Riparius Internet Telephone
If you've ever tried having a conversation across the internet with a friend, there is little doubt that one of the standout qualities of the exchange is the terrible sound quality that is part and parcel of the process. As I have friends all over the country as well as family members in Europe, I'm a major proponent of anything that helps me keep my phone bills below what I pay in car payments each month.
FrontX Multimedia Port Extension
Here's the scenario - you're a hardcore gamer playing late at night, while your lovely wife tries to sleep in the adjacent bedroom. The only problem is that since the sound is down so low, you can hardly tell when and where you're being attacked from. The alternatives to this predicament include gradually increasing the volume of the game - praying that the wife is deaf to low frequencies... or.... daring that god awful mess of cables behind the computer to plug in your headphones (which have a cord that is way too short to be useful anyway). FrontX to the rescue...
D-Link DSC-350 Digital Camera
With digital cameras becoming more and more popular you may have looked at purchasing one for yourself but found them to be
very expensive. There are some cheaper digital cameras available that you may have been tempted to purchase, but are they
worth the money? Today, I have a look at the D-Link DSC-350 Dual Mode Camera, at a price tag of $129, is it really worth
the money?
Belkin OmniView SE 2 Port KVM Switch
If you're like most hardcore computer people out there, you probably have more than one computer. Having more than one computer
can pose a problem when it comes to space. You need enough room to put two monitors, two computers, two mice, two keyboards,
etc. Well, fortunately for you, Belkin has a great product called the OmniView SE 2 Port KVM Switch, which allows you to hook
up a single monitor, keyboard and mouse to two computers. This can save a lot of space and money, especially if you don't
currently have a second monitor for that other computer. Check out the full review here.
StarTrek: Voyager - Elite Force
All I have to say is it's about time. As a hardcore Startrek fan, I've been waiting quite some time for a game that truely taps the
Startrek gaming market and does it right. In the past, Trek games have continually tainted the entire genre, as failure after
failure of adventure, real-time strategy, and even first-person shooter based games were released. Alas, things are changing,
and StarTrek: Voyager - Elite Force is here leading the fight.
ASUS A7V Socket A Motherboard
The ASUS A7V is the first socket A motherboard from an organization that has a long and distinguished
history of providing stable AMD based systems. ASUS has been in the game since the introduction of
AMD's Irongate chipset - another notable piece of history that posted the fastest performance scores
in just about every available category. In addition, the ASUS solutions have shown themselves to
be well oriented towards the hardcore (read:overclocking) community, and this motherboard is no
exception. Check out our full review of this board here.
W2K, DX8, and NVidia
Things are looking good for Windows 2000/NVidia gamers! While my machine experienced significantly lower scores
when running on Windows 2000 than when it was on Win98, the maturing NVidia drivers and DX8 are bringing
my 3dMark2000 scores up! I have taken a look at the results of benchmarking various NVidia drivers (both leaked and
the latest official drivers) to see which performed the best. Check out my results here.
Required Registration to Unlock a Game?
I found it interesting this evening that when I finished installing
No One Lives Forever it has a registration page that automatically loads when done installing. The page
says "Under Construction" and has a "Finish" button. When you click
on it, the next page says "Thank you, your CD is unlocked". Sounds
like they were planning on doing some type of registration that
didn't unlock your CD unless you registered! I haven't heard of
anyone doing this before and thought it was pretty interesting. What do you think
about this time of copy protection? Has past protection on games such as Quake 3
or Half-Life made a difference and discouraged piracy or has it caused more hassles
than it was worth? Take it to our forums here.
Netgear RT314 Router
If you're thinking about getting some type of broadband access like DSL or Cable, there are two big issues that usually come up.
One is, "How can I protect my computer from being hacked into?"; and the other is, "How can I share my connection with multiple
computers easily without having to pay the cable company more money per month?" Well fortunately for you, NETGEAR has released a
solution called the RT314 Router which not only protects your computer from the outside world, but it also allows you to connect
multiple computers to it for easy access to the internet through one connection. Lets take a thorough look at what all it has
to offer.
Napster: What's the Big Deal
Napster. You know exactly what it is, exactly what it does, and you love
it. Napster has become a breeding ground for copyright infringement. Should Napster be held accountable? That's what is being
argued in court. The RIAA(Recording Industry Association of America) says Napster did not do
enough to stop the infringement from occurring. Napster says that since
thier service runs by connecting users to users, they have no control over
the infringment and that it isn't their fault.
The outcome of this case may determine the future of Napster, as well as
sharing music over the internet. In a 3d Retreat exclusive, we want your
opinions.
Share your comments here.
Addtronics 6896A Full Tower Case
If you're building a new computer, wanting to purchase a new case to replace your old junkie one, or if you're like me and are constantly swapping out components in your computer, the type of case you get is vital. You want something that looks cool, provides easy access to components and plenty of cooling, especially if you're into overclocking. Let's have a look at the Addtronics 6896A case and see if it's right for you.
New Changes at the Retreat!
We have implemented a fresh new approach to delivering content that is aimed at promoting the exclusive content here at the 3d Retreat
and also tie in our network sites. In the middle column you will find a list of exclusive editorials, reviews, previews, etc. found here
on the site. On the far right is where you can find the latest headlines on each of our network sites. In case you think it has dissappeared,
our regular 3d gaming news can be found by clicking on any of the headlines on the right or by clicking on "3d Retreat News" in our menu.
Please let us know what you think about these changes! Contribute your thoughts in our forums here.
Tip: You can hold your mouse over the little icon next to each headline to view the complete text incase it is cut off.
First Thoughts - Fifa 2001 Demo
First off, the detail everywhere has improved greatly with things like the jerzees having wrinkles in them and to being able to
see the spikes on the cleats. I am still using my same game rig (366mhz celeron) that I played 99 on, aside from the fact I
have a Geforce card now.
Metal Gear Solid
It was during the relaxed Christmas Eve of 1998 when I borrowed a PlayStation along with about 20 PSX games
for a one-night videogame blow-out with my brother and two cousins. The first game we tried was Metal Gear Solid,
and it's needless to say that we didn't even bother to try any other game that night.
Pentium III FCPGA 1GHz Processor
As the race to 1GHz comes to a head, we see that AMD is the winner at reaching the "oh so sought after speed." There have been several
reviews on the AMD Athlon 1GHz and the benchmarks show it performing very well, but what about Intel's new 1GHz FC-PGA processor.
How does it perform, you may be asking. Well, let's have a look at the features and some benchmarks.
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