Source: Maximum PC – February 2007

Maximum PC was by far my favorite PC magazine. Sadly, they recently ceased publication. I think it was the last monthly PC magazine being published in the U.S. The February 2007 issue includes:

Features

• Lean Machine – Maximum PC builds their version of the best budget PC possible for $1500. It features a BFG GeForce 8800 GTS video card, EVGA nForce 680i SLI motherboard, Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 CPU, 1GB Corsair TwinX DDR2/800 RAM, Antec Nine Hundred case, Antec TruePower Trio 650 power supply, Windows XP, 250GB Maxtor DiamondMax9 hard drive, and Lite-On SHM-165H6S optical drive.

• Vista – A look at Microsoft’s latest OS and why you don’t need it.

• Quad FX – A look at AMD’s new enthusiast dual CPU Quad FX platform featuring two 3GHz AMD Athlon 64 FX-74 CPUs.

• Browsers – The latest versions of Internet Explorer and Firefox battle it out.

Departments

• Quick Start – The Justice Department investigates Nvidia and AMD for GPU price fixing; AMD announces its 65mm processors and sets timeline for 45mm processors; HDMI version 1.3; and more.

• Head2Head – A comparison of the latest consoles (PS3, Wii and Xbox 360) and a modern gaming PC featuring a GeForce 8800.

• WatchDog – Maximum PC’s consumer advocate weighs in on AVG, HP’s expiring ink, and Dell notebook drivers.

• How To – A guide to using Google Search, Google Books, and more Google tools.

• Ask the Doctor – Questions answered about a potential power supply problem with an Athlon XP 2600 based machine, safely removing USB devices, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro refresh problems, and more.

• R&D – A look at how “electronic paper” works, the technology behind many eBook readers.

• In the Lab – The best way to configure dual channel memory in AMD Quad FX based machines and a look at the Microsoft Zune Marketplace.

• In/Out – Questions answered about virtual machines, Windows Vista, CRT monitors, desks, Linux, motherboards and more.

• Rig of the Month – User submitted system featuring a small form factor, hornet theme, two EVGA 7900 GTX cards and an AMD FX-60 CPU (all watercooled).

Reviews

• Gaming Rig: ABS Ultimate X8 III – Featuring an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 overclocked to 3.47GHz, EVGA Nvidia nForce 680i SLI motherboard, 2GB Corsair DR2/800, two 140GB Western Digital (10,000 RPM SATA) in a RAID-0 config, two GeForce 8800 GTXs, and more for a little over $4,600.

• Videocard: EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS – Nvidia’s “cheaper” DirectX 10 card featuring 96 shaders and 640MB of GDDR3 for $440.

• MP3 Player: Samsung YP-K5 – An expensive MP3 player ($210) with only 2GB of memory.

• Media Player: Microsoft Zune – Zunes weren’t cheap but I generally liked them better than iPods.

• Headphones: Ultrasone iCans – A decent pair of over the ear headphones for $129.

• Earbuds: Etymotic ety8 Bluetooth – Expensive, large and ugly but they get a good review here.

• HDTV Tuners – A look at two portable HDTV tuners including the Pinnacle PCV HD Pro Stick and Onair USB HDTV-GT.

• Video Streamers – A look at the Sling Media Slingbox Pro (which gets the better review) and Sony Locationfree TV LF-B20.

• Case – Reviews of several PC cases including the Zalman Fatal1ty FC-ZE1, Cooler Master Itower 900, and NZXT Adamas.

• Wi-Fi NAS Unit: Asus WL-700gE – A wireless router with NAS, bittorrent and print server capabilities.

• CPU Cooler – Zalman CNPS9700 LED – A highly rated and nice looking CPU cooler with copper heatsink and blue LED lighting.

• Speakers – Reviews of three PC speaker systems including the ABIT Idome D500 Digital 2.1, Bose Companion 5 Multimedia Speaker System, and Altec Lansing FX5051.

• Digital Camera: Oympus SP-510 UZ – A decent digital camera for the time featuring 7.1 megapixels for $300.

…and more!