D R E A M M A C H I N E 2 0 2 0 2 0 2 0 2 0 2 0 0 7
A
s much as we hate being predict-
able, we had to go with an Nvidia-
based videocard for this year’s
Dream Machine—for the third year in a
row. Yes, we’re talking about GeForce
8800 Ultras in SLI. But we’re sure you saw
this one coming, since AMD’s ATI brand
managers have decided not to play in the
high end of the market this product cycle.
(Wimps!)
The Dream Machine is all about being
the best, so not just any 8800 Ultra cards
would do. We picked a pair of XFX’s XXX
Edition boards (reviewed August 2007,
$875 each, http://www.xfxforce.com) because
they run at blistering speeds: The core is
clocked at 612MHz, the shader units spin
at 1.67GHz, and the 768MB frame buffer
hums along at an amazing 1.15GHz.XFX GeForce 8800 Ultra XXX Edition
Over the top? Of course! This is the Dream Machine, dude
VIDEOCARD
POWER SUPPLY
32 MAMAMAXIMXIMXIMXIMUUUUMMPPPCCSEPTEMBER 2007
PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750 Quad
Our 750 is like other people’s 1,000-watt PSUs
W
hat, you thought we needed a
kilowatt PSU to run this year’s
Dream Machine? Maybe if we
had selected units from lesser manufac-
turers, but this SLI/CrossFire-ready PSU
delivers more than enough juice. Even
better, the unit uses a single-rail design
to power all components. While other
PSU-makers sport multiple rails, which
don’t make effi cient use of resources, the
Silencer 750 Quad ($190, http://www.pcpower.
com) puts the power where you need it.
Since we’ve never had a PC Power and
Cooling unit fail in our Lab (aside from the
one we dropped), we’re confi dent that this
one won’t cough up a capacitor and drop
dead the fi rst time a brownout or power
surge strikes. To seal the deal, PC Power
and Cooling built this PSU with custom
cable lengths, just for DM ’07. Now, if
a PSU company would just do that for
everybody....