S3 Savage 2000 interviewAGN Hardware heeft een
interview gepost met Mike Buchanon van S3, over de Savage2000:
Q:
Your Four Texel Architecture sounds quite interesting, but also a bit confusing. With
the current dual-texture processors, you are only able to take advantage of the extra
power with games that support them. This is only a smaller level of games such as
Quake 2 and others. Have you worked out a way to have all Direct3D games and
OpenGL games work with the four texel architecture, or will the games still have to
support them within their engine?
A: The architecture is really designed to sustain high fill-rates in a multi-textured environment,
so it is primarily designed to be able to handle 2 textures at 2 pixels per clock at a very
high sustained fill-rate. A byproduct of the design is that it can handle 4 textures as well.
Most content today and in the future will at a minimum have a high percentage of their
polygons supporting 2 textures per polygon and we expect this to move to 3 and 4 textures
per polygon as we move forward. Once again we will be working with the ISVs on this and
we expect that they can take advantage of this through the standard APIs without any
special hooks required for our architecture.
Q: S3TL is quite impressive, thanks to the ability of Tranformation & Lighting to bring a
new level of image quality to games that is equal to the latest Disney movies. Can
you tell us a little bit about your decision to carry the S3TL? Also will you be
working to have more S3TL supporting titles coming out from game developers?
A: I cannot really comment on the T&L; that will be on NVIDIA's next generation chip. We did
not consider NVIDIA when we were designing this. We looked at the APIs (DX7 &
OpenGL) and we designed our geometry acceleration engines to be compliant with those
APIs and what they were doing. So we intend to support the feature set as it is provided to
us as it is provide to us by the two standard APIs that everyone is using. (DX7 & OpenGL)
Mortyr gereleast in Polen Ik kwam bij
Vooodoo Extreme deze info tegen over Mortyr. Zo te lezen is het spel in Polen (waar het ontwikkeld werd) al gereleased:
A last! Today, which is August 30, 1999, we started selling Mortyr in Poland.
We are talking with abroad companies about selling Mortyr in the West, and it seems that possibly soon Mortyr will hit the world's shelves.
Soon more detailed, official informations.
In the meanwhile I'd like to inform that in spite of the great subtitles on our Eastern brothers' versions claiming that their Mortyr, although unauthorised,
is "full", "final", "complete" - this is not true. The old code, unoptimised levels, logical errors - playing that is a mess. I know what I'm talking about, for I
collect pirated versions of the game, I've been taking big part with.
Next news: Mortyr Cover Demo is ready. Like the full, released version, it has all the bugs of Internet Demo fixed (thanks to all the folks who wrote us
e-mails. You helped us a lot!). There are three levels in the demo - each of them is compiled of several ingame levels, with different textures, lights,
weather and enemies. This gives you some cool stuff to play, while not duplicating the game.
If you are interested in including our demo on you magazine's CD, please contact us at @mirage.com.pl.
There are some new levels in Mortyr itself, so the screens, section has been enriched.
Elsa releast i3Di technologie 3Di-internet 3D interactive provides true three-dimensional display of web content on any
PC
Aachen, August 30, 1999-The latest innovation of the Aachen-based ELSA AG is about to
provide a revolution in Internet display.
The newly developed ELSA software, i3Di, soon to be shipped with the already successful
REVELATOR 3D glasses, opens up a truly three-dimensional perception of the Internet to a
wide circle of users.
In time for the Internationale Funkaustellung (IFA), the consumer electronics show in Berlin,
ELSA engineers have succeeded in visualizing three dimensional web content in a way that
results in true spatial perception.
ELSA thus for the first time provides the technical environment to experience the global
Internet in an additional dimension and at consumer prices.
During the past weeks the advanced technology of the ELSA 3D glasses has already been well
received by the gaming community, providing the viewer with an image that appears to be truly
three-dimensional. The Internet magazine "Tommorrow" describes the ELSA 3D REVELATOR
in the current August issue: "These glasses could revolutionize the game world!"
Klinkt cool, maar wtf is het?
Creative Labs Webcam 3 review Vince van Extreme Hardware heeft een
review van de Creative Webcam 3 op z'n site geparkeerd. Hier heb je een stukje over de performance van dit apparaatje:
While I'm not a webcam buff, I found the performance at most resolutions to be
very good. The only problem I had was at 640x480, and at that point the image
became quite jerky and not at all suited for home video. The performance also has
a bit to do with the CPU and memory of your PC, as the Pentium III performed a
bit better than either the Pentium-266 laptop or the home machine when outfitted
with a PII-300. Even with the PIII-450, I couldn’t really get a smooth video capture
at 640x480, but still images were adequate. On the other hand, any resolution
below 640x480 ran like the wind on my PCs. The snapshot button on the
WebCam 3 was an excellent touch and I found it quite a lot easier when taking
stills. As for the colour and light features, I noticed that the automatic light
adjustment, while slow, worked quite well in adjusting from sunlight to artificial.
Lens adjustment could have been made easier, and the lens rim was a tad too
small for me to adjust properly.
"3dfx: Trouble ahead?" Riva 3D heeft een
editorial gepost over de toekomst van 3dfx. Volgens Riva3D zal 3dfx z'n strategie aan moeten passen om niet in moeilijkheden te raken. Riva 3D trekt hierbij een vergelijking met de positie van IBM aan het eind van de jaren '80:
What happened to IBM when they tried to introduce their own proprietary Microchannel
architecture bus to replace the aging XT bus serves as a classic example of what can go wrong.
IBM basically owned the PC market, with the success of the PC and XT series of personal
computers, until faced with clone manufacturers who provided a cheaper alternative to IBM's
premium priced PCs. While the rest of the PC industry began knocking out the specs for the next
generation bus, IBM relied too heavily on their brand name as they tried to recapture the corner
on the market by creating their own bus. Initial support was good due to IBM's developer
support program, but as support for their competitor's AT bus grew, the Microchannel
architecture eventually flopped. Big Blue almost took an unrecoverable fall as a result. Had it not
been for their diversified product line, IBM might very well have died right then and there.
3DFX now appears to be in a very similar situation. While the rest of the graphics industry
focuses on optimizing their products for D3D and OpenGL feature sets, 3DFX will have to
execute their business model flawlessly in order to avoid failure
Intel demonstreert Merced silicon Intel zal vandaag op het Intel Developer Forum de eerste Merced samples demonstreren. The Register heeft
info:
Intel will also announce a further series of IA-64 initiatives including a specification
called DIG64, intended to promote cross interoperability between Merced and other
platforms.
The operating systems which aim to run on Merced include Linux, IBM/SCOs
Monterey, Win64, HP/UX, Sun Solaris and Novell Modesto.
We reported recently that Intel had succeeded in producing successful silicon and had
managed to boot Linux but was having problems with booting Win64.
Tomorrow will demonstrate whether a small army of developers from Microsoft have
been able to iron out teething problems with the silicon.
Intel ziet VIA als grotere bedreiging dan AMD Intel bobo Pat Gelsinger heeft op een ronde tafel meeting gezegd dat hij VIA (fabrikant van semi-brakke chipsets) als een grotere bedreiging ziet dan AMD (fabrikant van een super snelle x86 CPU's). De verklaring achter deze wazige uitspraak:
He said: "We're concerned about competition. Are we paranoid about competition
from Asia? Yes, we are. We're seeing more and more first class silicon from Taiwan.
Furthermore, they've got cheap capital. We are paranoid about Taiwan and we expect
them to be very competitive, more so than AMD. They're a very potent force and we
take them seriously."
Gelsinger said that Intel would respond to AMD's introduction of the Athlon K7 in the
same way as it had done for the last 20 years.
Intel, he said, would respond with superior branding, superior technology and better
execution.
AOpen AX6BC en Abit BX6-II / BH6 R1.1 BIOS updates AOpen heeft een nieuw BIOS voor de AX6BC gereleased. Rev 2.41 kun je
hier downloaden.
Verder heeft Abit nieuwe BIOSsen voor de Abit BX6-II en BH6 Rev1.1 (de versie met héél veel busspeeds) op z'n FTP gezet:
BH6 Rev 1.1
BH632NK.EXE
BX6 Rev 2
BXRMW.EXE Multi-monitor support in Windows 2000 Microsoft heeft bevestigd dat Windows 2000 wél over multi-monitor support zal beschikken.
Betanews brengt het nieuws:
Rumors have been flying recently about whether or not the final version of Windows 2000 would include multi-monitor support. After a recent article in
PCWeek claimed Microsoft was dropping the handy feature, beta testers asked for the official word from Microsoft and it came. Windows 2000 will include multi-montior support upon release, and will be able to take advantage of upcoming software and hardware that utilizes it.
Rambus vs DDR SDRAM produktiekosten Ik kwam bij EETimes een
interessant artikel tegen over Rambus en de hoge produktiekosten van Rambus RIMMs (momenteel zijn die dingen minimaal twee keer zo duur als vergelijkbare SDRAMs):
Several factors are keeping upward pressure on prices, Mailloux said. RDRAM's die size is about 25 percent larger than SDRAM's, and RDRAM chips
need more expensive packaging. Inadequate testers have also boosted overall production cost.“The biggest concern among customers is the cost,” said
Mailloux. “I don't realistically see how we can sell [RDRAM chips] for less than a 50 percent premium anytime soon.”
[...] To whittle the premium, he said, RDRAM developers are working on reducing the die penalty to 10 percent. Further, he said, as memory vendors travel
the production learning curve for the parts and as testers improve, RDRAM chips that run at full speed will become more plentiful.
Verder ook wat info over DDR (Double Data Rate) SDRAMs, die o.a. door de nieuwe VIA Athlon chipset ondersteund zullen worden:
For now, Micron is sampling 128- and 144-Mbit RDRAM chips on a 0.18-micron process at $45 each in 1,000-unit quantities. Mailloux said high costs
may lead some to consider alternatives like DDR DRAM, which the company is sampling in 64-Mbit densities. “Most of our initial interest for DDR chips is
in servers,” he said. “OEMs are concerned about the cost of Rambus where they will [use] gigabytes of memory.”
[...] DDR DRAM technology is similar to SDRAM, thereby simplifying every phase from R&D; to manufacturing to test. Mailloux said about 70 percent of the
manufacturing stage for DDR chips is the same as for basic SDRAM. Further, he said, the dice are the exact same size, and testing is not significantly
different.
“In the long run, DDR should cost about the same as SDRAM,” he said. “We're seeing about a 10 percent premium now.” While most SDRAM chips are
tested on 32- and 64-site heads, which offer rapid throughput, current RDRAM test heads hold just eight chips. And the test systems cost several million
dollars.
[...] For now, RDRAMs' premium may squeeze them out of consumer PCs, where SDRAMs are expected to dominate. And DDR appears to be the better fit
for high-end servers. That could relegate Rambus to the limited market for performance desktops and perhaps to low-end servers and workstations, said
Mailloux.
DVD video-recorders van Philips Cor en kornuiten hebben op de Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) de release van een DVD video-recorder aangekondigd. Het apparaat maakt gebruik van het DVD+RW format en zal midden volgend jaar op de markt geplant worden:
The Dutch giant demonstrated a DVD video recorder based on the company-developed DVD+ReWritable (DVD+RW) Video format, at the
Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) 1999, Europe's largest consumer electronics show held here this week.
In the demonstration, Philips showed that recordings made with a DVD video recorder on DVD+RW discs will play back on any existing DVD video
players -- those offered by competitors as well as by Philips.
This drive by Philips to commercially launch its DVD+RW video-format-based DVD video recorder within a year comes as the industry faces the
irreconcilable fragmentation of rewritable video-disk formats. Different camps are pushing several different rewritable formats including DVD-RW,
DVD-RAM as well as Multimedia Video File (MMVF) developed by NEC.
Other consumer-electronics companies including Matsushita Electric and even Sony -- a co-developer of the DVD+RW format along with Yamaha, Ricoh,
Hewlett-Packard and others -- remain silent on plans to offer digital video-disk recorders. They pointed out that recording capacity and picture quality --
enabled by the DVD+RW video format -- may not satisfy consumers' needs today. Other industry executives also expressed concerns over
copy-protection issues. On a 4.7-Gbyte single-sided disc, the Philips-developed DVD+RW video format can record two to four hours of video.
Voor de complete info zul je ff richting
EETimes moeten fietsen.
Microsoft fixt Hotmail security bug Microsoft's Hotmail free e-mail service went
back up around 10 a.m. PST Monday, after
the company took it down for about an hour
to deal with a major security breach.
The problem involved a website that posted an HTML
script, which could be used to access accounts by
typing in a user name. Once inside, someone using the
script could read, erase, or send mail from the account.
Windows 2000 in januari 2000? De geruchten dat de release van Win2k wordt verschoven naar 2000 worden luider (en als er geruchten zijn dat een Microsoft produktie wordt gedelayed, dan is dat meestal ook zo). Hier heb je wat info uit een nieuwsposting van
GA-Source:
Two sources, both Microsoft partners, said the company will formally launch
Windows 2000 in January. One source said that Microsoft would make a soft
announcement by the end of the year to cushion the public relations blow.
The other source said that by the time the January rolls around - when Microsoft will
follow in Apple Computer's 1984 footsteps by launching the product during the Super
Bowl - Windows 2000 finally will be in the channel, but just barely.
A few days ago, appearing at Dell Computer's user conference in Austin, Texas,
Microsoft Chairman and CEO Bill Gates said he was "pretty sure" Windows 2000
would be ready by the end of the year. "We are very close to the final shipment,"
Gates said.
Despite this, exactly what the high-tech industry will see by the end of 1999 from
Microsoft is still uncertain - gold code released to manufacturing or boxes of
Windows 2000 Server and Professional on shelves?
Transform & Lighting editorial Armin van FullOn3D heeft een
editorial gepost over Transform & Lighting acceleration, dat o.a. door de S3 Savage2000 en de nVidia NV10 ondersteund zal worden:
What we'll really see is more detailed 3D models, which will add to
the realism of games, as well as better physics modelling, which
also will improve the game experience.
What we won't see soon is a convinving improvement of the
playable game resolutions above 1024x768 or really good
antialising at 800x600 and above, the brute force renderers are
just too weak for it - and VideoLogic is too weak to push their tile
based renderer hard enough to make an impact.
What I also predict is heavy fire from the marketing departments to
gloss over this lack - they have to sell these things to recover the
reseach and development costs, after all.
I don't think NV10, Savage 2000 or maybe 3dfx Voodoo4 will really
be 4th generation chips, their memory interfaces will prevent them
from adding the very significant output to their predecessors'
abilities to create feasible accumulation buffer effects or convincing
antialiasing. We'll end up with highly detailed but still ugly views.
Sharky Extreme Savage2000 preview Ook Sharky Extreme heeft een
preview van de S3 Savage2000 gepost. Hier heb je een stukje over de T&L; features van deze kaart:
S3TL is supposed to be three times more efficient than a CPU at this particular
number crunching stage, which begs the question of how both Intel and AMD will
respond? They certainly can't be overly 'thrilled' that 3D chip manufacturers are
'off-loading' from the CPU, thus making the need to upgrade the CPU not as
necessary. The more efficient Savage 2000 S3TL will then enable, according to
S3, four to ten times the amount of polygons and lighting complexity via Direct X7
and OpenGL implementation.
From our conversations with S3, it became apparent that they are going to be
taking a slightly less aggressive stance on T&L; in comparison to NVIDIA. They
feel that the games industry needs some time to 'adopt' T&L; efficiently. Indeed
once this happens, game developers will not only be able to use more polygons
and lights (up to 8 dynamic lights!) but in addition, these freed-up CPU processor
cycles can then be used for AI, collision detection, physics, etc.. In the rush to
adopt 3D graphics, game developer's attention to these features has lagged
behind so it could turn out to be another plus for getting more depth into games,
not just pretty pictures.
Volgens Sharky gaat de Savage2000 in oktober in massa produktie. De prijs van een Savage2000 plankje zal afhankelijk van het model naar verwachting tussen de 169 en 250 dollar bedragen.
