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RIVA Station moves - on the high speed server of the company K&K Kommunikations- systeme. The access-problems of the past should have an end now. There may occur some problems caused by overlapping in the next few days (also with e-mail).
I want to thank my old provider Webspace-Service for his patience with this rescouce hungry website.

Have Blue--> Don't know but they already have most of the code that's going into 224 and they, along with licensees, will get an updated 224 source as soon as we think it's ready to release.

Chaostar--> Better D3D support won't be coming in time for 224 but it should be coming at some point after that.

Gavin--> I'm glad my advice helped! People don't realize that the majority of the problems with non-3DFX video cards are driver problems from the video chipset manufacturers (IHVs) themselves. Our D3D and Open (even the existing OpenGL) work better than most people seem to think but ONLY if the IHV drivers do what they're SUPPOSED to do.

Lobo--> People aren't whining for insignificant things. Perhaps they have a TNT and they're anxious to see it used to it's full potential or perhaps they're bothered by silly 220 bugs such as broken server admin and bot difficult that defaults to the highest setting. These are frustrating things aggravated by our delays in releasing the patch. We understand this, we apologize for it and we appreciate peoples' patience. In the end we think the new and repaired features in 224 will be worth the wait.

As Gavin found out, if you're using TNT, make sure you get the MOST RECENT DETONATOR DRIVERS for the best possible performance. Gavin noticed this for the current version 220 D3D support but having the latest drivers will be even more important when 224 comes out later this week.

I got a mail from EPIC where I was told that the patch 224 is allready finished but the installaer still needs a bit optimization. This should be done very soon. Letīs hope to see a release soon!

You can tell them that we are currently working with AMD to supply a driver that supports the 3DNow! Architecture. This new driver will be out in the near future....

click to enlarge

ELSA VideoControl combines all important video functions on a single panel:

Highlights of the ELSA VideoControl

• This All-In-One Videotool enables a very easy access on all videofunctions!
• Videorecording and Replay, FastForward, Rewind etc. by pressing a single button
• All functions are subdivided in 4 areas:
  Video-In section: Choice of Video Source
  Video-Out Section: Routing of the Video-output
  Capture-Section: settings of the capturing functions
  Control-Section: functions like a VCR
• Skins - You can create your own Panel-look!!!!
• Automatic recording with MJPEG-Codec! This means: Optimized quality with small size: Record 90 minutes of video in VHS-quality on a 3GB harddisk!
• Realtime videotext in HTML (when plugged on TV Tuner )

Video-In Section

• Free choice of video source: Video IN Cable 1-3, File (AVI or MPEG) or DVD (if ELSAmovie is installed).
• Innovating 2D-Color regulators to set hue and saturation, brightness and contrast (active in Videosource setting)
• Direct integration of ELSAmovie DVD decoding software (if installed)

Video-Out Section

• FullScreen-Video with a single button click
• Video routable on Video output (Vonly-button); you can work on the desktop with the Video editing Software MainActor while the Video is shown fullscreen on TV

Recording-Section

• Settings for recording time
• WebCam Functions - save a image every x seconds
• Automatic integration of the MJPEG-Codec. The video is saved automatic with max. quality after a click on the recording button - no need for a konfiguration (click and save)

(free translation)

Also people are giving me a hard time about using Kingpin for the benchmark, since the TNT2 has trouble with fogging. Ummm people, there is no fogging in the timedemo? There is fog during the demo, but not during the timedemo. Besides the Voodoo3 is faster in Quake 2 in singleplayer modes. In Crusher or other network benchmarks, the TNT2 is the victor though, thanks to a superior triangle setup engine.

This was not meant to put down the TNT2 or the Vooodoo3, I am just getting tired of everyone writing off the Voodoo3. The TNT2 has some better features such as more RAM, higher texture size support, 32bit support, stencil buffer. The Voodoo3 on the other hand has raw speed, high resolution, Glide support and low price.

Note: Is is no secret that 3Dfx cards are very fast in Quake2 and games that are based on that engine. This is a bit different in Direct 3D. Weīll have to see if NVIDIA TNT can overtake Voodoo3 in most games. One thing that is important here is the memory and the clockrate the chips are running at. The numbers used on current board are no final values! One reason for that is the situation on the memory-market. Fast chips are rare and expensive (5ns). A chip running at high clockrates must not be very fast in every case. Another factor are memory timings. If you set those timings to a higher value you can run these chips at higher clockrates - but thatīs not faster at all. So we must wait and see what chips the manufacturers finaly use for their boards.

Besides the performance testing there are screenshots that show you the quality: AGN3D V3 vs. TNT2

You can download the Bump Demo here (2,8MB)

NVIDIA EXTENDS TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP WITH TRANSFORM AND LIGHTING FEATURE FOR FUTURE PRODUCTS
NVIDIA Unveils Technology Roadmap for PC Market SANTA CLARA, CA - APRIL 7, 1999 - In an effort to break through the largest barrier facing the PC graphics industry, NVIDIA announced that it will be the first company to deliver integrated transform and lighting (T & L) processing in a single-chip solution to the mainstream 3D graphics market. This capability, combined with the latest standard APIs will deliver a quantum leap in performance to the PC graphics market for 1999. ...read on

NVIDIA AND TERALOGIC ENABLE HDTV FOR THE PC MARKET
Reference Solution Delivers Premium-Quality Cost-Effective DTVPC Solution WINHEC '99 - LOS ANGELES - APRIL 7, 1999 - At the 1999 Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) today, NVIDIA(TM) Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) announced support for TeraLogic's Janus chip, the industry's first single-chip high-definition DTVPC decoder. In combination with the Janus chip, NVIDIA is able to provide true high definition capabilities in their digital TV offerings. By leveraging each others technical expertise, the two companies have developed a reference design that provides premium image quality for both HDTV and 3D/2D graphics for the mainstream PC market. ...read on

ELSA got the NDES Show Stopper award for the Synergy II with TNT2:

``CADENCE Magazine awarded the ELSA Synergy II with an NDES Show Stopper award because it best demonstrated innovation and vision toward extending MCAD capabilities on the desktop,'' stated Peter Sheerin, senior editor at Cadence Magazine. ``The Synergy II is the result of ELSA's uniquely innovative vision to combine the nVidia RIVA TNT2 chip, ELSA's OpenGL driver, optimization for the new Pentium III Streaming SIMD instructions and 32MBs of memory to provide better 3D CAD performance than cards costing several times as much.'' ...read on

But TNT 2 cards will most definitely not run at the same clock speed as the TNT. The actual speed of the cards will vary widely, depending on what the hardware manufacturers want to make. The least expensive TNT 2 cards will probably have the core processor at a clock rate of 125MHz and the memory clocked higher. This will deliver a fill rate of 250 megatexels per second, quite a bit more than the 180 delivered by current TNT cards. NVIDIA is recommending that high-end TNT 2 cards be clocked at 150MHz with a 183MHz memory speed, but there are already plans by hardware manufacturers to go higher. At least one brand of TNT 2 card will be sold at with a 175MHz core and 200MHz memory clock speed. This translates into an impressive 350 megatexles fill rate—nearly twice the current TNT. Some users may remember that NVIDIA's claims for the speed of the original TNT couldn't be met. The company is being more conservative this time around, and already have parts in-house running faster than the 175/200 speed that some high-end cards may use.

You can find the complete article here.

Comment: It seems that the biggest problem currently is the RAM. You can hear that the output of TNT2 chips that run at high clockrates is good. But the 5ns RAM that is needed to run memory clockrates of 166MHz and more is expensive and rare. It seems that many manufacturers will release a TNT2 card 1-2 month later, when the situation on the memory market is more clear. STB/3Dfx should have the same problems - they also run at high (even higher) core clockrates, so they do also need that fast memory chips.

Now the values with the inoffical (not released and confirmed by NVIDIA) Detonator drivers v1.20:

Although NVIDIA Detonator drivers do not have 3DNow! optimization you can see a small performance increase. There is no difference between v1.09 and v1.20 drivers at all. NVIDIA announced 3DNow! support for TNT2, so we can expect to see 3DNow! optimizations for TNT soon, because NVIDIA stated that TNT2 drivers will be compatible to TNT.
You can get the AMD 3DNow! patch here: 3DFiles Download Page

The Rage128 put up a good fight, but IMHO I think the nVidia TNT is the winner here. In the past, speed was the primary factor in buying a 3D card. When I got the Viper V330, my requirements changed. The Riva128 had great speed but very poor image quality. Today, the focus has shifted more towards a balance of speed and image quality. With that said, the TNT is the clear winner here. The image quality of the TNT looks slightly better than Rage128 and the framerates of the two cards are too close to notice the difference. Factor in the 2D corruption problems and the higher cost of the Rage128 and the TNT certainly pulls away. The TNT (much like the Voodoo1 was) is becoming the industry standard. It's a safe bet that any new game coming on the market was tested and re-tested on a TNT board. Adding up all of these factors, you can't help but pick the TNT as the winner.

You can find the comparsion article here. (Source: PR)

EH: The TNT2 seems to be the popular chipset to use with PGC technology, judging from recent surveys. Are you planning to use the TNT2 as the initial PGC chipset?

Kerry: That’s one of the things that I can’t comment on now that I wish I could. Just to give you some ideas, the TNT2 is an AGP solution only. So in order for us to develop a product based upon the PGC technology we would either have to come up with a bridge chip or a two-in-one board type of deal. We’re investigating those options right now but there’s been no final decision made on that.

The ultimate frequency achieved in end user systems depends on the chip cooling strategy, board design and the system environment that the board runs in. Each board vendor will make design and cooling decisions, and environmental assumptions and spec the part according to these choices.

The RIVA TNT2 chips were designed to operate at extremely high frequencies. The Diamond V770 that [has been] reviewed demonstrated that. With the right combination of advanced board design, intelligent cooling strategies and high quality manufacturing, I fully expect to see end users running TNT2 based cards at frequencies that meet or exceed the ones you saw in various tests.

The clockrates of the memory depend on the access time of the chips:

5ns ~ 200Mhz
5.5ns ~ 183MHz
6ns ~ 166MHz

click to enlarge!

The first card is the LIDL GROUNDMEAT V770. This card is bundled with a pretty set of flowers!

click to enlarge!

ALDI builds the RAZOR II, bundled with 4 Donuts and a special razor.

You can get them at 1.April. Thanx to LIDL and ALDI for the images ;-)

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