JANUARY 2006 MA XIMUMPC 

VERSUS!

We put arch rivals from every category—CPU, videocard,

hard drive, and monitor—in Maximum PC’s version of the

Thunderdome. Which gear will survive, which will die? Could

your hardware meet the challenge?

best midrange, dual-core CPU, or which bud-

get videocard you should avoid, we’ve run the

benchmarks, and we’re here to give you the

real-world winner! If you can’t handle the truth

about hardware, you’d best skip this story

PHOTOGRAPHY BY altogether. When you’re ready, turn the page.

MARK MADEO

BEST HIGH-END VIDEOCARD ...................... 30

BEST MIDRANGE VIDEOCARD ..................... 32

BEST BUDGET VIDEOCARD ......................... 32

BEST HIGH-CAPACITY HARD DRIVE ............ 34

BEST RECORDABLE DVD MEDIA ................. 35

BEST FAST LCD .......................................... 36

BEST AMD CHIPSET ................................... 26

BEST INTEL CHIPSET ................................. 27

BEST MIDRANGE DUAL-CORE CPU ............. 28

BEST HIGH-END DUAL-CORE CPU .............. 28

BEST HIGH-END SINGLE-CORE CPU ........... 29

INSIDEBEST MOBILE CPU .....................................^29