30 MAMAMAXIMXIMXIMXIMUUUUMMPPPCC JUNE 2006
In addition to a fancy new interface that lets you see exactly how
your computer is connected to the Internet, Vista’s newly rewritten
networking code delivers some impressive speed benefits. We were
able to download files significantly faster under Vista than we were
on XP.Audio Engine
Now this is a novel approach to volume
control: Instead of sliders based on
the type of content being played—why
does XP’s volume-control panel have 10
options, when the only ones you ever need
are Wave and Main?—Vista’s volume con-
trol is based on the sources and outputs
you use. So rather than tweaking the Wave
slider to adjust everything from Windows
Media Player to your games, each individ-
ual app gets its own slider in the volume-
control panel. Additionally, each output
has a master volume, so you can adjust
the volume level for your headphones inde-
pendently of your speaker volume.
When properly confi gured, per-application volume control should
prevent the iTunes -is-super-quiet-but- Quake -blasts-my-ears-off prob-
lem that’s common to Windows XP. Of course, most apps—including
iTunes and many games—already include independent volume sliders,
but Vista puts them all in one convenient panel.The much-needed sound-interface
changes aren’t all that’s new in Vista.
Microsoft has fi nally moved the audio sub-
system out of the kernel and into the user
space. This essentially means that Vista
treats the OS-level sound software and your
soundcard’s drivers just like any another app
you run on your PC, instead of as special
system-level processes. This should improve
overall system stability, as audio crashes will
no longer bring down the entire OS.
But wait, there’s more. Perhaps the
least-sexy change is the move from a 16-
bit integer format for audio data to a 32-bit
fl oating-point format. Although the 32-bit fl oating-point format
contains more information, the big improvement will be for people
using CPU-based integrated soundcards. Modern CPUs can han-
dle fl oating-point math much more effi ciently than integer math,
so we expect that this change will decrease the performance hit
you suffer from running an integrated sound controller.Power Management
It ain’t easy being green, especially if you’re a Windows
XP desktop machine. With Vista, many of the power-
management features that are typically limited to OEM
laptop machines will be available to everyone. We were
able to create profi les with custom settings for different
uses. We throttled down our CPU speed, lowered our
wireless power consumption, and even decreased the
PCI Express bus’ power consumption on our desktop
rig. Quiet-computing afi cionados, rejoice!Vista Preview
Continued from page 28Continued on page 32 ËInstead of managing volumes for esoteric
inputs, the Vista panel lets you set the vol-
ume per-app.Networking Faster, Networking EasierLike many other components of the OS, Vista’s network system has
been rewritten from the ground up. Remember, XP’s network stack was
based on technology that originally appeared when a 14.4 modem was
cutting-edge. The new Vista stack is a complete do-over, and every-
thing is new and improved. We love the plain-English error messages,
and the rewrite greatly improved our network performance by reducing
overhead. We were able to download large fi les about 15 percent faster
using Vista than we could on the same PC with Windows XP. Heck,
Vista even includes native support for the next-gen IPv6 protocol.Vista’s power management tools give you a much more
granular level of control over the power the components
in your rig consumes. You can tweak everything from
the CPU’s minimum and maximum speed to the power
that goes to your PCI Express bus.