MaximumPC 2004 08

You write,

we respond

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In/Out

BTX BOO-

BOO?

THAT’S NO UPGRADE!

In the July issue (“PC

Makeovers”), you had three

computers ready for makeovers.

I understood most of the

updates/upgrades to the first

PC, as this is a realistic scenario

for most of us average geeks.

On the second PC upgrade,

however, I think you guys went

slightly overboard. I mean,

the whole idea of upgrading is

to keep as many of the older

yet still usable parts! The one

I disagree with most is the

high-end box—you might as

well have built a whole new

computer, which you basically

did. To make over this PC, it

would have been more than

sufficient to replace the CPU,

the videocard, and the case.

—MIKE KAISER

EDITOR IN CHIEF GEORGE JONES

RESPONDS: We certainly under-

stand that not everyone can afford

the extravagant totality of the

makeovers we presented in our

July issue. However, the primary

point of the story was to indicate

a wide variety of component- and

case-upgrading options that both

budget-conscious and damn-the-

cost upgraders can and should take

into consideration if they want to

improve the performance of their

PCs. Of course, we’d have no prob-

lems if you went all-out and enact-

ed all the upgrades we suggested.

After all, that’s what Maximum PC

is all about: configuring the com-

puter of your (and our) dreams.

THE WEAKEST LINK-SYS

It has been going around

the net that there is a major

security problem with the

Linksys WRT54G router,

which received a Kick Ass

award in the June 2004 issue.

I read online that the problem

“may grant malicious people

administrative access to a

vulnerable device. The problem

is that the administrative web

interface is accessible on the

WAN interface, even though

the remote administration

functionality has

been disabled.” So

what’s the deal?

—PERRY SIKES

TECHNICAL EDITOR

WILL SMITH

RESPONDS: The par-

ticular vulnerability

you listed is certainly

a problem, but it’s

only a major problem

if two things happen.

For someone to gain

control of your router,

they would have to

know your admin pass-

word—either because

you never changed the

default or because you

use a silly password

that is easily haxored.

Second, the firewall

has to be disabled, and

it’s on by default.

So, while this is

definitely a problem with the

Linksys WRT54G series of routers,

it’s one that shouldn’t affect most

people, especially Maximum PC

readers who use real passwords

that contain numbers and letters.

Regardless, Linksys should have

an updated firmware available for

download by the time you read this.

HEADPHONES BELONG

IN BEST OF THE BEST

I just had a quick suggestion

for your “Best of the Best”

product list: Would you please

add a headset category? I liked

the reviews of the headsets in

your June issue, but it left me

wondering if the Plantronics

DSP-500, which scored a 9, is

the best headset that you’ve

seen. Because it didn’t get a

Kick Ass award, I figure there

must be a better product out

there somewhere. I’m all about

headsets since I have a family

and I don’t like keeping them

up into the wee hours of the

night with a blaring 7.1 system.

—CHAD

MAXIMUM PC INTERN TAE K. KIM

RESPONDS: Chad, have you consid-

ered getting your family members

some earplugs and telling them

to just deal with it? If they really

loved you they would, you know.

As for the “best” headset we’ve

seen, the Plantronics DSP-500 is

great but it’s not as good as the

Sennheiser PC155 USB we review

in this issue. We lauded this prod-

uct for its comfortable earphones,

sonic power, and its standard audio

connectors. We should note that

Sennheiser sells a USB adapter-

less version of the PC155 for about

half the price, which is a steal, in

our opinion.

As for adding headsets to the

“Best of the Best” list: It’s some-

thing we’ve considered, but have

held off on because a quality

headset isn’t high on most people’s

“Must-own hardware” list. This

is rapidly changing thanks to the

growing popularity of online gam-

ing and the increasing viability of

VOIP.

And hey, maybe you’re not

the only one Chad. If any read-

ers are interested in seeing a

headset category added to the

“Best of the Best,” let us know at

[email protected].

PADS OR PASTE?

Number 15 of your “

Common PC Upgrading

Mistakes” (July 2004) states, “If

your new proc includes a heat

pad, use the pad rather than

removing it in favor of paste.”

Doing this is a huge mistake.

The performance difference

between a generic thermal pad

and some high quality thermal

paste such as Arctic Silver can

be as much as 5 ̊C. That’s a

huge difference for a little paste.

Please let your readers know

that this is the case.

—JON BECK

SENIOR EDITOR GORDON MAH

UNG RESPONDS: While we’re

certainly proponents of high-quality

thermal paste such as Arctic Silver,

we still believe you’re best served

by using the thermal pad that comes

with a heatsink. Of course, we are

putting a certain amount of faith in

the heatsink manufacturer, which

we trust is not using a generic pad

and thereby hurting the image of its

product. But by all means, if you’ve

already consumed the thermal pad

that comes with the heatsink, we’d

recommend using a quality heatsink

I was just reading

the BTX article

in the July issue

(“Behold BTX!”),

and was a little

perplexed with

the top photo in

the story. Is the

BTX case upside

down? I was trying

to envision it in

my home, and then realized the Intel marking on the motherboard is

upside down. If that’s true, will the power supply cables come from the

front? If not, does this mean the PCI cards will be facing towards the

front? I don’t know if I’m ready for wires coming out of the front of

my PC’s case!

—DAVID PAUL

SENIOR EDITOR GORDON MAH UNG RESPONDS: We had to do a double-take as

well when we read your letter, David, but the orientation is correct in the photo.

Apparently, Intel silk-screened the name upside down on the board. Based on

the designs we’ve seen, we can assure you that the power cables will not come

from the front of your PC; they’ll still be routed from the rear of the machine like

they are with standard ATX motherboards and cases. The add-in cards—both

PCI-Express and PCI—will continue to be rear-mounted as well. And don’t forget,

BTX cases open on the right side instead of the left.

08 MAXIMUMPC AUGUST 2004