NEWSPAGE DEUTSCH RIVASTATION - There´s something FISHY when you can read this!

09.12 - 3dfx Interview

Hothardware talked with Peter Whicher of 3dfx about the changes of VSA-100 compared to Voodoo3: Hothardware

09.12 - Creative Interview

nV News made an interview with Ctreative´s Steve Mosher: Creative Interview

09.12 - GeForce review

Fastgrpahics tested almost all available GeForce cards:

ASUS V6600
ASUS V6600 Deluxe
Creative Labs 3D Blaster Annihilator
Creative Labs 3D Blaster Annihilator Pro
Elsa Erazor X
Hercules / Guillemot 3D Prophet
Hercules / Guillemot 3D Prophet DDR / DVI

Read the review here.

09.12 - Unreal Tournament Patch

Epic released a new patch for Unreal Tournament: UT Patch v4.02

Bug fixes:
- D3D detection works properly.
- removed log warnings for players ghosting out of the level
- fixed saving last start spot for players
- timemessage sounds play correctly if viewing another player
- don't allow spaces in names when using console name or setname commands
- suicide can now end overtime of tied game
- fixed stuck animation if killed while coming out of feign death
- no connect time on team scoreboards in single player
- attach decals in post begin play when zone is properly set
- fixed player sounds appearing to change location when using 3d sound
- turn fog off by default for D3D - was causing texture thrashing w/ D3D drivers
- fixed CTF-coret alternate path problems
- fixed guided warhead blowing up if no client response with 300 msec after spawning
- players can no longer switch to illegal team if server is full and force team balance set
- fixed bots not always playing take hit sounds
- don't kill spectators in the pressure chamber!!!

and more...

08.12 - New VIA drivers

VIA released new AGP and IDE Busmaster drievrs on their webpage: VIA drivers

08.12 - NVIDIA Pressreleases

nV News reports about new NVIDIA pressreleases:

08.12 - 3DMark 2000 and CPU Test

I fired a mail to the farmers at MadOnion.com with the question why the CPU relsut varies with different graphic cards (see results above). Here´s the answer:

There's a few very logical reasons why the graphics card is included in the CPU Speed test:

1) We wanted people to see what's happening. This makes it impossible to cheat in the test by not drawing anything.

2) The optimizations in a graphics card drivers do affect the end result. Some card could be optimized for P3 but not for Athlon. We wanted to take that into account.

3) You can also run the test with Hardware T&L -> graphics card also affects there by default!

08.12 - 3DMark 2000 Results

Here are some 3DMark 2000 results with a TNT, TNT2, GeForce SDRAM and GeForce DDR-RAM. I´ve tested with a Pentium III 700Mhz (100MHz FSB), 196MB RAM on a Tekram P6BX-A mainboard. The driver were always NVIDIA referencedrivers v3.53 with V-Sync OFF.

Click to enlarge

The results are pretty nice. Take a look on the fillrate results (single Texturing) of GeForce DDR and SDRAM version. But the DDR version is faster than the SDRAM version in almost all cases. But I wonder why the graphics card is a factor in the CPU speed tests....

07.12 - 3DMark 2000 results

There´s some discussion about 3DMark 2000 results in the discussion board, so I´ve postet some Results of a GeForce DDR (v3.53), PIII 700 and 196MB RAM. You can find the scores here. The run was made at standard 1024x768-16Bit.

07.12 - NVIDIA Interview

nV News made an interview with NVIDIA´s Nick Triantos:

nV News: We've heard rumors that the successor to the GeForce 256 will be based on a new architecture. Is this true, or will it be based on improving the current design (faster core and memory speeds)?

Nick: In the past, NVIDIA builds a whole new design for each Fall product, and then in the Spring, we add few features to the Fall design, and pump up the speed through higher clocks and internal optimizations.

Next Fall's product is going to kick mucho ass, but I can't really say anything beyond that or our PR guys will axe murder me. :)

You can find the whole interview here.

07.12 - New ASUS Live Software

ASUS released a new version 4.0 of thier ASUS Live software with a new User Interface:

1. Support All ASUS VGA cards with video-in function.
2. Replace an all new user interface.
3. Add captured file(s) preview and management.
4. Add auto timer recording function.
5. Add Odd/Even field skip function. (only in Live mode)

Download:ASUS Live 4.0 Beta (fixed link!)

07.12 - 3DMark 2000

MadOnion.com has finaly released 3DMark 2000. Here´s the official pressreleas:

Toronto, Ontario - December 6, 1999 - MadOnion.com (formerly Futuremark Corporation), a leading provider of web services and e-commerce solutions, today released 3DMark™2000 for DirectXâ7. 3DMark2000 is a cutting-edge benchmark that objectively measures Intel Pentium III SIMD, AMD Athlon technology and the new T&L.

3DMark2000 is one of MadOnion.com's online benchmarks - smart benchmark products that have an Internet back-end. This Internet back-end, or database, contains thousands of results collected via the Internet. With online benchmarks, users will be able to compare their results with data collected from other users around the world.

"With the current distribution of over 10 million copies and adoption by over 100 publications world-wide, 3DMark benchmarks continue to be the most widely used in the world," said Nathan Harley, Vice President, Marketing, MadOnion.com. "With 3DMark2000, MadOnion.com is taking benchmarking to the next level by fusing benchmarking and the Internet into a medium that empowers gamers to compare their benchmarking data with thousands of other gamers, enabling them to make informed decisions regarding upgrading and optimizing system performance and improving their gaming experience."

Optimizations for Pentium III, AMD Athlon & T&L Hardware 3DMark2000 is a cutting-edge benchmark that has been optimized to fully support both Intel Pentium III SIMD and AMD Athlon instructions. In order to ensure proper and reliable testing, these optimizations have been developed in cooperation with both of the respective companies.

In addition, 3DMark2000 contains a T&L hardware pipeline for graphics cards that supports this new feature. Existing hardware will be supported via a software T&L pipe.

Important New Features of 3DMark2000 - Tests the new DirectX 7, including hardware transform and lighting - Online data analysis - Optimized for Intel and AMD processors - New game tests with LOD scalability - Full Windows 2000ä support - Advanced tests including bump mapping (environment & embossed), texture rendering speed, fill rate and image quality - Freely and independently selectable display resolution, color depth, texture color depth, buffering mode and z-buffer format. - Detailed system information view

Pricing and Availability 3DMark2000 will be available for public download from http://www.MadOnion.com at 4 p.m. PST on December 6, 1999. All existing 3DMark 99 Pro licenses can be upgraded at a special introductory price. For further 3DMark-related information, please refer to http://www.MadOnion.com

In addition to the full and comprehensive online benchmarking features in 3DMark2000, MadOnion.com has also released the enhanced commercial PRO version of 3DMark2000 for demanding benchmarking professionals. The enhanced features of the PRO version include:

- Flexible testing automation options including batch run
- Command line support
- Professional result browser tool with full Windows compatibility.

You can download it here. A MUST SEE!

07.12 - Glide has gone Open Source

3dfx announced that their Glide APi has gone Open Source:

"Glide was originally created as a response to the industry's need for an API that would allow developers to capitalize on emerging 3D technology," said Al Reyes, director of strategic marketing at 3dfx Interactive, Inc. "Today we have taken a leadership position in 3D graphics for Linux and the Open Source community overall by giving programmers and developers the tools necessary to continue to evolve the API to keep pace with the rapid improvements in 3D hardware capabilities."

3Dfx targets the Linux community with this step. But I think we´ll now see new Glide wrappers soon :-)

06.12 - 3DMark 2000 out

3DMark 2000 will be available for download at at 4pm PST today. You can grap it here: 3DMark 2000 by MadOnion.com.

06.12 - GeForce Shootout

GeForce Shootout at RIVA Station:

Shootout

Now I´ve finaly finished the english translation of the RIVA Station GeForce shootout. I´ve tested the ASUS AGP-V6600 Deluxe, the ELSA Erazor X and the Guillemot 3D Prophet on a PIII 700MHz Coppermine and PIII 500MHz CPU. Also included are 22 screenshots from the Demo of The Whole Experience:

GeForce Shootout (German language)

06.12 - New Powerstrip

Entech released a new version of Powerstrip for Windows 2000:

This version keeps in sync with the accelerated D3D and OpenGL W2K drivers that the board manufacturers have been leaking or releasing lately. This build also features better DDR support, and a fairly comprehensive diagnostic module that may come in handy from time to time. Like the previous ones, this beta is backwardly compatible with Windows 95/98 and NT 4.0, and you are encouraged to check it out even if you aren't running W2K.

Download: Powerstrip (657KB)

06.12 - Quake3 Benchmarks

NVNews made a couple of GeForce Benchmarks in Quake3 Arena with various detail settings: Quake3 Benchmarks

06.12 - 3D Card Review

Aceshardware compaered a GeForce 256, TNT2 Ultra, Voodoo3 3000 and ATi Rage Fury MAXX:

The number of different videocards is simply baffling. It is pretty difficult to make a general overview, so we at Ace's assembled the best video cards available on the market right now to provide some guidance to all the people who wish to upgrade. This roundup is targeted at the home user who wishes to play games or DVDs on his or her PC.

Read the whole article here.

04.12 - V6600 v3.62 Beta2 drivers

ASUS offers new beta drivers for the V6600. The drivers are based on NVIDIA´s Athlon release v3.62 (no sideband support). The really new freature in these drivers is the OpenGL support for the ASUS 3D shutter glasses. You now can play Quake&co in real 3D:

To use the VR stereo mode in GL you have to choose the double resolution in the game:

click to enlarge

1280x960 -> 640x480 stereo mode
1280x1024 -> 640x480 stereo mode
1600x1200 -> 800x600 stereo mode
2048x1536 -> 1024x768 stereo mode (16-bit color only)

But the performance loss was pretty low in Quake3. The console text can´t be read in this beta driver, so I can´t tell you a Q3 timedemo result yet. It´s very nice that you have a sharp crosshair in the game. The framecounter was always over 50fps in Quake3@800x600.

You can download the drivers here: ASUS v3.62 Beta drivers for V6600.

04.12 - Annihilator review

CTNews made a review of the Creative Annihilator:

Why are we doing this review after including the Annihilator in our Building a Budget Gaming Rig Review? After planning a small feature for this video card we decided to include several personal comments that were left out of that Review. Then one thing lead to another until we discovered that this is the best overall gaming video card available right now.

If you've been out of touch with the PC gaming industry for the last few months CTNews3D will get you up to speed on the best Video accelerator on the market today. Lets answer a few questions first.

Read the whole stuff here.

04.12 - Quake3 Stuff

Blue´s News offers a large Quake3 area with hints, binds and everything about Quake3: Quake3 pages at Blue´s

04.12 - New harddisk

I had to get a new disk after the crash of my Seagate ST39173N Barracuda (SCSI). I´ve choosen the Seagate Barracuda ST 328040A (IDE) with 28GB because prices of SCSI models are way too high at these days...... now I have engough room on my system. The harddisk crash was also the reason for the delay of the GeForce shootout translation. I´ll finish it this weekend - promised!!

03.12 - Final Q3 Demo OUT

The final-demo of Quake3 Arena is out. Here some mirrors:

AVault

Barrysworld

03.12 - Final Q3 Demo soon...

The fullversion is coming very soon and a final demo is on the way:

In preparation for the full release.

The motd/master/auth servers run on ports 27950, 27951, 27952. The default game server is on port 27960. If you’re firewalled against these ports you’ll need to get unfirewalled to play the game. If we work on the servers from now on we’ll notify the community and schedule the maintenance for the slowest period of the day (currently around 6am Dallas time).

We have what we consider a “gold” build of the demo. We’re putting it through the final push of QA at Activision before releasing it since this build is going to be more or less prevalent throughout the known universe.

03.12 - Delta Force2 does´nt run on 3Dfx cards

NVNews reports that the game Delta Force2 does´nt run on 3Dfx cards:

So why do 3Dfx cards only work with Delta Force 2 in software-only mode? The answer really comes down to mathematics:

Where the Voxel Space 32 engine uses 32-bit linear (integer-based)calculations, the 16-bit 3Dfx cards use an approach similar to floating-point mathematics. When the two different mathematical approaches are used in the same environment, instability is typically the result; you get polygon-based objects (trees, buildings, vehicles, etc.) that shift back and forth across the voxel terrain. There is no problem when using 32-bit Z-buffering cards such as Nvidia's TNT and TNT2 and ATI's Rage Fury."

Shit happens.....

02.12 - 3DMark 2000 Impressions

Here a couple of screenshots of the 3DMark 2000 Beta in demo mode:



click on the images for a larger view

You should download the two videos below to get an impression how these great images look in motion. You need the Windows Media Player to play the videos. I zipped the files because the data-rate is too high for streaming:

Video 1 (1,6MB)	Video2 (970KB)
This video shows the first 3 animation of the demo mode with sound. You can see on the screenshots that there are much more.	The first 2 game benchmarks with max. details and T&L Support.

The animations run very smooth in real. Some hangs are caused by the videoformat. The loading times are sometimes pretty long because I have to use a slow harddisk to help me out after my HD crash yesterday. But a new one is one the way... :-)

You can compare your own 3DMark 2000 results on the web with a hughe database. You also get tips and hints on what you should upgrade to let your machine perform better. More about that at MadOnion.com.