MaximumPC 2004 08

XXXXXX 2004 MAXIMUMPC 00

paste and not trying to reuse the pad.

GEEK QUIZ UNFAIR?

I feel the Geek Quiz [June

2004] is demeaning, and in

no way helpful for us geeks as

you suggest. No matter what

level the person taking the quiz

achieves, there was some kind of

derogatory comment. Especially

in the first category [“Geekus

Ignoramus”], which I guess is the

level most of your readers and

staff made it to.

I count myself as a geek,

although I failed miserably at

your quiz. I took the whole

thing ignoring the fact that I

failed each section and got about

80 percent right overall. Perhaps

next year you should divide the

quiz into categories: networking,

PC building, software

knowledge, etc. Any geek would

be hard-pressed to know things

from the broad subject range in

each section. In any case, I hope

I don’t see a fifth annual quiz

unless it’s presented along with

the scores of your staff so I can

laugh at you as you are no doubt

laughing at me!

—STEVE

WHAT’S SATA GOT TO

DO WITH IT?

In your review of the MSI

K8N Neo Platinum Mobo in

the July 2004 issue, you said

“The presence of native SATA

means you won’t need a floppy

and fast fingers to perform

the dreaded ’F6’ driver combo

just to install Windows XP.”

What in the world does native

SATA have to do with getting

around the fact Microsoft

wants a floppy disk instead of a

CD/DVD to input any needed

drivers during an install?

—RICHARD

ASSOCIATE EDITOR JOSH NOREM

RESPONDS: The message we were

referring to is the one displayed by

Windows upon a fresh installation.

It reads: “Press F6 to install a third-

party SCSI or RAID driver.” But this

message also applies to Serial ATA

controllers. Typically, if you want

to install Windows XP onto a Serial

ATA hard drive you have to press F

to load the drivers for the controller,

even if it’s an onboard chip (depend-

ing on the board). With the MSI board

though, the SATA controller is native

to the south bridge, so this step isn’t

required. It sees a SATA drive without

any special drivers required just

like any motherboard would see a

Parallel ATA drive without special

drivers installed.

STUCK IN THE LAND OF

RADEON 9800

I want to upgrade my videocard

relatively soon before the new

shader games like Doom 3 and

Half Life 2 are released. However,

I do not want to buy nVidia’s

or ATI’s best card. Does either

company plan to release budget

cards based on their newest

chipsets, or am I stuck buying a

Radeon 9800 Pro?

–NICK SIMONETTI

TECHNICAL EDITOR WILL SMITH

RESPONDS: Both companies are

releasing loads of new cards

designed to fit any budget. In fact,

we are currently waiting to receive a

batch of budget, midrange, and high-

end 3D cards. You can look forward

to at least two pages worth of video-

cards in the next issue Nick!

WHITHER THE HD WONDER

An issue or two ago, you

mentioned a new product called

the ATI HD-All-in-Wonder, but

it was MIA in the July issue.

I have been researching the

parts for a Media Center PC,

but no one seems to have a

do-everything tuner card for

Digital/HDTV subscribers.

Hauppauge comes close with

its WinTV-HD product, but

the software doesn’t match

the robustness of ATI’s suite.

And ATI’s HD Tuner requires a

second videocard, which would

be tough to fit in most of the

SFF cases I was considering

using. Plus there’s no FM tuner

like the All-In-Wonder 9600. Is

the All-In-Wonder HDTV card

the Holy Grail?

—FRANK SCHIAVONE JR.

TECHNICAL EDITOR WILL SMITH

RESPONDS: The problem with cur-

rent HDTV solutions is that they

just don’t work with digital cable

or satellite HDTV transmissions.

We received an All-in-Wonder

HDTV just as we closed this issue,

so we’ll definitely review it next

month and give you the full scoop

on HDTV for your PC.

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 THE

COMMITTED-TO-

FRESHNESS

SEPTEMBER ISSUE OF

COMING

NEXT MONTH

MAXIMUMPC

“

OF COURSE, WE’D HAVE NO PROBLEMS IF YOU WENT

ALL-OUT AND ENACTED ALL THE UPGRADES WE SUGGESTED.

AFTER ALL, THAT’S WHAT MAXIMUM PC IS ALL ABOUT.

CUT, COPY, PASTE

 In our June 2004 LCD roundup,

we mistakenly called Planar’s

monitor the PL170; the model

number is actually PL1700.

 In the July 2004 PC

Makeover story, we incorrectly

stated the price for Hitachi’s

extravagant 400GB Deskstar

drive as $160. That was some

kind of wishful thinking—the

real price is about $410. We

apologize for the error.

 We also confess to the fol-

lowing sin: In our first look at

Windows Longhorn’s 3D inter-

face (July, page 15), we printed

a screenshot with a naughty

word in it. We apologize to

anyone who was offended.

”

THE DREAM

MACHINE

Our annual foray into PC

greatness is finally here!

Next month you will be

dazed, dazzled, and mesmer-

ized at the fastest PC you’ve

ever seen. Here’s a tantaliz-

ing hint: Can you say DDR2?

THE GREAT CASE ROUNDUP

Looking for a new chassis

to house the brand-new PC

you’re building? We’re round-

ing up more than 15 different

cases and building a PC in

each of them in order to dis-

cover which is best. Tune in

next month to find out!

MP3 PLAYERS

Testing MP3 players sounds

fun, doesn’t it? Well, it is. But

along with this fun comes a

great deal of responsibility.

Thankfully Features Editor

Logan Decker is up to the

task. His mission: to determine

which of the newest crop

of portable audio players is

best. And whether any of them

holds a candle to the iPod.

PLUS

Our second programming How-To,

Intel’s new CPU naming scheme, and

hardcore reviews of digicams, hard

drives, wireless devices, and more!

AUGUST 2004 MAXIMUMPC 09