MaximumPC 2008 07

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http://www.maximumpc.comwww.maximumpc.com | JUL 08 | MAMAMAXIMXIMXIMXIMUUUUMMPPPCC | 95

AUGUST

ISSUE

Streaming Video

How To

Be the star of your own Internet talk

show. We show you how to set up

a three-cam live TV feed from your

home—all you need to come up with

is the original content.

Can Any PC Notebook

Beat the Mac?

Apple has captured mindshare

in three key mobile categories.

We pit six laptops against team

MacBook in a hype-free battle royal

to determine if Apple really does

make the best mobile rig.

Power Users Guide

to Firefox 3

With the Firefox 3 launch

looming, we’re going to deliver a

comprehensive guide to the browser’s

advanced features. It’s the biggest

thing to happen to browsing since

Firefox 1!

because they’re already

overclocked, whereas Intel

sells very conservatively

rated CPUs.

—Philip Weiner

Senior Editor Gordon

Mah Ung Responds: Nice

work on sifting through the

numbers, but I think you’re

missing the point in a Pentium

4 sort of way. It’s not about

clock speeds—it’s about per-

formance. While I agree that

the Q6700 was always a tad

expensive when compared to

the Q6600, it will eat the lunch

of any Athlon 64 CPU in multi-

threaded apps and even many

non-multithreaded applica-

tions, thanks to the microarchi-

tecture differences.

Skimping on the

Adapter?

I bought an EVGA e-GeForce

9800 GX2, but I haven’t used

it for one reason: It didn’t

come with an eight-pin

adapter for my power sup-

ply. I’ve owned six EVGA

videocards in the past. The

last two I bought were 8800

GTXs, and they came with

eight-pin adapters. I can’t

believe this almost $600 card

didn’t include an eight-pin

adapter. How many people

have an eight-pin connec-

tor on their PSU? My per-

fectly good Enermax 1000W

Galaxy PSU doesn’t have

one. Yes, I was stupid for not

making sure, but it grieves

me that EVGA thought it was

OK not to include one! Now

I have to spend more money

for an adapter and shipping

to turn my videocard from

a paperweight into a usable

piece of gear.

—Doug Short

Executive Editor Michael

Brown Responds: It seems

some manufacturers are

including an adapter (in the

form of a pigtail with two

molex connectors on one end

and an eight-pin PCI-E plug

at the other), and some are

not. EVGA is not, but since

we can’t imagine that the

decision is driven by the cost

of the adapter, we quizzed

EVGA’s marketing director, Joe

Darwin, about the situation.

Joe tells us that since Nvidia

has not issued clear guid-

ance for the 9800 GX2, EVGA

decided to err on the side of

caution and recommend that

consumers use only power

supplies that Nvidia has certi-

fied for use with this card.

For the record, we’ve used

an adapter to power a 9800

GX2 with a PC Power & Cooling

1-kilowatt-SR power supply

and haven’t had any problems.

We haven’t tested the Enermax

model you’re using.

Copyright Corner

I noticed in your May 2008

issue that you gave AnyDVD

the 2008 lifetime achievement

award (“Softy Awards”). This is

not the first time this software

has been recommended by

Maximum PC. I’m very hesitant

to purchase this software on

the Internet. Is it legal for a

person residing in the United

States to purchase the soft-

ware via the website and use it

for making backup copies?

—Paul Lytle

Deputy Editor Katherine

Stevenson Responds: It’s

understandable that you’re

confused about this issue, as

there’s no clear-cut answer.

On the one hand, the fair-use

doctrine of U.S. copyright

law can be reasonably inter-

preted as providing indi-

viduals the right to reproduce

lawfully obtained content for

personal use (it’s the reason

VCRs are legal). Yet the sub-

sequently established Digital

Millennium Copyright Act

(DMCA) makes it illegal to

circumvent content encryp-

tion. This leaves honest

consumers who just want to

make backups or use their

media on different devices in

a legal limbo.

Here’s how we look at it: If

you’re indeed using your copied

content for strictly personal

use, it’s extremely unlikely

your actions would ever be

scrutinized—all the legal

wrangling around this issue has

involved copied content that

has been sold or traded publicly.

So assuming your intentions

are honorable, you should have

nothing to worry about.

THIS LEAVES HONEST

CONSUMERS WHO JUST

WANT TO MAKE BACKUPS

IN A LEGAL LIMBO.

LETTERS POLICY Please send your questions and comments to comments@maxi-

mumpc.com. Include your full name, city of residence, and phone number with your

correspondence. Letters may be edited for space and clarity. Due to the amount of

mail we receive, we are unable to respond personally to all queries.