4/23/2000: To point the new graphic ATI chip

    "Rade 6", "Rade on 256", or simply "the new throwing of ATI". On the 24th the new graphic ATI chip will appear, it seems that I joust one day before the throwing of the awaited one NV15 (the following generation of the GeForce, at major clock speed) and the NV11 (or GeForce for portable).
    The ATI chip will be the third solution that offers support for T&L (Transform and Lighting), after the GeForce of nVidia and the Savage2000 of S3 (apart from the chipset with integrated video S1-370 TL of the proper ATI). It will be provided with approximately 30 million transistors (more than a Pentium III) and it will be a chip of 256 bits.
    Of course, following the ATI tradition, we will be able to install it both in a PC and in a Mac; it looks like the Mac that they are still very alive, 3dfx also he has announced support for them in the piece of news Voodoo5. We will be attentive to the presentation for more information...
   

4/21/2000: From Voodoo 3 to Voodoo 5... without passing for 4 (for the time being)

    Finally he announces to himself the throwing of the Voodoo 5, after months of delay. Perhaps come a little late with regard to the well-known GeForce... nevertheless, it possesses incredible characteristics (64 MB of memory, two chips VSA-100, anti-aliasing to finished screen, simulation of field depth...) for a 300$ price. For the time being it is possible to reserve it for Internet to some distributors of the United States or to the proper one 3dfx, but it seems that here we will have to wait.
    At the moment he has not announced to himself the availability of the cards Voodoo 4 (the models with the only chip VSA-100), which perhaps should never see the light due to this delay of any more than half a year, since his speed has turned out to be even or overcome by the cards of nVidia.
    This way, 3dfx he can dedicate all his chips VSA-100 to the Voodoo 5, enough more powerful (as we hope to demonstrate in a future article). Neither one has spoken about the Voodoo 5 6000, with 4 chips, seems to be that for the same motive, the problems of 3dfx to make enough valid chips. Anyway, it is outstanding the fact that announced Voodoo 5 5500 exists both for AGP and for PCI (and theoretically with the same yield), facilitating the computers update without AGP.
    Meanwhile we wait for the imminent throwing of new GeForce with major speed of memory and nucleus, the NV15. Probably the same month offer us some news...

4/20/2000: Toshiba presents the first portable one refreshed by water

    Yes, he has read well: a portable one "with water radiator". Faced to the every time major problem of eliminating the heat generation for the more and more powerful (and warm) microprocessors for portable, the Toshiba engineers have looked at the motorcar and have used the same beginning that refreshes his engine.
    Although undoubtedly it looks like something rare, it is of a crushing logic: the water is a driver of the heat several tens better than times the air, so that it can eliminate more heat and more rapid, and in turn be cooled by means of air to begin the cycle again.
    The portable one in question, the Portégé 3440CT, has a thickness of only 20 mm, in which it manages to place a Pentium III to 500 MHz (already not so warm "engine"), a hard disk of 6 GB, 64 MB of RAM (or up to 192 MB), a video checker with 8 MB of memory and a modem 56 K... and it weighs 1,5 kg. Sincerely impressed, Toshiba.

4/19/2000: AMD presents (finally!) the K6-2 + and K6-III +

    After many doubts and postponements, AMD has just presented his new microprocessors of the family K6. The good reception that the Athlon have received, as well as his excellent price, they had raised serious doubts if these mikes would be finally made.
    The decision that AMD seems to have taken it is to destine these mikes to the market of portable PCs and to leave that of dessert to the diverse models of Athlon that it is going to present in the next months, although, on having been mikes Socket 7, theoretically there should not be problems to install them in dessert computers, whenever the motherboard supports them at level of BIOS and voltage (2.0 V).
    Both mikes incorporate the technology of saving of energy PowerNow! (almost identical to the SpeedStep used by Intel), they have the secondary cache memory integrated to the proper mike (256 KB in the K6-III + and 128 KB in the K6-2 +), they incorporate an improved set of instructions 3DNow! and they have been made by 0,18 microns technology, what implies a minor consumption and the possibility of reaching major speeds in the future.
    According to AMD, the yield of these mikes is significantly superior to that of the equivalent models of Intel, what must take with certain prudence until independent tests exist. In any case, Hewlett-Packard has already announced a portable one with the K6-2 +, and it is of hoping that the prices of portable should go down, what he always benefits the user.