MaximumPC 2001 11

94 | MAXIMUMPC | JAN 2011 | http://www.maximumpc.com

Orb Love

The Holiday issue of Maximum

PC has my favorite cover yet!

How did you guys make that

sphere?

—Will Pedzwater

Art Director Natalie Jeday

Responds: We loved it too!

Adam Benton, who resides in

Northamptonshire, UK, is our

go-to guy for rendered illustra-

tions, including this month’s

cover. He uses Cinema 4D soft-

ware to work his magic for us.

Give Gigabyte a Chance

You guys missed the mark with

the Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD7

review in your October issue

motherboard shootout. The

board “kicked ass” in most of

the categories yet only scored a

7 verdict in your review? If the

board was too big for you, why

didn’t you review the GA-890-

FXA-UD5 instead? It sports the

same chipset and features, but

has fewer PCI-E slots. As far as

the “trip down memory lane,”

some PC enthusiasts, like me,

might be swayed by the inclu-

sion of those PATA connectors.

I like the idea of being able to

include a floppy drive, IDE

hard drive, and IDE CD-ROM

drive to run my old stuff.

Also, why dis Gigabyte for

attempting to accommodate

people who would like to run

four videocards?

—Tom Driscoll

Senior Editor Gordon

Mah Ung Responds:

Unfortunately, you review the

hardware you have, not the

hardware you wish you had.

If our review had been of the

Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD5, the

outcome might have been dif-

ferent. But this was a review of

the XL-ATX GA-890FXA-UD7.

Yes, indeed, some enthusi-

asts might like the legacy ports

on the X58A-UD7 board, which

is why we didn’t subtract points

for that. We did, however, ding

the board for misconfiguring

our Core i7-930 and for the

finicky ET7 utility that continu-

ally tripped UAC in Windows 7.

Furthermore, in regards to your

PCI-E comments, my issue was

not the number of slots, but the

arrangement. While the MSI

and Asus boards both let you

run three GPUs in almost any

case enclosure, the Gigabyte

X58 board’s placement only

works with a few cases on the

market. Also, I really don’t

think that the optimal pairing

for a four-GPU system is a

Phenom II X6. I love AMD parts

and run many in my machines

at home, but for a quad-GPU,

I’d be looking at an LGA1366

system instead.

Windows Home Server

Error?

Your Windows Home Server

article (in “The Future of

Windows,” December)

mentions that WHS v1 can-

not support more than five

hard drives in the pool. That

is simply not true. I do not

think there is a theoretical

limit to the number of drives

in the pool other than avail-

able hardware ports, though

I understand that you reach

NTFS limitations when the

total capacity of the pool

approaches 256TB. Can you

clarify this?

—Edward Lopategui

Online Reviews Editor

Michael Brown Responds:

A bit of clarification is in

order: Microsoft supports

using its Drive Extender tech-

nology in Windows Home

Server v1 with a maximum of

five hard drives, and it sup-

ports using Drive Extender

in Windows Home Sever v2

(“Vail”) with a maximum of

10 hard drives. There is no

technology in either version

of the OS to prevent you from

exceeding those limits, but

don’t look to Microsoft for

help if you do and something

goes awry.

Test Bed Mobo Any

Good?

Your test bed motherboard is

an Asus P6X58D Premium, but

it’s never been reviewed. Will

a review of this motherboard

ever make your magazine? I’m

dying to know if this product

is good.

—John Braun

Senior Editor Gordon Mah

Ung Responds: John, we are

unlikely to review the P6X58D

as it’s a bit of an older board.

I can say, however, that it’s a

pretty solid motherboard or

we would not have chosen

it for our test beds. I can also

report that no one has experi-

enced any issues running the

boards thus far.

Negative Air Pressure

Sucks

I have to agree with Jeff

Welch’s letter (Holiday 2010)

concerning the latest trend

of excessive venting on

computer cases. While this

may be an advantage when

paired with a water-cooled

system, it is definitely not

good when paired with an

air-cooled system. Most PSUs

and videocards vent out the

rear of the case. Most of the

newer full-tower cases have

one to two huge exhaust

fans on the top. Excess vent-

ing, especially on the rear of

the case, creates negative air

pressure that sucks the hot

exhaust from the PSU, the

vidcard(s), and even the rear

exhaust fan right back into

the case via the open PCI

expansion slots.

We tackle tough reader questions on...

êWindows Home Server

êNegative Air Pressure

COMMENTS^

YOU WRITE, WE RESPOND

CUTCOPYPASTE

u In December’s Build It (“Build

a Wee Ass-Kicking Machine”) we

incorrectly stated that the Silverstone

SG07’s integrated 600W PSU can’t handle

a Radeon 5970 GPU. The SG07 and its PSU

were specifically designed to accommodate

a 5970. We apologize for the misstatement.

SSD SHOOT-OUTWe reveal the fastest drive on earth! p. 76

8 PC GAME-CHANGERSWe identify the innovative tech that will transform your system in 2011 p. xx p. 14 p

MINIMUM BS • HOLIDAY 2010 http://www.maximumpc.com

(^2011) Revealed: The parts,
products, and cutting-edge technologies that will
turbo-charge your PC!
ALSO: 18 Outrageously Awesome Thumb Drives! p. 56
Unlockable CPUs?Gordon Mah Ung reveals the truth behind Intel's upgrade schemep. 8 ULTIMATE PHOTO PC How to build and accessorize your own pro-caliber photo studio! p. 70
Tech Preview
PC
PC
INCLUDING EXCLUSIVE LAB TESTS PC
AMD’s NEWEST GPU Hands-on with AMD’s Radeon HD 6850 & 6870 videocards p. 42
6 Amazing Network TricksTap into the real power of your Wi-Fi devices with 6 secret tips & tricks p. 65
Duke Nukem Forever!? Can a game that's taken 13 years
to complete still be relevant? Details inside! p. 46
êGigabyte Mobos
Windows Home Server
Gigabyte Mobos
Windows Home Server
Negative Air Pressure
Gigabyte Mobos
Negative Air Pressure