FUTURE US, INC
4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400, South San Francisco, CA 94080
http://www.futureus-inc.com
PRESIDENT Jonathan Simpson-Bint
VICE PRESIDENT/CFO Tom Valentino
VICE PRESIDENT/CIRCULATION Holly Klingel
GENERAL COUNSEL Charles Schug
PUBLISHING DIRECTOR/GAMES Simon Whitcombe
PUBLISHING DIRECTOR/MUSIC AND TECH Steve Aaron
PUBLISHING DIRECTOR/BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Dave Barrow
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR/TECHNOLOGY Jon Phillips
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR/MUSIC Brad Tolinski
DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL SERVICES Nancy Durlester
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Richie Lesovoy
Future US, Inc. is part of Future plc.
Future produces carefully tar-
geted special-interest magazines,
websites and events for people
who share a passion. We aim to
satisfy that passion by creating titles
offering value for money, reliable
information, smart buying advice
and which are a pleasure to read or
visit. Today we publish more than
150 magazines, 65 websites and a
growing number of events in the US, UK, France and Italy. Over 100
international editions of our magazines 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 plc
30 Monmouth St., Bath, Avon, BA1 2BW, England
http://www.futureplc.com
Tel +44 1225 442244
NON-EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN: Roger Parry
CHIEF EXECUTIVE: Stevie Spring
GROUP FINANCE DIRECTOR: John Bowman
Tel +44 1225 442244
http://www.futureplc.com
REPRINTS: For reprints, contact Ryan Derfl er, Reprint Operations
Specialist, 717.399.1900 ext. 167
or email: [email protected]
SUBSCRIPTION QUERIES: Please email maxcustserv@cdsfulfi ll
ment.com or call customer service toll-free at 800.274.
Maximum PC ISSN: 1522-MA XIMUMPC
FUTURE US, INC
4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400, South San Francisco, CA 94080
http://www.futureus-inc.com
PRESIDENT Jonathan Simpson-Bint
VICE PRESIDENT/CFO Tom Valentino
VICE PRESIDENT/CIRCULATION Holly Klingel
GENERAL COUNSEL Charles Schug
PUBLISHING DIRECTOR/GAMES Simon Whitcombe
PUBLISHING DIRECTOR/MUSIC AND TECH Steve Aaron
PUBLISHING DIRECTOR/BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Dave Barrow
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR/TECHNOLOGY Jon Phillips
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR/MUSIC Brad Tolinski
DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL SERVICES Nancy Durlester
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Richie Lesovoy
Future US, Inc. is part of Future plc.
Future produces carefully tar-
geted special-interest magazines,
websites and events for people
who share a passion. We aim to
satisfy that passion by creating titles
offering value for money, reliable
information, smart buying advice
and which are a pleasure to read or
visit. Today we publish more than
150 magazines, 65 websites and a
growing number of events in the US, UK, France and Italy. Over 100
international editions of our magazines 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 plc
30 Monmouth St., Bath, Avon, BA1 2BW, England
http://www.futureplc.com
Tel +44 1225 442244
NON-EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN: Roger Parry
CHIEF EXECUTIVE: Stevie Spring
GROUP FINANCE DIRECTOR: John Bowman
Tel +44 1225 442244
http://www.futureplc.com
REPRINTS: For reprints, contact Ryan Derfl er, Reprint Operations
Specialist, 717.399.1900 ext. 167
or email: [email protected]
SUBSCRIPTION QUERIES: Please email maxcustserv@cdsfulfi ll
ment.com or call customer service toll-free at 800.274.
Maximum PC ISSN: 1522-
EDITORIAL
EDITOR IN CHIEF Will Smith
MANAGING EDITOR Katherine Stevenson
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Michael Brown
SENIOR EDITOR Gordon Mah Ung
SENIOR EDITOR Josh Norem
SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR Steve Klett
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Todd Haselton
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Bill O’Brien, Norman Chan, Tom
Halfhill, Paul Lilly, Thomas McDonald
EDITOR EMERITUS Andrew Sanchez
ART
ART DIRECTOR Natalie Jeday
ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Boni Uzilevsky
PHOTO EDITOR Mark Madeo
ASSOCIATE PHOTOGRAPHER Samantha Berg
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER Sandra Silbereisen
BUSINESS
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER646-723-5453, [email protected] Anthony Danzi
SOUTHWESTERN AD DIRECTOR949-360-4443, [email protected] Dave Lynn
NATIONAL SALES 714 -381-3419, iugay MANAGER, [email protected] Isaac Ugay
NORTHWESTERN AD DIRECTOR925-964-1205, [email protected] Stacey Levy
EASTERN AD MANAGER646-723-545 9 , lpresser (^) @futureus-inc.comLarry Presser
ADVERTISING COORDINATOR 650 -238-24 98, ju [email protected] Jose Urrutia
MARKETING MANAGER Cassandra Magzamen
MARKETING COORDINATOR Michael Basilio
PRODUCTION
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Richie Lesovoy
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Dan Mallory
CIRCULATION
FULFILLMENT MANAGER Angela Martinez
DIRECT MARKETING SPECIALIST Janet Amistoso
NE WSSTAND COORDINATOR Alex Guzman
BILLING AND RENEWAL MANAGER Betsy Wong
Quick Start Microsoft cleans
house with DirectX 10 ............................. 8
Head2Head Wi-Fi range-
extension challenge! ............................. 16
Watch Dog Maximum PC takes
a bite out of bad gear ............................. 20
How To Add a handy drawer to
your rig .................................................. 63
Ask the Doctor Diagnosing
and curing your PC problems .............. 66
Contents
R&D What’s up with
Draft-802.11n? ................................... 68
In the Lab Keeping Conroe
cool, plus the problem with
2TB partitions ..................................... 70
In/Out You write, we respond ....... 110
Rig of the Month Craig Tate’s
BOSS 302 Mustang ......................... 112
Departments
Reviews
Videocard BFG GeForce 7950 GX2 ....... 72
Motherboards Foxconn C51XEM2AA;
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe ..................... 74
LCD flat panels Dell 2407WFP;
HP LP2465; Viewsonic VP2330WB;
Samsung 244T ......................................... 76
CPU coolers Scythe Mine;
Thermaltake Typhoon Mini ...................... 78
Small formfactor cases
PC Design Lab Qmicra; Ultra
Products MicroFly ................................... 80
Digital camera Kodak Easyshare ....... 82
Video-editing software
Ulead VideoStudio 10 Plus ...................... 82
USB thumb drives
OCZ Mini-Kart; Kingston DataTraveler;
Crucial Gizmo Overdrive .......................... 84
SEPTEMBER 2006 MA XIMUMPC
Draft-N routers Belkin N1;
Buffalo Nfiniti Draft-N .............................. 86
Pocket hard drives Verbatim
Store ‘n’ Go; Western Digital Passport
Pocket; PNY Maxfile Attache .................. 87
Subwoofer
Altech Lansing BB2001 .......................... 88
Encryption tool
Dekart Private Disk .................................. 88
Security software Zone Alarm
Internet Security Suite 6.5 ....................... 89
7
90
Half-Life 2: Episode One ................... 90
Auto Assault .......................................... 90
Hitman: Blood Money ......................... 91
Batt lefield 2: Armored Fury .............. 91
Gaming
80
74
84