MaximumPC 2005 12

MA XIMUMPC

FUTURE NETWORK USA
150 North Hill Drive, Suite 40, Brisbane, CA 94005
http://www.futurenetworkusa.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/TECHNOLOGY Chris Coelho
PUBLISHING DIRECTOR/MUSIC 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 Network USA is part of
Future plc.
Future produces carefully targeted
special-interest magazines for
people who share a passion. We
aim to satisfy that passion by creat-
ing titles offering value for money,
reliable information, smart buying
advice and which are a pleasure to
read. Today we publish more than
150 magazines 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: Greg Ingham
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.

Quick Start Tales from the front

lines of digital-rights management ...... 10

Head2Head Internal and external

hard drives compared ........................... 16

Watch Dog Maximum PC takes

a bite out of bad gear ............................. 20

How To Compress a DVD using

Divx 6 ..................................................... 63

Ask the Doctor Diagnosing

and curing your PC problems .............. 66

Contents

R&D How hard drive makers will

surpass current space barriers ......... 72

In the Lab Introducing our

newest vid eocard benchmark ........... 76

In/Out You write, we respond ....... 118

Rig of the Month

A captivating combo of skill

and psychosis .................................. 120

EDITORIAL
EDITOR IN CHIEF Will Smith
MANAGING EDITOR Katherine Stevenson
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Michael Brown
SENIOR EDITOR Gordon Mah Ung
FEATURES EDITOR Logan Decker
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Josh Norem
SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR Steve Klett
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Claude McIver
EDITOR EMERITUS Andrew Sanchez
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Norman Chan, Tom Halfhill,
Thomas McDonald

ART
ART DIRECTOR Natalie Jeday
ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Boni Uzilevsky
PHOTO EDITOR Mark Madeo
ASSOCIATE PHOTOGRAPHER Samantha Berg

BUSINESS
PUBLISHER Bernard Lanigan
646-723-540 5 , [email protected]
SOUTH WESTERN AD DIRECTOR Dave Lynn
949-360-4443, [email protected]
SOUTH WESTERN AD MANAGER Issac Ugay
562-983-8018, [email protected]
NORTH WESTERN AD DIRECTOR Stacey Levy
925-964-1205, [email protected]
EASTERN AD DIRECTOR Anthony Danzi
646-723-5453, [email protected]
EASTERN AD MANAGER Larry Presser
646-723-545 9 , [email protected]
NATIONAL SALES MANAGER, ENTERTAINMENT Nate Hunt
415-656-8536, [email protected]
ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Jose Urrutia
415-656-8313, ju [email protected]
MARKETING MANAGER Kathleen Reilly
MARKETING COORDINATOR Tara Wong

PRODUCTION
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Richie Lesovoy
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Dan Mallory

CIRCULATION
CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Stephanie Flanagan
FULFILLMENT MANAGER Angela Martinez
DIRECT MARKETING SPECIALIST Janet Amistoso
NE WSSTAND COORDINATOR Alex Guzman

Departments

Reviews

Videocard ATI Radeon X1800 XT .... 78

Notebook PC Voodoo

Envy Hu: 703 ........................................... 80

DVD burners Pioneer

DVR-11DBK; HP DVD7401 .................... 82

Videocard ATI Radeon X1600 XT .... 84

Motherboard ECS PF

Extreme Hybrid ....................................... 85

VGA cooler Zalman VF700-Cu ...... 86

Water cooler Kingwin

AquaStar AS-3000 ................................... 86

Tablet PC Toshiba Tecra M4 ............. 88

Mice Logitech MX610; Razer

Copperhead ............................................. 90

Surround speakers M-Audio

Studiophile LX4 ........................................ 91

DECEMBER 2005 MA XIMUMPC

CPU cooler Tuniq Tower 120 .......... 92

Streaming box Sling Media

Slingbox ................................................... 92

CD/DVD burning app Nero 7

Ultra Edition .............................................. 94

7

96

X-Men Legends 2: Rise of

Apoc alypse ............................................ 95

Serious Sam 2 ...................................... 96

Brothers in Arms:

Earned in Blood ................................... 97

Gaming

90

78

92