MaximumPC 2007 12

MaximumPC 2007 12, MaximumPC

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
//-->Best 30” Monitor Ever!Gateway’s new panel fixessupersized LCDs’ flawsNext-Gen Optical Grows UpThe latest LG drive reads everyformat and writes Blu-ray!Two Terabyte Drives Reviewed!Tested: Seagate’s and WD’s massivenew 1,000GB drives. Which one wins?You won’tBELIEVEour picks!100THE GREATESTMINIMUM BS • DECEMBER 200715PLUS!The topproductsof 2007!OF ALL TIMEIt’s a veritable master’s course in hardware history!AMD’S NEXT-GENRADEON UNVEILED!We benchmarkPenryn, thenoverclock thehell out of it!We sneak apeek at theRV670! Can itcompete withNvidia’s best?PC INNOVATIONSHANDS ON WITHINTEL’S QX9650!LEARN TO BENCHMARK YOUR SYSTEMWITH 6 FREE APPS!ContentsEd WordI’IntroducingMaximumPC’sModShopPlease send feedback andblack-eyed peas towill@maxi-mumpc.com.m taking a month off from my usual Vistagrousing to share news about a specialproject we’ve been working on—MaximumPC’sMod Shop (www.modshop.net). Whether you’re ahardcore modder, a modding wannabe, or justsomeone who wants to learn more about theindustrial arts of PC upgrading, The Mod Shopmustbecome a regular pit stop during yourtravels through the Internets.In simple terms, The Mod Shop gives custom rigbuilders and PC upgraders a big, bold, easy-to-useplatform for showing off their projects. In The ModShop’s pantheon of greatness you’ll find amazinglydetailed PC tributes to games, movies, and comic-book characters. You’ll find paint jobs that belong inthe Metropolitan Museum of Art. You’ll find coolingschemes that will leave you awestruck and make youthink about science. You can find them all at The ModShop, and you can even vote on your favorite projectsas they battle rig-to-rig for serious cash prizes.As regular readers know,Maximum PChassupported the modding community with frequentfeature stories and our monthly Rig of the Monthcontest ever since the dawn of the PC moddingscene. The artisans who create these rigs put in anincredible amount of work, and we love showing offtheir ingenuity and craftsmanship. Unfortunately,with just one page for Rig of the Month, we cannever highlight as many machines as we’d like—thus The Mod Shop.At The Mod Shop, anyone can post a rig profile,which can include pictures, a complete description,and even a work log to chronicle your step-by-stepbuilding process. As I write this, The Mod Shop isteeming with the work of expert modders, but it’s alsoa place for all PC enthusiasts to post rig profiles—youdon’t have to be an egghead to represent! So pleasepoke around the site and check out other people’srigs (you may even find some editors’ rigs and DreamMachines in there!).Besides posting a rig profile, we encourage youto actively engage in the site battles, which are thesecret sauce of the site. Each month, we take thebest rigs and pit them against each other in a seriesof head-to-head battles to determine the ultimatewinner. The best part? You decide the winner of eachand every battle by voting for your favorite rig. We’vegot more than $3,000 in cash and prizes to give awayeach month, and you decide who reigns supreme.We’ve spent the last few months building the site;please check it out and let us know what you think.MAXIMUMPC12/07Features22100 GreatestPC Innovations46Our comprehensive list of themost important tech of all time!We look back at the verybest hardware of 2007.Best ofthe Best54PenrynIntel’s new 45nmarchitecture is here.We’ll take you on aguided tour.DECEMBER 2007MAXIMUMPC05MAXIMUMPCEDITORIALEDITOR IN CHIEFWill SmithMANAGING EDITORTom EdwardsEXECUTIVE EDITORMichael BrownSENIOR EDITORGordon Mah UngSENIOR EDITORKatherine StevensonASSOCIATE EDITORDavid MurphyEDITORIAL ASSISTANTNathan EdwardsCONTRIBUTING WRITERSNorm Chan, Thomas McDonald, TomHalfhill, Zack SternEDITOR EMERITUSAndrew SanchezARTART DIRECTORNatalie JedayASSOCIATE ART DIRECTORBoni UzilevskyPHOTO EDITORMark MadeoASSOCIATE PHOTOGRAPHERSamantha BergBUSINESSGROUP PUBLISHERStacey Levy650-238-2319, slevy@futureus.comWESTERN AD DIRECTORDave Lynn949-360-4443, dlynn@futureus.comWESTERN AD MANAGERGabe Rogol650-238-2409, grogol@futureus.comEASTERN AD MANAGERLarry Presser646-723-5459, lpresser@futureus.comEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GAMES GROUPDavid Cooper646-723-5447, dcooper@futureus.comADVERTISING DIRECTOR, GAMES GROUPNate Hunt646-723-5416, hneal@futureus.comADVERTISING COORDINATORJose Urrutia650-238-2498, jurrutia@futureus.comSENIOR MARKETING MANAGERAlison McCreeryMARKETING COORDINATORMichael BasilioPRODUCTIONPRODUCTION DIRECTORRichie LesovoyPRODUCTION COORDINATORDan MalloryCIRCULATIONCIRCULATION DIRECTORPeter KellyNEWSSTAND MANAGERElliott KigerNEWSSTAND COORDINATORAlex GuzmanINTERNET SUBSCRIPTION MARKETING MANAGERBetsy WongPRINT ORDER COORDINATORHeidi HalpinContentsDepartmentsQuick StartAMD’s new videocard;Head2HeadTraditional hard driveWatchDogMaximum PC takesHow ToBenchmark your rigRIAA wins infringement lawsuit ..............08R&DHow touch-screentechnology works ................................68vs. its hybrid counterpart.......................16In the LabIntroducing our newsystem benchmarks ............................70a bite out of bad gear .............................20In/OutYou write, we respond........142Rig of the MonthDavid Broadwater’s Fridge PC ..........144without breaking the bank ......................62Ask the DoctorDiagnosingand curing your PC problems ................6576ReviewsGaming rigAVA DirectTerabyte drivesCore 2 Duo SLI Gaming System..............76Western Digital Caviar GP; SeagateBarracuda 7200.11 .................................7886FUTURE US, INC4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400, South San Francisco, CA 94080www.futureus-inc.comPRESIDENTJonathan Simpson-BintVICE PRESIDENT/COOTom ValentinoCFOJohn SuttonGENERAL COUNSELCharles SchugPUBLISHING DIRECTOR/GAMESSimon WhitcombePUBLISHING DIRECTOR/BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTDave BarrowEDITORIAL DIRECTOR/TECHNOLOGYJon PhillipsEDITORIAL DIRECTOR/MUSICBrad TolinskiDIRECTOR OF CENTRAL SERVICESNancy DurlesterPRODUCTION DIRECTORRichie LesovoyFuture US, Inc. is part of Future plc.Future produces carefully targetedspecial-interest magazines, websitesand events for people who share apassion. We aim to satisfy that pas-sion by creating titles offering valuefor money, reliable information, smartbuying advice and which are a plea-sure to read or visit. Today we publishmore than 150 magazines, 65 web-sites and a growing number of eventsin the US, UK, France and Italy. Over 100 international editions of ourmagazines are also published in 30 other countries across the world.Future plc is a public company quoted on the London Stock Exchange(symbol: FUTR).FUTURE plc30 Monmouth St., Bath, Avon, BA1 2BW, Englandwww.futureplc.comTel +44 1225 442244NON-EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN:Roger ParryCHIEF EXECUTIVE:Stevie SpringGROUP FINANCE DIRECTOR:John BowmanTel +44 1225 442244www.futureplc.comREPRINTS:For reprints, contact Marshall Boomer,Reprint Operations Specialist, 717.399.1900 ext. 123or email: marshall.boomer@theygsgroup.comSUBSCRIPTION QUERIES:Please email customerservice@maximumpc.com or call customer service toll-free at 800.274.3421Maximum PC ISSN: 1522-427930-inch LCDGatewayXHD3000 ..................................................8024-inch LCDsWestinghouseL2410NM; Planar PX2411W;HP W2408 ................................................8288iPod speakerB&W ZeppelinNoise-cancelingheadphonesCombo driveLG Super MultiBlue GGW-H20LI ....................................85SATA enclosureSilverStoneiPod Speaker Dock..................................88DS351.......................................................85CPU coolersKingwin RevolutionCreative Aurvana X-Fi ..............................90RVT-9225; Zalman Reserator XT .............86Media playerArchos 605 WiFi.......88SpeakersKRK VXT 4 StudioAudio editingSony AcidVideo editingUleadMonitors ..................................................90Music Studio ............................................92VideoStudio 11 Plus .................................92GamingThe Orange Box...................................94Enemy Territory: Quake Wars..........9694World in Conflict..................................96DECEMBER 2007MAXIMUMPC07quickstartThe beginning of The magazine, where arTicles are smallAMD’sRV670RightsManyWrongsLatest GPU draws lesspower; piles on newfeaturesAMD’s Radeon RV670 could be a majorsuccess—if it’s clocked and priced right.The good news for AMD is that its newGPU is a much better graphics pro-cessor than the absurdly power-thirstyRadeon HD 2900XT that thudded onto themarket earlier this year. The bad news isthat AMD still can’t compete with either ofNvidia’s high-end GPUs.In fact, the prototype (and immaturedrivers) that AMD provided us for bench-marking proved to be quite a bit slower thanan EVGA 8800 GTS using Nvidia’s WHQLdrivers. AMD told us it hadn’t finalized theclock speeds for the reference-design card,and since Catalyst Overdrive had beenstripped from the driver we were provided,we couldn’t tell what clock speeds the pro-totype GPU and its 512MB of memory wererunning at. (PowerStrip revealed only idleclock speeds, which are ratcheted downwhen the GPU isn’t under load.)benchMARkssingle RV670xt (512Mb)AMD hadn’t settled on pricing or even aname for the RV670 before our print dead-line (check MaximumPC.com for an update),but reps for the company did tell us therewill be two versions of the new chip: An XTwith 512MB of GDDR4 memory and a dual-slot cooler (the version we tested), and aPro with 256MB of GDDR3 and a single-slotcooler. Both parts will have 320 stream pro-cessors, the same number in the 2900XT.Both SKUs will support a host of newtechnologies, including PCI Express 2.0,DirectX 10.1, and Shader Model 4.1, andboth will be equipped with AMD’s UnifiedVideo Decoder. UVD offloads all HD DVDand Blu-ray video-decoding chores fromthe host CPU. This feature is conspicu-ously missing from the company’s top-endRadeon HD 2900XT (high-end Nvidia partslack this hardware as well; you must stepdown to the 8600 GTS to get hardwaredecoding for HD). The new SKUs will alsoRV670 xtcRossfiRe (512Mb)single eVgA 8800gts (320Mb)3DMARK06 GAME 1 (FPS)3DMARK 06 GAME 2 (FPS)QUAKE 4 (FPS)FEAR (FPS)SUPREME COMMANDER (FPS)19.117.173.946.022.439.933.9130.384.041.618.919.182.561.026.1Best single-GPU scores are bolded. AMD-based cards tested with an Intel D975BX2 motherboard; Nvidia-based cards tested with an EVGA 680iSLI motherboard. Intel 2.93GHz Core 2 Extreme X6800 CPUs and 2GB of Corsair DDR RAM used in both scenarios.support HDCP on Dual-Link DVI so that30-inch panels can display copy-protectedhigh-definition video at their native resolu-tions. They’ll also support VIVO for analogvideo editing (another feature Nvidia’s hard-ware lacks).The new parts will support triple- andquad-GPU configurations, provided youhave a motherboard outfitted with AMD’supcoming 7-series chipset and eitherthree or four PCI-Express slots (AMD hasdubbed this ATI CrossFireX). AMD prom-ises support for Intel chipsets, too.Thanks to its 55nm manufacturing pro-cess, the RV670 draws considerably lesspower than its older cousin. Our prototypecard had a single six-pin power connec-tor and drew just 117 watts at idle and208 watts under load, compared to the2900XT’s 175 watts at idle and an insane318 watts under load. A lower power drawequals less heat dissipation, and thatmeans AMD will be able to specify a muchquieter cooler than the blow-dryer the2900XT needs.We’ll reserve final judgment on theRV670 until we get a shipping product—and see what Nvidia has up its sleeve—but the new chip looks very promisingfrom many different angles. And that’s thebest thing we’ve had to say about AMD’sGPU efforts in some time.08MAXIMUMPCdecember 2007Stiff FineLevied forCopyrightInfringementThe RIAA has finally caught abreak. The first of its 20,000peer-to-peer copyrightinfringement lawsuits to go totrial has resulted in a $222,000judgment against JammieThomas, a Minnesota womanaccused of distributing 24copyrighted songs on the P2Pservice Kazaa.The judgment is a dra-matic turnaround for the RIAA.In recent months, its war onfile-sharing has been doggedby universities and ISPs thatrefused to release individuals’account information and judg-es that quashed subpoenasand dismissed the recordingindustry’s lawsuits.The defense’s argument—essentially, “you can’t prove itwas her”—was no match forthe recording industry’s strongcase. Its lawyers noted thatthe IP address associated withthe infringement was appar-ently used only by Thomas’spassword-protected computerand cable modem, and that theinfringing Kazaa account namewas identical to the nameThomas used for her otheraccounts.Thomas plans to appealthe decision, citing a specificjury instruction which stated, inpart, that making copyrightedfiles available on peer-to-peernetworks violates copyright“regardless of whether actualdistribution has been shown.”Her defense argues that theCopyright Act doesn’t say thatand judges have handed downcontradictory rulings on thattopic in the past. Giving such aninstruction to the jury obviatedthe need for the RIAA to provethat anyone but its investigatorsdownloaded the files.The win certainly adds biteto the RIAA’s threats againstfile-sharers, but it remains tobe seen how many of its otherlawsuits will be as clear cut.Vonage’s Fate in the BalanceIf VoIP provider Vonage can weather a spate ofpatent lawsuits, it just might survive. The com-pany recently settled a federal court case withSprint, agreeing to pay the telco $80 million forpast and future use of its IP. Now it must resume apatent-infringement court battle with Verizon. TheFederal Court of Appeals has already remandeda jury’s $58 million-plus judgment against Vonagein that case; now the com-pany is hoping a retrial in U.S.District Court will end the liti-gation once and for all.FAST FORWARDTOMHALFHILLIntel ThinksDifferentBBlocklists are essential if you don’t want your peer-to-peer activity spied on by the Man. That’s whatresearchers at the University of California, Riversidediscovered after combing through 100GB of TCP head-er information from P2P networks. A blocklist containsthe IP ranges associated with snoops for the RIAA,MPAA, and others interested in tracking file-swapping.The researchers found that users who failed to employthis useful device eventually connected to one of thesuspect IP addresses, without fail.P2P Paranoia Pays OffGoogle CashesYouTube CheckGoogle’s purchase of the popular video-sharingsite is starting to make sense—AdSense, that is.Google’s highly profitable ad-serving program willnow offer video units to its website affiliates. Soan AdSense ad can contain site-related YouTubefootage—framed by targeted ad text, of course.Revenue generated by clicks will be split amongGoogle, the videomaker, and the website publisher.y now you’ve probably heard about Intel’s newQuickPath Interconnect, briefly known as the CommonSystem Interface (CSI). QuickPath is Intel’s answer toHyperTransport, the high-speed point-to-point serial inter-face that AMD adopted years ago. HyperTransport con-nects the processor core to the on-chip memory controller.On AMD’s multicore chips, HyperTransport also connectsthe processor cores together.Thanks partly to HyperTransport, AMD’s processorshave enjoyed advantages in memory performance,system integration, and power consumption. Now Intelis overcoming those advantages. New Intel micro-architectures like Nehalem are faster and more effi-cient, and QuickPath will match or exceed the per-formance of HyperTransport. QuickPath will appear infuture Intel CPUs based on Nehalem.However, QuickPath serves another purpose: It givesIntel an additional way to differentiate its x86 micropro-cessors from each other. These differences will be subtlebut could measurably affect performance.The oldest way to differentiate microprocessorswithin a product line is to offer them at various clockfrequencies. All else being equal, higher speeds arebetter. Another differentiation that became common inthe 1990s is to offer different-size caches. All else beingequal, bigger caches are better.More recently, yet another differentiation is to offermultiple processor cores. All else being equal—andassuming that multicore software is available—the morecores, the better. Ideally, those cores are integrated ona single die. Or multiple dies can be united in a singlepackage.Nehalem-based CPUs will differentiate in all thoseways, but also in another: the configuration of theirQuickPath connections. Consider the possibilities fora quad-core CPU. A lower-cost, lower-performanceversion could link the four cores together in a simplesquare. Each core could communicate with its twoneighbors in one hop, but cores at opposite cornerswould require two hops.Now picture a square configuration crossed with an“X” in the middle. These extra QuickPath connectionswould give each core a one-hop connection to everyother core. This design is more expensive but deliversgreater performance.Of course, AMD can do the same withHyperTransport. The point is that future multicore chipswill differentiate themselves by their interconnects, aswell as by the usual factors. Two multicore CPUs withidentical clock speeds, caches, cores, and integratedfeatures may perform quite differently, depending on thearrangement of their internal pathways.Tom Halfhill was formerly a senior editor for Byte magazineand is now an analyst for Microprocessor Report.DECEMBER 2007MAXIMUMPC09 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

zanotowane.pl

doc.pisz.pl

pdf.pisz.pl

mement.xlx.pl