The judging panel for the PC Tuning Contest has been confirmed: John Plumtree, The Overclocking Store's (www.theoverclockingstore.co.uk) Managing Director, Goeff Richards, Technical Marketing Director, and no other than Stevie "Killcreek" Case, computer gaming icon and Master of Ceremonies of the CPL. All three will be judging custom designed personal computers in the disciplines "raw speed" and "case design" as only one of the many features at the ELSA CPL European Championships. (www.elsa-cpleurope.com)

TDV to break into the 3rd Dimension
New 3D Gaming System Will
Revolutionize the PC Game Industry.


New York, NY, June 14, 2001 - TDV Technologies today announced the immediate availability of its new 3D stereoscopic PC gaming system. Previously scheduled to be released in September 2001, the release of the system was accelerated due to the availability of nVidia’s ground breaking new 3D Stereo graphics driver technology.

Imagine yourself totally immersed in a 3D fantasy world like never before. Monsters, race cars, space ships, jet fighters and landscapes jump out of your monitor and into your imagination. You virtually enter the game. TDV brings you the best gaming graphics ever, guaranteed.
The TDV gaming system on a broad range of applications and is fully compatible with industry standard 3D graphics accelerators from nVidia including TNT, TNT2, Vanta, Quadro, Quadro2 family, Quadro DCC, GeForce, GeForce2, and GeForce3.

What’s more, the TDV gaming system works with most any Direct3D or OpenGL based game - hundreds of the most popular games titles. All you need is the latest version of the nVidia unified driver (version 12.40+), the nVidia Windows 9x 3D Stereo Driver and your TDV viewing system. This latest nVidia driver release prompted TDV Technologies to pre-launch its TDV viewing system. The system is available in a variety of models starting at a special introductory price of $59.95 at www.i-glasses.com/tdv

TDV is on track to launch the world’s first 3D Stereoscopic Portal for education, entertainment, and e-commerce on September 1, 2001. The TDV Portal will be linked with e-commerce websites - powered by TDV Technologies featuring their products in stereoscopic 3D (TDV).

ATI believes that by employing a new type of higher-order surface composed of curved triangles -- PN-Triangles or N-Patches -- Truform permits surfaces to be generated entirely within the graphics processor. And it's able to do that without taking up more bandwidth or requiring more memory. What's more, the technology does not require significant changes to existing 3D artwork composed of flat triangles, but rather enhances those models by adding triangles within the existing form. Thus Truform avoids breaking compatibility with older graphics processors, making it easier for software developers to implement in their games.

These high tech outfits are made by Pacific Consultants LLC, and offer your average soldier their own personal area network (PAN). Soldiers in the field can keep track by wireless of their team's whereabouts on an ad hoc peer-to-peer network, with audio and visual features.

The system includes an Integrated Helmet Assembly Subsystem (IHAS). This high-tech headwear comes with a colour monitor that uses mapping display software.

Soldiers also get a Daylight Video Sight stuck on the end on their weapon, so they can stick the gun around corners and see what's going on via the monitor. This is aimed at stopping so many soldiers getting their heads blown off.

The wearable computer, sewn into a vest, is based on a PIII 500MHz chip with 800Mb flash hard disk and runs on Windows 2000. The system also has a radio subsystem that uses an Intel SA1100 processor and runs Windows CE.

And in true James Bond-style, captured soldiers can destroy the whole lot by pressing a button. Sensitive information can also be erased remotely .. too bad if someone charges you. Also the crucial question asked by all the gamers will be what sort of 3D graphics support this system offers. I'd imagine a bit of Counter Strike, Unreal or Quake would really go a long way to liven up the atmosphere while hanging out in the bush on training exercise.. On the other hand too bad if you'd get court martialled for getting carried away in a clan match during sentry duty while your real world enemy sneaks up behind you, taking your whole squad out.... :) ahh well will they at least get Solitaire ??

K.Y. Ho was not alone in his frustration with the job market. In 1985, Ho with two other Hong Kong emigrants, Benny Lau (VP of product development, retired) and Lee Lau (VP of Strategic Planning), started their own company: Array Technology Industry.
The decision to make ATI a graphics company was very simple. The entire life savings for all three men totaled $300,000. According to Ho, starting a computer company required big capital - they could only afford to be a graphics company.

ATI started with an initial staff of six, with the secretary, receptionist and shipping department being the same person. As a small, unproven Canadian company, computer manufacturers were reluctant to deal with ATI and in four months, their $300,000 had run out. The Overseas Union Bank of Singapore rescued ATI with a $300,000 business loan that was later increased to $1.5 million.

Despite ATI's initial troubles, the high-volume nature of graphics chip sales meant that ATI only needed one design win to save the company. The first sale would come in the second half of the year when Commodore signed on, ordering 7,000 chips a week. By the end of the first year, ATI had $10 million in revenue.

Montreal, March 28th 2001 - Hercules is thrilled to announce its newGamesurround Fortissimo* II, the exciting follow-up to the award-winningMaxi Sound Fortissimo*. Gamesurround Fortissimo* II combines a cutting edgeaudio accelerator, ultra realistic sound quality and all the software toolsnecessary to experience the best from games, MP3s, CDs and DVDs. "Hercules Technologies is known for its high standards when it comes to
graphic cards and we wanted to make sure that those standards were also
applied to our advanced audio range," said Claude Guillemot, president of
Hercules Technologies. "The Gamesurround Fortissimo* II offers some of themost unique and innovative new features at the best price."

Some of the exciting features include a dedicated headphone output,
4-channel output, optical in and out connectors on the metal bracket, and a Hercules designed control panel directly accessible from the task bar which includes a 10 band equalizer! All this makes the Gamesurround Fortissimo* II a product that will, without a doubt, seduce the most demanding customers. Get ready for the rush!

With Gamesurround Fortissimo* II, gamers can expect an adrenaline rush! Thisnew sound card calculates 3D audio effects in hardware, accelerates up to 52 3D hardware channels and an unlimited number of voices. To fit with power gamers' expectations for superior acceleration in games, Gamesurround Fortissimo* II incorporates one of today's most powerful audio Digital Signal Processors, the Cirrus Logic® SoundFusion® CS4624. Gamesurround Fortissimo* II also includes the must-have Sensaura* Positional Audio technology, which allows for optimal compatibility with most advanced 3D audio games (includes A3D* 1.0, EAX* 1.0 & 2.0 API support).

The ultimate solution for digital music and internet audio
With its 20-bit quad output, Gamesurround Fortissimo* II delivers
professional audio reproduction. Yamaha's S-YXG50 wavetable SoftSynthesizer* guarantees high-end sound quality and for acoustic instrument sound reproduction is compatible with both General MIDI and Yamaha XG standards. This new processor also reproduces excellent quality MIDI sound.

Chock full of features
The Gamesurround Fortissimo* II has something for everyone. Thrill seeking gamers will be seduced by the famous voice control software - Game Commander® 2 SE. Electronic musicians will enjoy using both the virtual Home Studio Storm* Hercules® SE as well as Acid Xpress* to create their own music with a personal touch. Digital audio listeners will love to use the famous MUSICMATCH* Jukebox and Siren Xpress* software application to encode their creations to MP3, find new artist's songs or manage all their digital files.

Aspiring singers will have hours of fun with Kool Karaoke* Lite. Finally,
DVD buffs will benefit from the PowerDVD* 3.0 software DVD player on
Gamesurround Fortissimo* II which features 4-channel outputs to experience world-renowned Dolby Digital* sound on their favorite DVD movies. Gamesurround Fortissimo* II comes with a two-year parts and labor warranty and is backed by our technical support service. This soundboard is equipped with all the technical features needed to make it serve as a benchmark, not only for gaming and multimedia applications, but for music as well. Gamesurround Fortissimo* II will be available at the end of April for approximately $49 (USD).

About Hercules Technologies
Founded in 1982 in the U.S., Hercules developed the industry's first
high-resolution graphics board for personal computers. From its roots in
establishing the monochrome graphics standard, Hercules proceeded to pioneer advances in color graphics solutions. In November 1999, Hercules was purchased by the Guillemot Corporation group, which develops and
manufactures high-quality PC and console peripherals. Hercules now offers a complete range of graphics, image and video products, mostly for the gaming community. Hercules' audio product line, dedicated to gamers and music enthusiasts worldwide, integrates more than 17 years of expertise from Guillemot. Thanks to several years of experience and 2 advanced in-house technology development centers (Europe and North America), Hercules Technologies guarantees end users superior quality products compatible with all the latest market standards and all existing hardware and software. In addition, the company's manuals and software ensure easy installation and the ultimate in user-friendliness.

The Rio Volt's sound is also astounding. Although the earphones that came with the unit weren't the best, once I plugged in a pair of Grado SR-60's, I was set to go. Treble was clear and high, while bass was low and pronounced. The Volt's equalizer button allows the user to utilize any of the 5 preset levels (ultra bass, rock, normal, jazz, classical). I found that the ultra bass setting was best for rap, techno, and rock CD's, but can also see how the other modes would suit user's fancy. Oh, and the Rio Volt also played normal CD's flawlessly (but who cares about that?) Overall, the sound quality and MP3 playback of the Rio Volt lived up to the hype that has developed over this player.

San Francisco, CA /March 1, 2001 - EverGlide.com, Inc. www.everglide.com,
the developers of the award winning EverGlide Mousing Surface, announced
today that it had completed preliminary testing and field distribution of
its reengineered EverGlide Mousing Surface V-1 and would release it
worldwide March 1, 2001.

"Successful field trials and a seamless integration into our product line-up
beginning January 10, 2001 has assured us that the new EverGlide V-1 meets
the high standards set by the original EverGlide Mousing Surface", said
David Welsh, President of EverGlide.com. "Innovations in the pads design
have been overwhelming accepted by our consumer gaming community world wide".

As of March 1, 2001 all EverGlide Mousing Surface will be molded of a new
Polystyrene thermoplastic compound with a Patent Pending FineCell® textured
surface.

The Original EverGlide Mousing Surface was:
1. Manufactured of polyethylene.
2. Machine Routed.
3. Had a "pebble stone" leather-like texture.
4. Had a shiny finish.
5. Had an inconsistent machine routed edge.

The New EverGlide Attack and GIGANTA V-1:
1. Are molded of a new Polystyrene thermoplastic compound.
2. Have a Patent Pending FineCell® texture.
3. Have a texture consistent across the entire surface of the pad.
4. Have a more densely articulated texture with a steeper vertical wall
giving it a more acute drag coefficient.
5. Have an overall flatter finish making it more compatible with optical and
LED equipped mice.
6. Have a more gradually inclined consistently smooth shoulder without
machined flaws and blemishes.
7. Will be offered in dozens of new colors and configurations.

NVIDIA INTRODUCES GEFORCE3 - BREAKS NEW GROUND IN THE QUEST FOR REAL-TIME CINEMATIC GRAPHICS
Industry's Most Advanced GPU to be Flagship Graphics for Apple's Power Mac G4 Line

MACWORLD-TOKYO-FEBRUARY 22, 2001-Providing the catalyst for a new graphics revolution, NVIDIA® Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA) today introduced the world's most advanced graphics processor, the GeForce3TM GPU for the Macintosh® platform at Macworld Expo Tokyo 2001.

Powered by the new NVIDIA nfiniteFX(tm) engine the new GeForce3 GPU enables users to experience a rich, interactive environment. 3D scenes have ambiance with GeForce3 because objects appear photo realistic and custom lighting heightens drama and emotion. Characters and living creatures have organic behavior and unique expressions-their personality emerges. Programmability and performance are the catalysts for this graphics revolution.

"This announcement comes just one month after the first NVIDIA-based Macintosh launch," stated Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of NVIDIA. "We are excited to have the first public showing of GeForce3 at MacWorld Tokyo in Steve Jobs' keynote address. The combination of our new leading-edge technology with Apple's is going to send shock waves throughout the Macintosh community."

"Apple is proud to be able to introduce the most powerful graphics processing unit on the planet first on a Mac," said Philip Schiller, Apple's vice-president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "The all-new Power Mac G4 with Velocity Engine, when combined with the incredible NVIDIA GeForce3 GPU, delivers industry-leading computing and graphics performance to Mac customers."

In addition, GeForce3 is:

The first fully programmable GPU-the nfiniteFX(tm) Pixel Shader processor and Vertex Shader processor give developers the ability to program a virtually infinite number of special effects and custom looks.
The first high-resolution antialiasing (HRAA) GPU, featuring NVIDIA's patented Quincunx AA mode, for high-resolution, high-quality, high-performance multisampling capabilities.
A platform for advanced transform and lighting features, enabling more complex, visually exciting objects and scenes.
OpenGL® 1.2 compatible.
Available in 64MB DDR SDRAM configuration that supports both the innovative Apple® Display Connector and the industry standard VGA connection.
NVIDIA's nfiniteFX Engine: The GeForce3 GPU's nfiniteFX engine gives developers the ability to program a virtually infinite number of special effects and custom looks. Instead of every developer choosing from the same hard-coded palette of capabilities and ending up with a generic look and feel, application developers can specify personalized combinations of graphics operations and create an unlimited list of their own effects. Two architectural advancements enable the nfiniteFX engine's programmability and its multitude of effects: Vertex Shaders and Pixel Shaders.

Injecting Personality and Ambiance via Vertex and Pixel Shading Operations Vertex Shaders inject personality into characters and environments. Motion invades the entire scene, not just the focal points. The vertex processing capabilities allow characters to move and show facial emotion, materials to stretch, and the scene to come alive. By customizing the skinning and motion, developers can create an appropriate personality, intensifying the impact of the visualization or animation.

Pixel Shaders create ambiance with materials and surfaces that mimic reality. Amazingly realistic material effects replace the artificial, computerized look with high-impact organic surfaces. Characters now have facial hair and blemishes, golf balls have dimples, a red chair gains a subtle leather look, and wood exhibits texture and grain. By altering the lighting and surface effects, artists are able to manipulate colors, textures, or shapes and generate complex, realistic scenes.

High Performance, High Resolution, High Quality The Lightspeed Memory Architecture(tm) brings power to the GeForce3, delivering earth-shattering performance and fluid motion even for the most complex scenes. NVIDIA's new Quincunx antialiasing (AA) mode, generates high performance samples at nearly four-times the rate of the GeForce2 Ultra, while excellent visual quality.

Rendering at high resolutions with high frame rates becomes the standard with GeForce3, as its advances in pixel rendering and memory efficiency break down the boundaries of frame buffer bandwidth and enable high-resolution antialiasing (HRAA) for the first time ever on the PC.

Sophisticated Processing Technology The GeForce3 is the world's most advanced GPU with more than 57 million transistors and the ability to perform more than 800 billion operations per second and 76 billion floating point operations per second (FLOPS). The GeForce3 GPU achieves an astounding 3.2 billion antialiased samples per second fill rate--more than four times the performance of the award-winning GeForce2 Ultra and more than seven times the processing power of any competitive consumer graphics product. As do all of the GeForce family products, GeForce3 drives the most extreme resolutions and color depths of up to 2048x1536x32.

Another key feature of GeForce3 is its high-definition video processor (HDVP) that enables a variety of crystal-clear HDTV solutions when combined with a mainstream CPU and a low-cost DTV receiver. The HDVP allows mainstream high-performance processors to support all 18 Advanced Television Standards Committee (ATSC) formats with a simple, cost-effective DTV receiver card.

Geforce3 graphics on the Power MacTM G4 will be available next month as a configure-to-order (CTO) option at the Apple Store (www.apple.com) and through Apple resellers.

SANTA CLARA, CA—February 14, 2001—NVIDIA® Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA) today reported that two key processors for the Xbox™ video game console, the Xbox Graphics Processing Unit (XGPU) and Xbox Media Communications Processor ( MCPX), have both been released for fabrication. The two processors are manufactured in TSMC's advanced 0.15um, 7 layer metal process. The combination of NVIDIA's XGPU and MCPX will produce never-before-experienced 3D graphics, high definition video, audio, and broadband capabilities.

"These are two of the world's most advanced and complex semiconductors in production today," stated Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of NVIDIA. "We are extremely pleased to have reached this critical milestone and we are excited to be on the leading edge of this revolutionary design."

"The GPU and MCP are key factors in the Xbox experience," stated Robbie Bach, senior vice president and chief Xbox officer at Microsoft®. "With the XGPU and MCPX in fabrication, and the support from virtually every major developer and publisher in the world, we are absolutely on pace to deliver the world's most advanced gaming platform this fall. These processors will allow game creators and designers to make games shine in ways never before thought possible."

The first processor, the XGPU, a fully programmable 3D processor, contains more than 60 million transistors. This awesome amount of computing horsepower is dedicated to one goal—create stunning, never-before-seen imagery. The second processor, the MCPX, is based on two powerful DSPs with 4 billion operations per second dedicated to 3D audio and network processing. The MCPX performs the processing for broadband networking functions, high-speed peripherals, and is the most sophisticated audio processor ever built. The MCPX will enable Xbox to process 64 channels of positional 3D audio.

"Our 0.15um process is one of the most advanced in the industry, and is ready to accept the challenge of fabricating two of the worlds most sophisticated semiconductors. We are excited to be the part of the team that helps bring Xbox to life," said FC Tseng, president, TSMC.

This download contains the DirectX 8.0a redist release. DirectX 8.0a contains updates for issues with international installs on Windows 2000 and issues where input devices could have buttons disabled that were enabled with previous DirectX releases. There are no other changes.

SSE2 is an improvement over SSE, 3DNow, and Intel's past floating point architecture, since it contains a new, rapidly-accessible register set. However, these improvements will only show up in applications that are recompiled for SSE2, and it could be a year or more before good tools are available for this. With past architectural improvements like MMX, we went through and rewrote parts of our game in assembly language, taking advantage of the new instructions that way. Now, virtually no developers (even performance 3D game developers) use assembly language anymore, so our ability to take advantage of SSE2 is limited by compiler support. And virtually all developers are using Visual C++, and are limited by waiting on Microsoft for compiler improvements. (No, compiling with Intel's "benchmark" compiler isn't an option).

Each stick of SDRAM has specifications relating to the timing and frequency it can operate at, much the same as a CPU has a certain MHz rating. The most common types of SDRAM are PC100 and PC133, which basically state that the memory can run on a 100 or 133 MHz frequency. Looking a bit deeper, there are also more detailed specifications for CAS latency, RAS-to-CAS delay, and RAS precharge time. These CAS latency, RAS-to-CAS delay, and RAS precharge time specs are commonly displayed in a shorter, 3-digit format (X-X-X) such as 3-2-2 or 3-3-3.

In staying with the non-technical focus of this guide, suffice it to say that CAS (Column Access Strobe) is a ratio determined using both the memory's column access timings and the current system clock. Since the column access timings are static, the faster the internal clock speed (66, 100, 133+) the harder a lower CAS rating is to achieve. RAS (Row Access Strobe) precharge time and RAS-to-CAS delay are also memory latency ratings that are derived from the memory access times. For each of the CAS latency, RAS-to-CAS delay, and RAS precharge time options, the lower the number, the faster the memory timings and potential performance.

Now comes the HW T&L unit - its performance in comparison to the GeForce2 considerably increased, and undoubtedly in the NV20 there used an effective scheme of vertex cache and a mechanism of conversion and implementation of the lists of vertices and primitives stored in the local memory, without an access the main memory of the system at all. These measures allowed to minimize (and in the second case to avoid completely) limitations connected with AGP bus bandwidth. The more powerful T&L will let us get almost twice gain in games. Especially it will be well noticeable in games intended for the API DX 8.0 - there we will get high detailing and effects based on shaders. It concerns also the games which are prepared for the XBox release, and they will work successfully on the NV20 and following accelerators of the "generation X" 8.0. Old games will have practically the same speed as on the GeForce2-family. Some increase in the form of fps growth will have a place in all games which will be able to use HW T&L, e.g. Quake3, but only at low resolutions.