PC150 SDRAM Roundup
posted: December 23, 2000 @ 8:13 EST by: ryan
TweakTown have put a quick PC150 SDRAM Roundup comparing 4 sticks of "PC150" RAM from Kingmax, Micron, OCZ and Mushkin. In the roundup, the highest obtainable FSB is listed in its own little shootout as well as benchmarks in a couple programs at 150MHz FSB and higher. They give each memory module its own rating as well as conclusion, the winner may well surprise you.
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Golden Orb Review
posted: December 23, 2000 @ 8:08 EST by: ryan
Overclock Cafe has posted up a review of a Golden Orb:
"My first interpretation of the Golden Orb was “Uhh…Ok.” Looking at it, I didn't think it would perform as well as expected, but that was only because I was looking at it and not actually letting it do what the Orb was meant to do – cool your CPU. As they say “looks can be deceiving” and the looks here happen to be just that, deceiving. On with the show"
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We Need Game Reviewers
posted: December 22, 2000 @ 9:56 EST by: ryan
This is just a quick post - If you're interested in reviewing games for us, please check out this page, and e-mail us with a sample of your work! Happy Holidays!
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Build Your Own Computer
posted: December 22, 2000 @ 3:35 EST by: ryan
SavageZone builds a computer. Here's a clip:
"There is a huge computer world out there awaiting you! Go forth young newbie! Let Peggy take your hand and start on your Quest... The same Quest we are all on... Higher Frame Rates, Smoother, Fuller, and Richer Games!"
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CD/MP3/VCD Player Review
posted: December 22, 2000 @ 3:34 EST by: ryan
GideonTech.com has just finished reviewing the CD/MP3/VCD player from Napa. Watching VCDs from a small unit like this is incredible! Snip:
"The Napa CD player has one of the most feature rich packages we have come across to date. Not only does it play compact discs, it also plays mp3s burned onto CDRs or CDRWs. Added to that, it also plays VCDs! A perfect worker for the person who needs a multimedia center, just hook it up to your existing TV set or stereo and."
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Q3A: Team Arena Review
posted: December 22, 2000 @ 3:33 EST by: ryan
3DGW have posted their review of id Software's Quake III: Team Arena. The long awaited add-on pack for Quake III Arena. They have also posted about 80 screenshots of all the neat stuff included.
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System Maintenance Guide
posted: December 22, 2000 @ 6:57 EST by: ryan
AcidHardware have written a detailed guide on how to maintain your system. They provide links to useful programs used and explain everything they point out.
"Don't you just hate Microsoft operating systems? They resemble a giant snowball in free fall gathering more snow until the final crash when this happens the system becomes inoperable and we are forced to reformat. Well fear no more at Acidhardware we have compiled this guide on optimizing and maintaining a good clean Windows 2000 machine. It'll hold off the final BSOD just a tad longer and maybe even increase your uptime and system stability. Please note some of the programs here are also available for Win9x and WinME, as this guide was written on my personal experience with Windows 2000 I have more knowledge and experience with tweaking and maintaining it."
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On DXT1 GeForce Problem
posted: December 22, 2000 @ 6:56 EST by: ryan
GameBasement thinks there definitely is a hardware problem with texture compression on all GeForce video cards.
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Cyrix III CPU Preview
posted: December 22, 2000 @ 6:54 EST by: ryan
ViaHardware just posted VH's preview on the Samuel II based Cyrix III processor from VIA. The Samuel II boasts 64k of L2 Cache, improved 3D performance, the first ever .15 manufacturing process, fanless operation, and a 1.5 voltage operation. How do all these enhancements help it perform against the Intel Celeron? Here's a snip:
"Sub-$800 PCs hold the largest retail market share. In order to make a Value PC, you need value parts. VIA realized this and purchased S3 graphics, which eventually led to the integrated PM and KM133 chipsets. VIA designed the Samuel II for the type of applications that users who purchase Value PCs typically do. These applications include MS Office, web browsing, and e-mailing. Since people who purchase Value PCs typically don't do any hardcore 3D gaming, the Cyrix III is not designed to excel at 3D applications."
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SUMA Graphics Cards
posted: December 22, 2000 @ 6:53 EST by: ryan
X-bit labs has posted a new review called "SUMA: Family of Graphics Cards on NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS. They reviewed a family of graphics cards based on NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS from Korean Company - SUMA. These cards proved very nice in our tests and can boast very good consumer qualities for a relatively low price. Due to favourable price-to-performance ratio these cards have every chance to become a real hit.
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IIyma 19" Monitor Review
posted: December 22, 2000 @ 6:52 EST by: ryan
IIyama's new 19 inches of love looks to best the competition by providing you a trueflat DiamondTron monitor for under $500.00! Gamer's Depot has the review ready for you today.
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New Sacrifice Patch
posted: December 21, 2000 @ 8:44 EST by: ryan
Fileplanet is the first with the new patch for the awesome game, Sacrifice. Here's a shot from our screenshots section:
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Jens Peter Kurup Interview
posted: December 21, 2000 @ 3:44 EST by: ryan
3DActionPlanet is proud to announce its newest hosted site, Hitman HQ!
This new site is ground zero for everything you need on IO Interactive's recently released title, Hitman: Codename 47. What's more, Hitman HQ is opening its doors with a special treat for its readers: an exclusive interview with Jens Peter Kurup, lead animator at IO-Interactive.
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Visiontek Geforce 2 Ultra
posted: December 21, 2000 @ 3:43 EST by: ryan
Prepare to be impressed... Neoseeker has posted a review of Visiontek's Geforce 2 Ultra. This card can really pump out decent framerates at 32bit color. You will definitely want to come see FSAA (anti-aliasing) turned on at 2X2. Here's a piece:
"The VisionTek Geforce2 Ultra design is, for the most part, the same as the NVIDIA reference design. The major difference is the larger heatsink/fan combo that is 2x2 inches as opposed to 1.5x1.5 inches. This should keep the card stable after long hours of intense gaming action. Some people have had problems with the heatsinks on their VisionTek boards not fully contacting the surface of the memory chips and GPU, leaving a small gap of air in between. The heatsinks on the board they sent us, however, appear to be installed just fine."
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Gunman Demo Out
posted: December 21, 2000 @ 3:42 EST by: ryan
This is a little earlier than expected, GameSpy is now premiering the new Gunman Chronicles demo from Sierra on FilePlanet.
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Abit VP6 Review
posted: December 21, 2000 @ 3:41 EST by: ryan
Insane Hardware certainly have holiday treat for all you SMP peeps out there. The Abit VP6 has been given a pretty big run down over at IH with some very interesting features in their review to say the least. Not only do they test out the board with 1GB of Ram but they also have a "CPU Socket Protection" guide so that you don't go killing that VP6 before you even get started.
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11Mb Wireless Networking
posted: December 21, 2000 @ 7:19 EST by: ryan
Gamers Depot takes a look at the 11Mb wireless networking system from Linksys:
"802.11 networking currently operates at a maximum of 11Mbps (Megabits per second), just slightly faster than the maximum 10Mbps of 10BaseT. Just remember that 11Mbps is the maximum, and actual speeds are going to be slower, depending on what’s in the environment that you use the wireless system in. Depending on conditions, the access point and the cards can “fall back” like a modem to slower speeds to increase the reliability of the signal. Transmission speeds can go from 11Mbps, to 5Mbps, to 2Mbps, and finally to 1Mbps to make sure that data integrity is assured."
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Gunman Review
posted: December 21, 2000 @ 7:16 EST by: ryan
Voodooextreme has posted up their review of the half-life mod that went retail, Gunman: Chronicles. Here's a taster:
"Gunman Chronicles puts you in the role of Major Archer, an interplanetary soldier who is battling the 'Xenome infestation problem'. Xenomes are genetically engineered beasts, which plague the universe with the mindless slaughter of anything and everything. Many years before, Archer battled the Xenomes with his fellow gunman and their General. Unfortunately, the Xenomes ate the General and many other gunmen during the conflict and Archer ordered a full retreat to save the remaining Gunman. Now, Archer has been promoted to Major and is in charge of an investigation of a strange signal on a distant planet. What Major Archer doesn’t realize is that the signal is a trap -- one that will have Major Archer fighting for his life against the Xenome species that may forever decimate mankind, and one that will have him revisiting his memories of the first Xenome invasion."
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Raven Soft Interview
posted: December 21, 2000 @ 7:13 EST by: ryan
PC Shooter posted an interview with Raven Software talking about their Quake III engined Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force.
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3rd World Preview
posted: December 20, 2000 @ 9:08 EST by: ryan
This week's preview on EuroGamer takes a look at "3rd World", a massively multiplayer space sim / RPG currently in development in Eastern Europe.
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On Nvidia's 3dfx Buyout
posted: December 20, 2000 @ 9:07 EST by: ryan
Overclocked Cafe has posted up their thoughts on NVIDIA's recent announcement of purchasing the core assets of 3DFX. It's a brief editorial on what 3DFX did for the 3D hardware market, what NVIDIA has done and what the hell all of this may mean:
"I remember 'back in the day', when I thought that it just couldn't get any better than my dual Diamond Monster 3D 2's, in SLI mode. I was a huge initial fan of 3dfx, and I think we all owe them more than a little gratitude for raising the bar for quality and performance. Before the Voodoo line, the graphics quality of PC games was feeble compared to those on the various console systems. The PC had far more overall horsepower, but no real way to exploit it without quality 3D hardware. Certainly, one could pay thousands of dollars for a high end workstation graphics adapter, but there was really no software in the gaming/entertainment arena written to those cards. People don't spend the price of an entire PC on a graphics card to play DOOM, they do it to use CAD software, or to do complex molecular modeling, etc. You get the point. For those of you who don't; 3dfx opened the door to a whole new level of rich, 3D graphics content on the PC."
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GameSpy Buys Mplayer
posted: December 20, 2000 @ 9:06 EST by: ryan
GameSpy has purchased the Mplayer gaming service and their entertainment network. Yep, you read that right. They have the official press release and details.
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DVD Drive Mod?!
posted: December 20, 2000 @ 9:05 EST by: ryan
Chick's Hardware have posted the FIRST EVER DVD Drive Mod article, this is our step-by-step guide showing you just how to make your own. Here's a snip:
"There are so many different ways to go about modding your case and trying all you can to give your case the truly customized look. When I was at the point of first starting my Lit-On FS020 Mod I had only seen about one mod that had a top window at the time, and thought it would be pretty cool putting one on my case. But as I got to thinking about a top window I was stumped as to what to show off, here's a small guide showing you what I did."
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D-Link MP3/CD player
posted: December 20, 2000 @ 7:10 EST by: ryan
D-Link has introduced a new hybrid MP3/CD player into the market. Here's a clip from:
"D-Link today launched a new MP3 CD Player that delivers up to 10 hours of digital quality music called the D-Link DMP-CD100. Representing the third generation of MP3 technology from D-Link, the DMP-CD100 uses CD technology combined with MP3 technology to deliver hours of no-skip continuous music. It recognizes both normal Audio CDs (CD-DA) and MP3 CDs (CD-R) created on a PC.
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Windows 2k Connection Tweak
posted: December 19, 2000 @ 9:57 EST by: ryan
After the success of our tweak for win98/me "speedv3" (which I know many of you guys had success with), one of SpeedCorp's guys started research for a Windows 2000 tweak. Boy did he find it... check it out at SpeedCorp.
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IBM ThinkPad X20 Notebook
posted: December 19, 2000 @ 9:55 EST by: ryan
HardwareZone has reviewed the IBM ThinkPad X20 notebook.
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MSI K7T Pro2 Motherboard
posted: December 19, 2000 @ 9:54 EST by: ryan
AcidHardware have written a review of the MSI K7T Pro2 Motherboard, read the review to find out why they think it is the overclockers motherboard:
"The board layout is nearly exactly the same as the older K7T Pro. The only noticeable differences are an orange heatink on the Northbridge and an AGP retention device. The board features a nice slot layout of 1 AGP/6 PCI/1 CNR. It has 3 DIMM slots which allow for up to 1.5GB of RAM. The K7T Pro2 uses the VIA 686A Super South Bridge, it would have been nice to see the newer 686B being used but that was MSI's choice. The Onboard Sound supplied with the K7T Pro2 is the VIA VT1611A AC97 CODEC, the sound is not too bad but being an mp3 guru I would rather stick with a PCI sound card like SoundBlaster Live. The K7T Pro2 allows for 4 IDE devices to be connected using Ultra ATA 33/66. The ATX power connector is next to the RAM slots so the power cable won't have to run over the top of the cpu, this is good because it increases airflow around the case."
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Seagate U Series 5 HDD
posted: December 19, 2000 @ 9:54 EST by: ryan
X-bit labs has posted a review of the Seagate U Series 5 HDD. This is a very successful storage solution for the mainstream sector. Due to the 20GB platters used, it provides high speed and reliability at work combined with relatively low price and high storage capacity. It will perfectly suit for office systems and has every chance to find its place in the upcoming X-Box.
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Basics Of FTP
posted: December 19, 2000 @ 3:30 EST by: ryan
PC911 is featuring a new article about the basics of FTP:
"FTP, which is an acronym for File Transfer Protocol, is a client server protocol that allows users to transfer files to and from other computers over a TCP/IP network. FTP has its origins at M.I.T. around 1971, and while it has evolved somewhat over the years, it's one of the oldest protocols that is still in use and dates back to the days of Unix mainframe computers and dumb terminals. Today, it's still used extensively on that big wide area TCP/IP network that we call The Internet. PC911 explains the basics of FTP, including a quick tutorial to get started with WS_FTP LE, a free FTP program."
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Giants Review
posted: December 19, 2000 @ 3:29 EST by: ryan
FiringSquad has posted up their review of Giants:
"Giants will definitely elicit some gut-wrenching laughter. The dialog, the voiceovers -- spectacular! Half the comedy is in how these characters deliver their lines. There are so many references in this game that you would be hard pressed to name them all. Everything from Monty Python to South Park managed to sneak in. Screaming from the comic genius of so many people, there is no way this game will disappoint you, that is, unless you are " just an old man and have saggy balls." That, by the way, is a direct quote from the game."
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Ultimate Gaming System
posted: December 19, 2000 @ 3:22 EST by: ryan
AcidHardware have written an article explaining How To Upgrade your PC into the Ultimate Home Gaming System.
"If your PC is quite old, chances are it doesn't have an AGP slot. This doesn't make a big worry since most graphics cards come in the AGP and PCI form. The graphics card I chose for this system is the Asus V7700 GeForce2 Ultra which costs around USD$499. Now this is extremely expensive for a video card but since this is the Ultimate Home Gaming System we chose to think of performance rather than price. With the GPU of this 64MB card running at 250mhz and the RAM running at 460mhz this should be plenty of speed to keep you satisfied. You may want to choose a different GeForce2 Ultra brand such as VisionTek or Creative Labs, always check on the vendors site for the latest drivers."
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Iwill KA266-R DDR Review
posted: December 19, 2000 @ 3:21 EST by: ryan
TweakTown have reviewed the Iwill KA266-R DDR motherboard which is based on the ALI MAGiK 1 DDR chipset with support for the AMD Athlon processor, the Mobile AMD Athlon processor, and the AMD Duron processor with support for PC1600/PC2100 DDR SDRAM and PC133 SDRAM memory with peak bandwidth at an amazing 2.1GB per second. Here's a taste:
"DDR is an abbreviation for "Double Data Rate". DDR SDRAM doubles the data rate of current memory technology by sending two data segments per clock cycle instead of one which is what PC-133 SDRAM uses. DDR SDRAM like SDR SDRAM uses the currant 64bit technology over Rambus's 16bit RDRAM burst technology. The Amazing thing about DDR is its peak bandwidth, 2.1GB per second. This is more than Intel's 820 Chipset with RDRAM could ever produce. DDR works by using both the rising and the falling edge if the clock signal to send and receive data simultaneously."
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We're Back
posted: December 19, 2000 @ 3:20 EST by: ryan
Everything seems to be working normally again!
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Server Problems
posted: December 18, 2000 @ 8:19 EST by: ryan
Geez, for the past couple of days we've been experiencing some major server problems, I'll try and continue normal news service once we get this fixed, and it doesn't take me 20min to access the page.
Thanks guys.
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Blue Orb Great X-Mas Gift
posted: December 17, 2000 @ 11:25 EST by: ryan
Netkills.com just wrote up a review of the Blue orb. It may be a little old but people are still getting round to buying it. You should remember that Christmas is coming up and the Blue Orb makes a great Christmas Gift for your friends. Snip-it:
"At first I thought that putting on a new Chipset cooler would be a very hard and painful process. I guess I was wrong VERY wrong! Installing this couldn't be easier! It would have taking me about 10-15min at the most. And it didn't distroy my stock heatsink."
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