http://www.maximumpc.com | FEB 09 | MAXIMUMPC | 47
2
ATI R700 GPU
It’s rare that we heap hearty
praise on a chip that’s actually
slower than the competition, but ATI’s
R700, which powers the Radeon 4000
series, deserves accolades for focusing
on effi ciency fi rst, then performance. By
stepping back from the power-consump-
tion brink, ATI delivers a lustworthy GPU
that kicks ass in single- and multi-GPU
confi gurations, without requiring a crazy
1400W PSU.(^3)
SOLID STATE
DRIVES STORM
THE MAINSTREAM
As prices for NAND memory continue to
fall, storage manufacturers seize the situ-
ation by moving solid state drives from a
high-priced niche category to an aff ord-
able storage alternative. Surprisingly, it’s
OCZ and Super Talent that lead the initial
charge with low-price off erings. The price-
to-performance ratio still keeps SSDs from
supplanting hard drives by and large, but
SSDs fi nd a home in low-power netbooks
and notebooks.
(^4)
DEATH KNELL
RINGS FOR DRM^
Aft er suff ering through years of
music tethered to annoying DRM schemes,
consumers (and the voice of reason) fi nally
win out as DRM-free downloads become
the norm and not the exception. DRM isn’t
completely obliterated, but it becomes
clear that the days of restricted music are
at an end when Sony BMG, the last major
holdout, embraces MP3s free of shackles,
just as God intended them to be.
5
VISTA SP1 ARRIVES
AND FIXES A
BROKEN OS
Vista users fed up with slow fi le transfers and
lackluster performance celebrate the OS’s fi rst
Service Pack and its many fi xes. Much more
than just a series of security plugs, SP1 off ers
speed gains in everything from browsing net-
work fi le shares to manipulating zipped fi les,
and so much more. Even the photo screensaver
is snappier. For the fi rst time since its release,
Vista isn’t all that bad.
(^1)
CORE I7 KILLS
ALL OTHERS
Born from a weekend fl ing
between a Core 2 Quad and
an Athlon 64, Intel’s Core i7 inherits the
best attributes of its parents to become
the most badass CPU on the planet. With
an on-die memory controller, chip-to-
chip interconnect, tri-channel DDR3,
individual core Turbo mode, instructions
to aid supercomputing tasks, and Hyper-
Threading, the Core i7 instantly makes
all previous desktop CPUs obsolete and
SSDs fi nd a home in low-power netbooks girlie-men all at once. girlie-men all at once.