19 Upgrades
24 MAXIMUMPC JUNE 2007
BUDGET CPU
IF YOU’VE GOT JUST $500 TO SPARE, WHICH PROC IS BEST?FLOW METER
MAKE SURE YOUR WATER-COOLING RIG IS ACTUALLY RUNNING!S
o you just spent the last two hours cutting rubber hose, get-
ting your parts in order, and making a few fi nal connections.
But let’s say your rubber hose is totally black. How, then, will you
know that liquid is even fl owing through your setup? Oh no!
Thermaltake’s CL-W0012 fl ow indicator ($30, http://www.
thermaltakeusa.com) is a blingin’ way to watch your liquid of
choice travel through its
merry cooling circuit.
With the device
attached between two
hoses, you can tell if and
how fast the liquid is mov-
ing based on the activity
of a built-in spinner. The
faster the little wheel
spins, the faster your liq-
uid’s moving! We love the
style and easy customiza-
tion of Thermaltake’s indi-
cator, and this $30 whatzit
could save you big bucks
if your pump dies.Here we go now, feeling the
flow with Thermaltake’s CL-
W0012 indicator.IPOD CAR CONNECTION
FM MODULATORS SUCK. INTEGRATE YOUR IPOD INTO YOUR CAR
STEREO THE RIGHT WAYA
n FM modulator is the easiest
means of connecting your
iPod to your car stereo, but be
prepared for noise. You’ll enjoy
a much better experience if you
hard-wire an interface directly to
your head unit.
You’ll fi nd many products
capable of this; we chose
Peripheral Electronics’s iSimple
iPod Adapter (model PXDP, $150,
http://www.peripheralelectronics.com)
because it comes with compre-
hensive installation instructions and doesn’t lock out the iPod’s
buttons. Once it’s installed, you can control your iPod with either
your in-dash radio or the iPod itself.
The installation process is only slightly more complicated
than installing new components inside your PC. The most dif-
fi cult steps are fi nding space to stash the control unit, properly
grounding it, and snaking the interface cable through your dash.
Your ears will thank you for the effort.N
ow that Intel has cut the price of its Core 2 Quad Q
from $830 to a truly midrange $530, the 2.4GHz quad-core
chip might fi nally become a mainstream part. But is it the best
you can get in that price range? To determine this, we pit-
ted the C2Q Q6600 against another $530 CPU: the dual-core
2.66GHz Core 2 Duo E6700 (www.intel.com).
We ran a mix of benchmarks that refl ect gaming and appli-
cation performance in both multicore and single-core worlds,
so both the higher-clocked dual core and the quad core had
equal opportunity to shine.
The result? It’s no surprise that in apps that aren’t threaded
for the quad’s multiple cores, the higher-clocked dual core
takes the lead. After all, in these tests, the extra cores mostly
twiddle their thumbs. In multithreaded tests that can work all
cores, the quad jumps back in front.
But remember, computing is about the future. As time goes
on, apps and games will only add support for more cores,
not take it away. That means a quad-core CPU bought today
might very well run faster next year and the year after when the
applications are updated.
That dual-core machine, meanwhile, won’t benefi t from
added core support in software. As long as prices remain
equal, it’s plain foolish not to buy a quad-core CPU today.Best scores are bolded. Test bed: EVGA 680i mobo, 2GB Dominator DDR2/800, WD4000KD, GeForce 8800 GTX, 1K PCPC PSU.2.4GHZ CORE 2 QUAD 2.66GHZ CORE 2 DUO
3DMARK06 11,210 10,
3DMARK05 14,906 15,
PHOTOSHOP CS2 (MIN:SEC) 3:49 3:
PROSHOW GOLD 3.0 (MIN:SEC) 14:16 15:
CINEBENCH 9.5 1,190 813$500 CPUs COMPAREDThe new lower price of Intel’s Core 2 Quad Q6600 puts it
within reach of the masses.Peripheral Electronics
makes an iPod interface
for nearly every car ste-
reo on the market.