MaximumPC 2006 12

MAXIMUMPC

EDITORIAL
EDITOR IN CHIEF Will Smith
MANAGING EDITOR Katherine Stevenson
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Michael Brown
SENIOR EDITOR Gordon Mah Ung
SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR Steve Klett
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Norman Chan, Gord Goble, Tom
Halfhill, Cameron Lewis, Thomas McDonald, Christopher Null,
Robert Strohmeyer
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 PUBLISHER 646-723-5453, [email protected] Danzi

SOUTH WESTERN ADå DIRECTOR 949-360-4443, [email protected] Lynn

NATIONAL SALES MANAGER, ENTERTAINMENT714-381-3419, [email protected] Isaac Ugay

NORTH WESTERN AD DIRECTOR 925-964-1205, [email protected] Levy

EASTERN AD MANAGER 646-723-5459, [email protected] Presser

ADVERTISING COORDINATOR 650-238-2498, [email protected] Urrutia

MARKETING MANAGER Cassandra Magzamen
MARKETING COORDINATOR Michael Basilio

PRODUCTION
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Richie Lesovoy
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Dan Mallory

CIRCULATION
FULFILLMENT MANAGER Angela Martinez
NEWSSTAND COORDINATOR Alex Guzman
BILLING AND RENEWAL MANAGER Betsy Wong
PRINT ORDER COORDINATOR Heidi Hapin

Quick Start Repercussions of the

AMD/ATI merger ..................................... 08

Head2Head Thumb-drive software

showdown .............................................. 16

WatchDog Maximum PC takes

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

How To Get more from your

Gmail account! ....................................... 57

Ask the Doctor Diagnosing

and curing your PC problems ................ 60

Contents

R&D A primer on antialiasing, and

a fi rst look at DirectX 10 graphics ........ 64

In the Lab Is a major audio

vendor cheating at EAX? ..................... 68

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

Rig of the Month

Kenneth Kirby’s Hard Drive PC ......... 120

Departments

Reviews

Multimedia receiver

Yamaha RX-V2700 ................................. 70

Laptop PC HP dv9096xx ............... 72

Videocard ATI Radeon

X1950 Pro ................................................ 74

Videocard EVGA e-GeForce

7900 GS Signature Series ....................... 76

Streaming device

Soundcast iCast ..................................... 76

Blu-ray drives Plextor

PX-B900A; IO Data BRD-UM2/U ......... 78

Webcam

Toshiba IK-WB15A Network Camera..... 80

Wi-Fi Skype phones

SMC WSKP100; Netgear SPH101 ........ 81

Enclosure SilverStone TJ09........... 82

DECEMBER 2006 MAXIMUMPC 07

G25 Racing Wheel ............................... 88

Battlefield 2142 ................................... 90

Lego Star Wars II ................................. 92

Defcon .................................................... 92

Tiger Woods 2007 ............................... 94

Neverwinter Nights 2 ......................... 96

Gaming

FUTURE US, INC
4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400, South San Francisco, CA 94080
http://www.futureus-inc.com

PRESIDENT Jonathan Simpson-Bint
VICE PRESIDENT/COO Tom Valentino
VICE PRESIDENT/CIRCULATION Holly Klingel
CFO John Sutton
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 customerservice@
maximumpc.com or call customer service toll-free at 800.274.

Maximum PC ISSN: 1522-

76

Speaker Zvox 325 ............................ 82

Laptop bags Acme Made

The Clyde; Tumi Gen4 FXT Ballistic;

Mobile Edge SecurePack;

Tom Bihn Brain Bag; Tom Bihn

Super Ego; Spire Meta ............................ 84

Streaming box Logitech

Wireless DJ ............................................. 86

Film-emulation software

Alienskin Exposure ................................. 88

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