MaximumPC 2007 07

MAXIMUMPC

EDITORIAL
EDITOR IN CHIEF Will Smith
MANAGING EDITOR Tom Edwards
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Michael Brown
SENIOR EDITOR Gordon Mah Ung
SENIOR EDITOR Katherine Stevenson
ASSOCIATE EDITOR David Murphy
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Norman Chan, Kris Fong,
Tom Halfhill, Steve Klett, Tom McDonald, Zack Stern
EDITOR EMERITUS Andrew Sanchez

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

BUSINESS
GROUP PUBLISHER Stacey Levy
650-238-2319, [email protected]
WESTERN AD DIRECTOR Dave Lynn
949-360-4443, [email protected]
WESTERN AD MANAGER Derek Johnson
650-238-2327, [email protected]
EASTERN AD MANAGER Larry Presser
646-723-5459, [email protected]
EASTERN AD MANAGER GAMES Kristin Kelleher
646-723-5491, [email protected]
ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Jose Urrutia
650-238-2498, [email protected]
SENIOR MARKETING MANAGER Alison McCreery
MARKETING COORDINATOR Michael Basilio

PRODUCTION
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Richie Lesovoy
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Dan Mallory

CIRCULATION
CIRCUL ATION DIRECTOR Peter Kelly
NEWSSTAND MANAGER Elliott Kiger
NEWSSTAND COORDINATOR Alex Guzman
INTERNET SUBSCRIPTION MARKETING MANAGER Betsy Wong
PRINT ORDER COORDINATOR Mila Villaflor

Quick Start AMD gives up on

high-end parts, hopes to compete

in the midrange .................................... 08

Head2Head CPU vs. GPU—the

battle for upgrade supremacy! ............ 14

WatchDog Maximum PC takes

a bite out of bad gear .......................... 16

How To Create HDR images ........... 56

Ask the Doctor Diagnosing

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

Contents

R&D The full story on Vista audio ..... 62

In the Lab Is Ageia’s PhysX

technology ready for prime time? ........ 64

In/Out You write, we respond......... 102

Rig of the Month Joe and Jesse

Nuzzo’s Vader ITX .............................. 104

Departments

Reviews

Gaming rig Digital Storm

Twister Ultra 4 ........................................... 66

Speakers M-Audio Studiophile

AV 40 Speaker System ......................... 68

iPod integration kit Dice

Electronics iPod Integration Kit ............. 68

Motherboards Abit IN

32X-MAX; MSI P6N SLI Platinum ............ 70

Blu-ray drives Lite-On BD

Triple Writer LH-2B1S; LaCie

d2 Blu-ray Drive ................................ 72

Flash memory key Corsair

16GB Flash Voyager ............................... 74

Supplementary monitor

Thermaltake 7-Inch Touch Screen LCD

Monitor ..................................................... 74

Videocard BFG 8600 GTS OC ........ 76

Terabyte hard drive Hitachi

Deskstar 7K1000 .................................... 76

Media players SanDisk

Sansa Connect 4GB; Cowon D2 ........... 78

july 2007 MAXIMUMPC

Speaker dock Jabra S

Speaker Dock .......................................... 80

Earphones Razer ProTone

m100 Earphones .................................. 80

Gaming headsets TheBoom

Quiet; Tritton Audio Xtreme 360;

Genius HS-04U ........................................ 82

Projector Toshiba TDP-FF1 AU

Video Projector ......................................... 84

Projection screen Epson

Accolade Duet Projection Screen ......... 84

Video editing CyberLink

PowerDirector 6 ....................................... 86

Music software Finale 2007;

Ableton Live 6 ....................................... 88

07

Oblivion: Shivering Isles ................. 90

Infernal ................................................ 90

Gaming

76

66

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
CFO John Sutton
GENERAL COUNSEL Charles Schug
PUBLISHING DIRECTOR/GAMES Simon Whitcombe
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 inter-
national 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-

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