between the IDB-1394 network and the remainder of the vehicle. This is a secure gateway delivered with the vehicle, designed to protect critical vehicle services from the multi-media network.
New Specification Outlines Architecture for 1394-equipped Vehicles
The groups will continue work on the jointly developed specification, with the Power Management section due in the fourth quarter. Then it is to be turned over to the Automobile Multimedia Interface collaboration Group (AMI-C).
About the Trade Association and IDB Forum
The 1394 Trade Association consists of more than 175 computer, consumer products, peripheral and software companies worldwide, dedicated to the advancement and proliferation of the IEEE 1394 standard. For more information please visit the Trade Association web site at www.1394ta.org or call the association offices at 1-408-748-9419.
The IDB Forum actively promotes the global integration of IDB networking into the automotive, consumer electronics, automotive electronics, computer, retail and computer markets, with more than 70 international member companies. For more information, please visit http://www.idbforum.org or call 1-724-942-3636.
# # #
FireWire is a trademark of Apple Computer
i.LINK is a trademark of Sony Corp.
For more information
Dick Davies
For the 1394 Trade Association
415-777-4161
ipra@netcom.com
Posted by Colin Cordner
Putting the Unix Dev Tools Back Into OS X
September 18, 2000
When Apple released the Mac OS X Public Beta 1.0 on September 13th, there was great joy in Mudville! However, when it was discovered that Apple had not included the standard Unix compliers with the Public Beta release, there was a great rumble heard in Geekville...
Fortunatley, where there's a will, there's a way, and a few enterprising hackers over at Maximum Linux have documented how they managed to transplant the compliers included with Apple's OSS Darwin project, onto the MacOS X Public Beta. Here's a snip:
"When Apple bundled up the BSD portions of Mac OS X, they left out all the development tools. If you love to hack with them, however, you're probably already cringing at the thought.
Unfortunately for these folks, Apple went a bit far when they removed the developer tools from the public beta. Removing the developer tools from a Unix environment does a lot more than prevent development -- it effectively blocks installation of any nonstandard Unix tools onto the system.
Fortunately, there's a fix, and its name is Darwin. Apple's Open Source operating system is binary-compatible with Mac OS X (in a very real sense it is a part of Mac OS X, redone slightly to create a stand-alone OS), and it does include the missing compiler tools. We've written a little shell script that'll take a mounted Darwin disk image and&ahem&borrow the missing components for use under OS X..."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
AMD Reseller Conference Tech Stuff
September 18, 2000
JC's News has posted a followup to last week's synopsis of the information gathered at the AMD Reseller Conference. This time, the emphasis is on technical information regarding the AMD 760 chipset, multiprocessor support, and the the future of the EV-6 bus... Here's a snip:
"I know this may sound a bit 180ish, as I usually dislike off-the-cuff technology renamings (I've never, for instance, liked the term "Front Side Bus"), but this here may actually be a bit of a relief. I am always finding myself unable to recall what does what in a chipset (I know, after nearly three years of being aware of hardware websites, you'd expect that I should *know* stuff like this, but easy stuff tends to schlump out my ear without warning), and these names are very mnemonic. I mean, "Memory Hub" fails to mention that the NB also communicates to the cpu (whereas, I think, the SB does not), "I/O Hub" seems to be a pretty apt name for the SB..."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Abit Siluro GF256 GTS Graphics Card Review @ PCHardware.ro
September 18, 2000
For the latest news from the graphics world, you can head on over to PCHardware.ro, where they've posted their review of the Abit Siluro GF256 GTS graphics card. Here's a clip:
"PC hardware has just posted a review of Siluro GF256 GTS. This Abit latest GeForceII GTS based card with 64Mb and TV-out. You can find inside overclocking and performance tests using Quake III Arena, SpecViewPerf and 3D Mark 2000 under both Windows98 SE and Windows2000. They found that Siluro GF256 GTS is a redoubtable player on nVidia cards market."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
TweakTown's 1st Birthday Contest
September 18, 2000
Yessir, you heard right, it's Tweaktown.com's first birthday, and they're celebrating by giving away all sorts of outrageous goodies that are ready to be plugged into a PC near you. Here's the word from Cameron Wilmot:
"TweakTown's 1st Birthday Contest Happy 1st Birthday TweakTown - Roughly one year ago TweakTown was officially named and launched for full operation. We have gone from getting a maximum of 2,000 impressions a day to a nice maximum of 50,000 impressions a day! We don't plan to stop there, we only plan to get bigger and better. In celebration of TweakTown's first birthday we are giving away 6 prizes, there will be 3 winners. The prizes consist of the following; Thermaltake Golden Orb socket 370 cooler, Ninja Micro's FreeSpeed Pro GFD, 2COOLPC Ducted Cooling Unit, Global Win FKP32, Vantec HDD Cooler and a System Exhaust Blower. Each winner will be sent a TweakTown case badge too. 3 people will be randomly chosen, the first person will get to choose which 2 prizes he/she wants, and the second person chosen will be able to choose 2 other prizes and the third person will get the remaining 2 prizes. Below is a shot of all the prizes together..."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
GlobalWin WAA08 Fan Duct Review @ Club Overclocker
September 18, 2000
If you happen to be a big fan of industrial design, then you may be fairly disappointed by one ommission to the interior layout of the average home PC: no air ducts. That's right, no air ducts. Heck, those things might even have some sort of practical use! In fact, to see if they do, you may want to check out Club Overclockers latest review, which takes a good look at the WAA08 Fan Duct system from GlobalWin; your PC's interior décor may never be the same again! Here's a clip:
"Our good friend Mike, AKA Khaotic, has taken a look at GlobalWin's WAA08 Fan Duct. This device is extremely simple but Mike received some great results with it in his sweltering computer case. Here's a clip: "Some time ago a friend of mine asked me to install a hard drive into his Micron. "What the F*%$ is this?" was all I could say when I saw the method they chose to cool the Pentium-III 450. An 80mm fan pulling air in from the outside and directing it over a heat-sink by way of a plastic molded air duct. While this may be all well and good for an OEM processor running at rated speeds it went against just about every principle I have founded my over-clocking adventures upon. I've come to admire the sights and sounds of a nice Alpha heat-sink topped with an industrial strength fan capable of chopping a carrot into its smaller carbon based molecules..."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Mellenger.com Video Card Cooling Kit Review @ Tweaktown
September 18, 2000
Hio Folks,
Today at Tweaktown, you can catch the Aussie review of the Mellenger.com Video Card Cooling Kit. The kit includes a number of helpful bits & pieces for the intrepid Overclocker: fans, RAM heatsinks, instruction manual.... :) Here's a clip:
"The installation of the ram heatsinks was simple and after cutting the thermal tape the installation took around 20 minutes. There were no worries fitting the heatsinks onto a ASUS v7700 GF2 we had sitting around. The one page instruction sheet included should provide all the information you need to successfully install the kit, there is an email address provided if you run into trouble. Now, how about some Sound Blaster Live cooling?"
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Comparison tests of three 1Ghz processors
September 18, 2000
With the latest 1Ghz processors from Intel and AMD in hand, we've decided that it was about time to compare them and see once and for all which one was the best performer. Thus, we've benchmarked our 1Ghz Pentium CuMine, 1Ghz classic Athlon and 1Ghz Atlon T-Bird and we are showing the results we had in this article. Enjoy your reading :)
Posted by Chris Verr
Review of the ECS K7VZM mainboard
September 15, 2000
The ECS K7VZM mainboard is our very first micro ATX socket A mainboard review published. Of course, because of its small size, this board can't offer as much expansion possibilities as a regular size motherboard can but does it mean that it is of no interest for this reason? Read the review and you'll find out :)
Posted by Chris Verr
Matrox G450 Graphics Card Review @ Riva Station
September 15, 2000
Riva Station has whipped up a review of the new G450 graphics card from Matrox. At first glance, the G450 has alot in common with its predecessor - the G400 - but differs from the later in a few key areas. Here's a snip of what the Riva team had to say:
"At the heart of the G450 sits an updated G400 chip with a second RAMDAC and a DDR memory interface. The rest of the core has remained unchanged, aside from being shrunk to an 0.18 micron process. Now, if your heart started beating higher when you heard the word "DDR", let me slow your pulse right down again: Matrox has decided to go with a 64Bit DDR memory interface. The old G400 cards are equipped with a 128Bit SDRAM interface. So since DDR RAM is only 85-90% as efficient as SDR at the same clockspeed, this is more of a small step backwards than an improvement.
Why would Matrox do this? Well, primarily to simplify the design, thereby reducing costs. Instead of 128 memory pathways the card now only needs 64 – half as expensive…"
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
U.S. mulls funds for molecular, quantum computing
September 15, 2000
It seems that there is an academic push underway in the U.S. Senate, to encourage gov't sponsorship of basic research into new computing paradigms such as quantum, optical, mechanical, and chemical computers. Apparently, the idea has been endorsed by the U.S. House of Representatvies, but the research lobby is having a bit more trouble convincing the Senate of the value of advanced research. Here's a snip from the EETimes article by George Leopold:
"The basic research subcommittee of the House Science Committee met Sept. 12 to discuss the issue and to promote molecular and quantum computing as promising alternatives to silicon-based systems. Lawmakers were told that government-funded research into a range of molecular, chemical, quantum and optical devices would begin to emerge over the next decade as silicon-based computing winds down.
"Molecular and chemical devices, quantum computers and optical computing and communications are the technologies that we are exploring now in anticipation that one or more will be the leadership technologies in ten or twenty years," said Ruzena Bajcsy, assistant director for computer and information science and engineering at the National Science Foundation (NSF)..."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
DDR SDRAM on the AMD Athlon - Performance Preview
September 15, 2000
Anand has managed to get a hold on a pre-production DDR SDRAM enabled Athlon motherboard: the Fic AD-11. With this powerful little beta of a beast in hand, and a couple of DDR SDRAM modules in his pocket, Anand was quick to write up an article capable of giving the geeks among us a taste of the future of memory bandwidth... Here's a snip:
"Intel had their first shot at bringing a higher performance memory solution to the desktop PC, and unfortunately, with the i820 chipset, the attempt failed.
Instead of following Intel down their path, AMD was committed to addressing the issue of memory bandwidth limitations by using Double Data Rate (DDR) SDRAM. While AMD does hold a license to use RDRAM, they have not publicly embraced the technology and instead have committed themselves to a DDR based roadmap throughout the end of 2000 and on into 200l..."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
AMD Reseller Conference Info
September 15, 2000
Hio Microelectronics Gurus,
Just to start the day off right today, we'll be linking you straight off to JC's News for one reader's synopsis of the AMD Reseller Conference, and the many easter eggs that it contained. Dying to know? Well, among other things, we have rumours of a dual-processor MSI motherboard in December, an LDT bus announcement sometime in Q3 2001, and more Transmeta gossip! Sound juicy? Good, then here's a little something extra for your neurons to chomp on(!) :
" If AMD did indeed say "Thunderbirds" as Rob suggests, then this is more interesting than one would initially think. Whether current Athlons are dual capable has always been a large question mark. People in secret and in public have time and time again emphasized that they are, but there has been an equal amount of pressure from secret and public statements suggesting that only the Mustang derivants will be able to multiprocess with the AMD760MP. The comment here hints that the Thunderbird/Athlon and Spitfire/Duron that you may be using right now could potentially work in an SMP system.
Oh, and it's nice to see confirmation that Durons will do SMP. Although there's no technical reason why they shouldn't be able to (imho), there's also no reason to expect that AMD won't tamper with Duron's compatibility with AMD760MP. After all, wouldn't it look better if your higher end chips had multiprocessing capability as a luxury feature over your lower end chips...?"
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
IA-64 Explained
September 14, 2000
For the last 7 years or so, Intel & Hewlett-Packard have been working on a new family of processors that are compatible with the existing x86 family. The IA-64 architecture - as it's called - will kicked off with the (long, long awaited) release of the Itanium processor from Intel.
Now, the Itanium (formerly known as the "Merced") has been described in many ways by various parties, as either "technological breakthrough", "vaporware", or "disaster-waiting-to-happen". The question is, who's right, and how so?
Well, to help answer that question we can thankfully turn to informative articles such as this one by SystemLogic.net. So, if you've never heard of, or at least understood concepts such as "EPIC", "branch predication", and "data speculation", this could be a good place to start:
"Previously code-named 'Merced', the Itanium is Intel's initial venture into the 64-bit world of computing. Why venture from the x86 market which has served them so well? For one, because it's getting old, and while Intel will continue to support x86 for at least the next few years, the 32-bit extension of a 16-bit chip which was a hack of an 8 bit processor which was rooted in a 4 bit calculator chip... yeah, you get the idea. Intel thinks that x86 is getting a bit long-toothed (and maybe rightly so). When they started this, they had no idea that AMD would sneak up and begin to take leadership of the x86 world with their Athlon, nor did they know that AMD would create a 64-bit extension to the x86 ISA. "
"Yet it seems that Intel wasn't quite ready to leave the x86 world altogether. They have included hardware support in the Itanium for the IA-32 (NOT for x86-64) architecture, as well as support for the PA-RISC architecture, which leaves the chip at well over 300 mm2 on a .18 micron process..."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Review of the Chaintech CT-7AJA mainbard
September 14, 2000
Today folks, we'll be testing the Chaintech CT-7AJA, one of the many motherboards that has begun to pile into our labs of late. After picking it out of the pile, we were immediately, and pleasantly surprised by the wealth of functions that Chaintech has integrated into the CT-7AJA, as well as by its general quality. For more details, read the review...
Posted by Chris Verr
September 2000 Industry Update
September 14, 2000
Hio Replay Fans,
Dean Kent has posted his monthly Industry Update for the month of September, 2000 over at RealWorldTechnologies. As usual, Mr. Kent uses his allotted space to detail the last month of technology releases, announcments, and projections in the chipset, motherboard, CPU, and DRAM industries. Here's a snip:
"On Sept 1, Intel released a new roadmap for OEMs. As has been the case for the past few years, several items have been changed from the previous roadmap, with some items being pushed back and others being pushed forward. Just a short while ago, Bert McComas of Inquest Market Researchpublished some details about this new roadmap."
"Intel publishes at least two different variations of the roadmap - one for OEMs and the other for resellers. The OEM roadmap typically covers at least 18 months, while the reseller roadmap usually only covers the next 12 months. Several years ago, these OEM roadmaps were very reliable, however with the increased competition from AMD, there are now changes every quarter. As should be expected, the farther out the information provided covers, the less reliable it is..."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Willamette Update @ RealWorldTech
September 13, 2000
Paul Demone has written a fresh article concerning Intel's forthcoming Pentium IV "Willamette" processor. This time, Mr. Demone takes the time to investigate issues surrounding the P4's novel cache implementation, and the effects it has on CPU efficiency. Does that sound fun, or what! :)
Seriously though folks, this is a nice article, and critical reading for anyone who may be considering the purchase of a P4 system, or just has an itch to understand the issues. Here's a snip:
"The Willamette is the development code name for Intel’s next generation 32-bit x86 processor, whose official introduction is expected next month. Marketed under the name Pentium 4, this new processor will incorporate an entirely new microarchitecture. It represents the first major overhaul to Intel’s x86 product line since they introduced the highly successful 'P6' core in the Pentium Pro in 1995. Partial disclosure by Intel so far reveals that the new design incorporates several major innovations never seen before in a commercial microprocessor. These include the use of a trace cache and arithmetic logic units (ALU) operating at twice the processor clock rate..."
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Rambus Reels In NEC With Patent License
September 13, 2000
It seems that Rambus Inc. has managed to strong arm yet another DRAM manufacturer into paying licensing fees on a variety of memory patents. The latest recipient of the Rambus "soft touch" is none other than Japanese manufacturer NEC, as authour Mark Hachman reports in this Techweb article. Here's a snip:
"Hitachi Ltd. (stock: HIT), Toshiba Corp., and Oki Electric Industry Co. Ltd. have already agreed to similar licenses, and executives at Mitsubishi Electronics America have said they have been in talks over a similar license, although none has been signed.
Meanwhile, Rambus (stock: RMBS), Mountain View, Calif., said it has asked the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to investigate alleged patent infringements in imports synchronous DRAMs and double data rate (DDR) memories from Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. Ltd. , which has sued Rambus over the validity of the patents..."
'Kinda makes you pine for the days when tech companies actually concerned themselves with technology, rather than legal manoevering...
Cheers!
Cheers!
Posted by Colin Cordner
Apple Releases MacOS X Public Beta
September 13, 2000
Apple Releases Mac OS X Public Beta Preview of Apple's Next-Generation Operating System
APPLE EXPO PARIS—September 13, 2000—Apple® today released Mac® OS X Public Beta, a preview version of Apple’s next-generation operating system. Users can purchase Mac OS X Public Beta on Apple’s Online Store (www.apple.com) for $29.95. Mac OS X features state-of-the-art technology throughout, including advanced Internet and graphics technologies, a new user interface named “Aqua™,” and an open-source UNIX-based foundation named Darwin.
“Mac OS X is the future of the Macintosh, and the most technically advanced personal computer operating system ever,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’re excited to have our users test drive this public beta version and provide us with their valuable feedback.”
The Mac OS X Public Beta is available in English, French and German from The Apple Store™ for $29.95. Apple has created a Mac OS X tab on its web site at www.apple.com which contains in-depth information on Mac OS X, including regular updates on third-party applications, tips and tricks and technical support information.
Mac OS X features true memory protection, pre-emptive multi-tasking, and symmetric multiprocessing when running on the new dual-processor Power Mac™ G4 line. Mac OS X includes Apple’s new Quartz™ 2D graphics engine (based on the Internet-standard Portable Document Format) for stunning graphics and broad font support; OpenGL for spectacular 3D graphics and gaming, and QuickTime™ for streaming audio and video. In addition, Mac OS X features Apple’s new user interface named “Aqua,” which combines superior ease-of-use with amazing new functionality such as the “Dock,” a breakthrough for organizing applications, documents and miniaturized windows. Mac OS X Public Beta includes many applications, including Apple’s new Mail client (IMAP and POP compatible) and new versions of the QuickTime player and Sherlock® Internet searching tool, as well as a beta version of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, the most popular browser for the Mac®.
Availability
Mac OS X Public Beta is available immediately in English, French and German from The Apple Store (www.apple.com) for US$29.95. Mac OS X Public Beta is designed to run on all Macintosh computers using PowerPC G3 and G4 processor chips, and requires a minimum of 128MB of memory (the original PowerBook G3 and processor upgrade cards are not supported). Mac OS X version 1.0 will be released in early 2001.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.
Press Contacts:
Alicia Awbrey
Apple
(408) 974-0922
awbrey@apple.com
Nicole Scott
Edelman Worldwide
(650) 968-4033 ext. 2764
nicole.scott@edelman.com
NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple's PR website (www.apple.com/pr/), or call Apple's Media Helpline at (408) 974-2042.
Apple, the Apple logo, Apple Store, Aqua, Mac OS, Macintosh, Power Mac, Quartz, QuickTime and Sherlock are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Posted by Colin Cordner
Apple Delivers ATI Radeon Graphics Card for PowerMac G4 & PowerMac Cube
September 13, 2000
Apple Delivers Advanced Radeon Graphics Card For Power Mac G4 and Power Mac G4 Cube
APPLE EXPO PARIS—September 13, 2000—Apple® today announced it is offering the Radeon graphics accelerator card as a build-to-order option on The Apple Store™ (www.apple.com) for all Power Mac™ G4 and Power Mac G4 Cube systems. Priced at an additional $100, the Radeon graphics card provides the most advanced 3D graphics processing available for the Macintosh®.
“Apple’s new line of dual-processor Power Mac G4s and the all-new Power Mac G4 Cube provide creative professionals supercomputing performance and stunning design on the desktop,” said Phil Schiller, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The combination of the PowerPC G4 with Velocity Engine and the Radeon graphics card make both the G4 and G4 Cube incredible solutions for graphics applications and 3D games.”
Apple in July introduced the new dual-processor Power Mac G4 and all-new Power Mac G4 Cube, both of which feature the PowerPC G4 with Velocity Engine™, delivering supercomputing performance on the desktop. The new G4 is the first mainstream personal computer to come standard with dual processors. The Power Mac G4 Cube is an entirely new class of computer that delivers the performance of a Power Mac G4 in an eight-inch cube suspended in a stunning crystal-clear enclosure.
To perfectly complement the new G4 and G4 Cube, Apple also unveiled a completely new family of displays. The new displays include: the 17-inch (16-inch viewable) Apple Studio Display CRT; the 15-inch Apple Studio Display flat panel and the 22-inch Apple Cinema Display, the largest all-digital flat panel ever brought to market.
Pricing and Availability
The Radeon graphics card is available immediately for order through The Apple Store (www.apple.com) for all Power Mac G4 and Power Mac G4 Cube models for an additional $100. The addition of the Radeon graphics card means the G4 is available in more than 90,000 build-to-order configurations and the G4 Cube is available in over 2,000 configurations through The Apple Store.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.
Press Contacts:
Matt Hutchison
Apple
(408) 974-6877
hutchison@apple.com
Darren Ballegeer
Edelman Worldwide
(650) 968-4033 ext. 2735
darren.ballegeer@edelman.com
NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple's PR website (www.apple.com/pr/), or call Apple's Media Helpline at (408) 974-2042.
Apple, the Apple logo, Apple Store, Macintosh, Power Mac and Velocity Engine are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Posted by Colin Cordner
Apple Univeils New Line of iBook Laptops
September 13, 2000
Apple Unveils New iBook Line All New Colors Plus iMovie 2 for Portable Video Editing
APPLE EXPO PARIS—September 13, 2000—Apple® today introduced a new iBook™ line featuring FireWire® ports and iMovie™ 2, the world’s most popular and easy-to-use digital video editing software, and all new colors. The iBook now comes in Indigo and the iBook Special Edition, which now includes a DVD-ROM drive for watching DVD movies on the go, comes in Graphite. Both models also come in the season’s hottest new color, Key Lime, available exclusively from Apple’s Online Store (www.apple.com).
“iBook has been a big hit with consumers, students and educators, and the addition of portable digital video editing with FireWire and iMovie 2 makes it even better,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Anyone can now own a portable movie studio for just $1,499.”
The new iBook models include:
- a 366 MHz or 466 MHz PowerPC G3 processor;
- a 10GB IDE hard drive, configurable to 20GB;
- a 400 Mbps FireWire port for connecting high-speed peripherals such as digital camcorders and hard disk drives;
- a CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive;
- an AV port providing audio and composite video output;
- the blazing ATI RAGE Mobility 128 controller with 8MB of SDRAM for great games and graphics.
Like the original iBook, all new models continue to offer outstanding features such as a brilliant 12.1-inch (diagonal) active-matrix TFT display; “all-day” battery life of up to six hours; support for Apple’s revolutionary AirPort™ wireless networking solution; and instant Internet access with a free 30-day trial with EarthLink.
Pricing and Availability
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The new iBooks are available immediately from Apple Authorized Resellers and The Apple Store™ (www.apple.com) in two standard configurations:
iBook, available in Indigo, features a 366 MHz PowerPC G3 processor, with 64MB of SDRAM, 256K level 2 cache, a 10GB IDE hard drive, 24x-speed CD-ROM drive, USB and FireWire ports, a built-in 56K modem, 10/100BASE-T Ethernet and iMovie 2 for an estimated retail price of US$1,499; and iBook Special Edition, available in Graphite, features a 466 MHz PowerPC G3 processor, with 64MB of SDRAM, 256K level 2 cache, a 10GB IDE hard drive, 6x-speed DVD-ROM drive, USB and FireWire ports, a built-in 56K modem, 10/100BASE-T Ethernet and iMovie 2 for an estimated retail price of US$1,799.
Both iBook and iBook Special Edition are available in Key Lime through the Apple Store.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators and creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.
Press Contacts:
Matt Hutchison
Apple
(408) 974-6877
hutchison@apple.com
Darren Ballegeer
Edelman Worldwide
(650) 968-4033 ext. 2735
darren.ballegeer@edelman.com
NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple's PR website (www.apple.com/pr/), or call Apple's Media Helpline at (408) 974-2042.
Apple, the Apple logo, Apple Store, AirPort, FireWire, iBook and iMovie are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Posted by Colin Cordner
Mushkin PC150 HSDRAM Review @ TweakTown
September 13, 2000
At the heart of every good system is some great memory, and with that in mind, Cameron Wilmot of Tweaktown has gone about performing this review of Muskin's P