on your Desktop, right-click the
original folder, choose Properties,
and check the Hidden option.
You can add folders to your
main folder to organize your
shortcuts or resize the taskbar like
you would any other window.
If you enable the Always On
Top option, you will create a
frame for all of your non–full
screen applications like Word and
Internet Explorer.
With this tip, My Documents,
my games folder, all my favorite
sites, and my school folder are all
just a click away.
—NICK EDWARDSEDITOR IN CHIEF GEORGE JONES
RESPONDS: This is literally.
percent of the total number of
Windows XP tips we received from
readers in response to our February
“Energize Windows” cover story
contest. We’ll announce two win-
ners next month in our April issue,
at which point the winners receive
either an Audigy 2 ZS Gamer sound-
card or an ATI Radeon 9600XT. If
you don’t know what I’m talking
about, shame on you for not reading
the February issue!TELLING IT LIKE IT IS
In your review of the ATI
Radeon 9600 XT [“Budget
3D Card Bustup,” January
2003], you said the card has a
300MHz 128-bit DDR memory
configuration, but ATI’s web
site disagrees. The web site says
the card has 600MHz 128-bit
DDR. This would come out to
9600MB/sec, or 9.6GB. In your
article, you even said the card
puts out 9.6GB/sec. But if the
card were 300MHz, the card
would be putting out 4.8GB/sec.
What is the actual clock speed
of the memory?
—ANDREW NOYESTECHNICAL EDITOR WILL SMITH
RESPONDS: The actual clock speed
of the card’s memory is 300MHz.
The ATI web site lists the “effective
clock speed” of the memory as if
it were single data rate memory.
Because the 9600 XT (and most
other modern videocards) use DDR
memory, it can transfer two chunks
of data every clock cycle. At
Maximum PC , we always report the
actual clock speed of the system’s
memory, because it is the clock
speed of the RAM. Effective clock
speed is just another marketing
number hardware vendors use to
trick poorly educated consumers
(who don’t read Maximum PC) into
buying inferior hardware.HOW COULD YOU DIS
GIGAWORKS?
In your review of Creative
Labs S750 Gigaworks speakers
(February), you said the
subwoofer wasn’t powerful
enough. My question is this:
Did you thoroughly test the
subwoofer? I recently read a
review on the web stating that
the S750 subwoofer is the best
subwoofer they’d ever tested,
and that it had the best rangeof negative and positive
decibels. In fact, the reviewers
had to completely change how
they graded speakers because
the S750 kicked so much butt.
I grabbed a pair of these myself
and have already cracked two
windows with the subwoofer.
How can you say it’s not
powerful enough?
—ANDY KITZKEDISC PRODUCER JOSH NOREM
REPLIES: Andy, you’re not the first
person to disagree with our assess-
ment of the Gigaworks speakers, butwe stand by our review. We’re unable
to explain the differences between
our review and the one you read
online simply because everyone has
their own criteria for testing speakers.
All we can do is report on what we
experienced during our extensive
testing. We tested the speakers every
night for two weeks straight by play-
ing games, watching movies, and lis-
tening to music. We even went out
and bought 6.1 DVDs just to see how
they sounded. This was all done in
addition to our standard testing regi-
men, which involves running a battery
of test signals. While we found the
S750 to be an excellent speaker set,
we just couldn’t get past the flimsy
control pod and the subwoofer’s ten-
dency to belch when pushed to the
maximum levels. nTHE ULTIMATE
DO IT YOURSELF
GUIDE
As you read this, we’re
racking our brains to
come up with 20+ amaz-
ing DIY projects for you.
You can’t afford to miss
this story!HIGH-END NOTEBOOK
ROUNDUP
We’re ensconced in high-
powered laptops. All of them
claim to be the best, but only
one will emerge triumphant.GOOGLE: BEHIND THE
SCENES
What happens between the
moment you press “Search”
and the near instantaneous
delivery of hundreds of re-
sults? A whole lot, as it turns
out. We’ll deliver the scoop in
classic Maximum PC fashion!PLUS!
Super fancy digital cameras,
PC case reviews, and more!IN THE
CAVIAR DREAMSAND CHAMPAGNEWISHESAPRIL ISSUE OF
COMING
NEXT MONTH
MAXIMUMPC
LETTERS POLICY: MAXIMUM PC invites
your thoughts and comments. Send them to
[email protected]. Please include your full
name, town, and telephone number, and limit your
letter to 300 words. Letters may be edited for space and clarity.
Due to the vast amount of e-mail we receive, we cannot personally
respond to each letter.In/Out
CUT, COPY, PASTE
We goofed in our February
“Plug ‘n’ Connector Refer-
ence” guide. Image shifting
and last-second edits created
some chaos in the layout,
as more than a few read-
ers pointed out. To wit: The
connector labeled “Serial RS-
232” is actually a DB-15 VGA
connector. Ouch. The connec-
tor labeled “5-pin powered
mini USB cable” was actually
a standard 5-pin USB cable.
Argh. The connector labeled
“CD Audio” was actually an
MPC cable for analog audio.
Grrr. And the connectors la-
beled “3.3v” and “5v” actually
deliver both voltages. It won’t
happen again. We swear. In our February issue cover
story (“Energize Windows”),
we mistakenly cited the URL
for the videocard over-
clocking utility Powerstrip.
The correct address is
http://www.entechtaiwan.com. There were two errors in
the February review of the
Sapphire Radeon 9800 XT.
The board does indeed come
with a Half-Life 2 coupon
that can be redeemed for
a full version of the game
whenever it ships. The
correct URL for Sapphire is
http://www.sapphiretech.com.08 MAXIMUMPC MARCH 2004
“
”
EFFECTIVE CLOCK SPEED IS JUST A MAR-
KETING NUMBER HARDWARE VENDORS USE TO
TRICK POORLY EDUCATED CONSUMERS.