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The Best of the Best Just Got Better

Florence Ion — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:22:54 -0600

Stop the presses! (Ok, maybe not). We wanted to let you know that Best of the Best, our comprehensive list of our favorite PC hardware components, has just been updated and overhauled with new categories and parts that you’ll need to consider for your next PC build or upgrade.

In addition to three new processor categories (Extreme, $500, and $250), we’ve listed our pick for the top Core i7 motherboard. The budget through high-end GPU lineup as also been refreshed, and we now make two hard drive recommendations based on performance and capacity.

Check it out!

Best of the Best 2007

The Maximum PC Staff — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:11:52 -0600

Every year, a procession of PC parts enters our Lab. Each component is tested mercilessly, but only a handful manage to win us over with a combination of killer performance, unique skills, and an all-inclusive feature set. Over the following pages, we pay tribute to those proud few and explain what makes them stand out among their peers in each major PC category. Ladies and gentlemen, we present this year’s hardware best in show!

Best CPU: Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650

Intel’s been on cruise control for more than a year, but that doesn’t mean the giant has been asleep at the wheel. On the heels of its proven 65nm Core 2 Quad design, Intel gets tiny with a new 45nm process chock-full of under-the-hood enhancements that boost performance 10 to 15 percent over its predecessor in a clock-for-clock comparison. But the real story of the 45nm Penryn chip is its clock-speed headroom. While the 65nm quad cores top out at 3GHz (with overclocked chips pushing 3.73GHz), the QX9650 promises to push clock speeds far higher thanks to the more efficient 45nm process. The only downside to Penryn is that it won’t work in some older motherboards. Nevertheless, this is the best CPU in town. $1,000, www.intel.com

Best Motherboard: Asus P5E3 Deluxe

If you don’t like controversy, stop reading. After taking Asus’s new P5E3 Deluxe motherboard and its new Intel X38 chipset for a ride, we’re willing to toss aside conventional power-user wisdom and embrace this DDR3 non-SLI board as our top pick. Wha, wha, what?! Just hear us out: First, the board supports Intel’s new 45nm Penryn—our favored CPU. Second, DDR3 is beginning to hit speeds that make it attractive—at 1,800MHz, who gives a damn about latency? We’re also willing to forgo SLI support—for now—when single-card performance is so damned fast. (In the meantime, maybe Nvidia will finally unlock SLI on Intel chipsets.) The hardcore features and killer performance of this board make it worth the trade-off.
(Reviewed at http://tinyurl.com/2cvl4b) $280, www.asus.com

Best Air Cooler: Zalman CNPS9700 LED

The fact that we’ve adopted the CNPS9700 as a benchmark against which we compare all other coolers is a testament to the raw strength of this shiny little guy. It’s just that powerful; it’s loud too, but if you want your CPU temps lowered to the extreme, the CNPS9700 is the cooler to do it.
(Reviewed February 2007) $80, www.zalmanusa.com

Best Case: Cooler Master Cosmos

We’ve read the pages upon pages of forum posts complaining about the Cosmos: that it’s too bulky, that it’s too warm, that it sucks. Well, you disbelievers are wrong! We’ve found nothing but blissful joy when using this holiest of holy chassis. Its adherence to screwless construction and soundproofing, not to mention its front-panel eSATA support and durable exterior, made the Cosmos the natural choice for this year’s Dream Machine, and it remains our favorite to this day. To praise this case more would require ticker tape and a flashy car.
(Reviewed October 2007) $200, www.coolermaster.com

Best Videocard: Asus EN8800 GTX

The videocard market has been a one-horse race this year. Nvidia obliterated AMD without doing much of anything new. And while this might seem out of character for Maximum PC, we’re not anointing a card with Nvidia’s absolute fastest GPU—the 8800 Ultra—with our Best of the Best designation.

No, we’ve decided to stick with the 8800 GTX, as represented by Asus’s EN8800 GTX. It’s fast, it’s quiet, and it delivers incredible performance with DX9 (its DX10 performance is admittedly less impressive). Yes, the Ultra is faster. It’s also hotter and a whole lot more expensive. We just don’t think the modest speed bump justifies the mountain of cash you’ll need to acquire one.
(Reviewed January 2007) $550, www.asus.com

Best Optical Drive: Samsung SH-S203B

It’s all well and good to have next-gen hardware—if it makes sense. And right now, with a format war raging and hardware and media costs still sky high, next-gen optical is a foolish choice for most folks. The majority of disc-burning and -reading needs are best handled by a good old-fashioned DVD burner, and Samsung’s SH-S203B is our fave in this category, offering a SATA interface, 20x write speeds, and a competitive price.

(Reviewed October 2007) $70, www.samsung.com

Best Monitor: Gateway XHD3000

While we’re still admirers of the large 1920x1200 native-res LCDs we’ve been recommending the last few years, the widespread adoption of these screens has definitely diminished their cachet. So we’re thrilled that a really, really high-res screen is now a viable option. Thanks to Gateway’s XHD3000, power users can enjoy all the benefits of a 30-inch, 2560x1600 panel without suffering any of the indignities inherent to other 30-inch LCDs. The XHD3000’s unique use of an internal scaler means you can choose among multiple interface options, adjust the screen’s image in a variety of ways, and play high-def content at its intended res. Righteous!

(Reviewed on here) $1,700, www.gateway.com

Best Wi-Fi Router: D-Link DIR-655

It’s been a long wait, but 802.11n wireless routers are finally worth buying—even if the IEEE hasn’t published the final spec. After testing models from every major vendor, we found that D-Link’s DIR-655 offers the best combination of features and performance. With unparalleled tweakability, customizable quality-of-service settings, best-in-class range and throughput, and a built-in Gigabit Ethernet switch, no other router comes close.

(Reviewed November 2007) $130, www.dlink.com

Best Backup Drive: Seagate FreeAgent Pro

Let’s get the messy details out of the way first: The single-drive FreeAgent Pro is slower than Western Digital’s RAID-enabled MyBook Pro Edition II. But that’s only if you consider the storage mediums themselves. The MyBook Pro II supports only USB and FireWire connections, while the FreeAgent Pro provides support for both those specs as well as eSATA, making it the ultimate winner for file transferring. And unlike the MyBook, it works perfectly in Vista!

(Reviewed here) 300, www.seagate.com

Best Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 (1TB)

We were inches away from declaring Hitachi’s 7K1000 terabyte drive the best hard drive of 2007, when—whammo!—terabyte offerings from Western Digital and Seagate hit the Lab within a day of each other. Storage competition makes us salivate, so we couldn’t wait to run the drives through our benchmark obstacle course.
It’s a good thing we did: Seagate’s four-platter Barracuda 7200.11 drive is the fastest terabyte drive we’ve ever tested, with an average read speed of 86.6MB/s—a whole 15 megabytes a second faster than the 7K1000. Attribute the win to the Barracuda’s increased areal density. At 250MB per platter, the ’Cuda packs more for a decisive read/write punch!
(Reviewed Holiday 2007) $330, www.seagate.com

Best Thumb Drive: Corsair Voyager GT 8GB

Corsair’s Voyager GT is the zenith of zippy thumb drives. Sure, there are larger keys—including the 16GB Voyager—but their speeds don’t compare to those of the blazing-fast Voyager GT 8GB. It’s fast and spacious enough to swallow nearly the entire contents of a dual-layer DVD; Corsair’s Flash Voyager GT is hands-down our pick for petite portable storage.

(Reviewed February 2007) $150, www.corsair.com

Best Digital Media Player: SanDisk Sansa Connect

There’s plenty of buzz about Apple’s new iPod Touch, but that device didn’t ship in time for us to consider. No matter, we’ll happily give SanDisk’s Sansa Connect the win in this category. The Sansa Connect’s built-in Wi-Fi capabilities tie into Yahoo’s Launchcast Internet radio and Yahoo Music Unlimited services to provide a nearly unlimited source of music you can share with other subscribers.
(Reviewed July 2007) $150, www.sandisk.com

Best NAS Box: QNAP TS-109 Pro

It’s hard not to love QNAP’s TS-109 Pro network attached storage (NAS) box. For starters, it sprinkles magic dust over your data transfers—it was the speediest of all the NAS devices we’ve ever tested in both our small- and large-file transfer tests. The TS-109 also comes with a plethora of outstanding features: It can stream music (iTunes supported!), download BitTorrent files, act as a server, back up your PCs, and even pull files from USB devices. Consider us smitten!

(Reviewed here) $330—drive not included, www.qnap.com

Best Earbuds: Shure SE530

We’ve auditioned a number of innovative and great-sounding earbuds this year, including Etymotic’s wireless ety8 and M-Audio’s bass-boomin’ IE-20 XB, but nothing caressed our drums as tenderly as Shure’s SE530.

Three microdrivers in each earbud—one tweeter and two woofers—deliver the entire sonic spectrum with crystal clarity and plenty of oomph at the bottom end. They’re pricey, to be sure, but we think their excellent fit and audacious sound fully justify their cost.
(Reviewed August 2007, as model SE530PTH) $500, www.shure.com

Best Speakers: Audioengine 5

2007 was a good year for speakers, with a number of great systems going through the Lab’s sonic chamber. TBI’s passive Majestic Diamond I and B&W’s incredible Zeppelin (reviewed on page 88) were both exceptional. But we’re giving the nod to the Audioengine 5 bookshelf system, which combines outstanding character with features that render it useful for nearly any application.

It makes a great near-field stereo monitoring system, yet it can fill a room with sound. There’s a built-in USB port on top for charging your portable media player, and an AC outlet in back that’s just the ticket for powering a streaming box.
(Reviewed May 2007) $350, www.audioengineusa.com

Next: Worst of the Worst!

Worst of the Worst

With so much killer hardware in our midst, you might think we’re strangers to crappy products. Not so! Here are some of the lemons from 2007 and what we had to say about ’em

Reservoir Dogs
“By the end of the game, we were praying the cops would shoot us to put us out of our misery.”
(Reviewed January 2007)

Belkin Cable-Free USB Hub
“If Belkin’s Cable-Free USB Hub is any indication of what we can expect from other wireless USB products, the technology’s future is bleak.”
(Reviewed April 2007)

Overway Technology Vacuum Superconductive Heat Cooler
“Yes, it took more than half an hour to get the device in place. And for all that, we were rewarded with a cooler that actually performs worse than [a] cheapo stock cooler…”
(Reviewed June 2007)

Toshiba Portable External Hard Drive
“We sure can’t think of a compelling reason to pick up this device, as the Toshiba is as slow as it is featureless.”
(Reviewed November 2007)

Philips amBX Gaming Peripherals
“Amsterdam is just 66 miles from Philips’s headquarters in Eindhoven. Hmm. Could that explain how this bizarre concept got off the drawing board, into a factory, and onto retailers’ shelves without someone asking, ‘Why?’”
(Reviewed March 2007)

CoolerMaster iTower 930
“You could practically open a Greek restaurant with all the PITA that comes with assembling a computer using this case.”
(Reviewed February 2007)

Genius HS-04U Headset
“The Genius HS-04U is made of plastic, but it sounds like tin.”
(Reviewed July 2007)

Abit iDome D500 Digital 2.1
“Seriously, the audio that emerged from this milquetoast system was so blasé… we had to check the iDome’s subwoofer to make sure it was warm.”
(Reviewed February 2007)

Western Digital My Book World Edition II
“If you love holding down a power button for more than 20 seconds just to shut off a device, you’ll love WD’s My Book World.”
(Reviewed August 2007)

December 2007 - 100 Greatest Tech Innovations of All Time!

The Maximum PC Staff — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:38:21 -0600

In the PDF archive of the December 2007 issue, you can find:

100 Greatest PC Innovations
Best of the Best 2007
Penryn Preview
Best 30" Monitor Ever!
And 17 More Awesome Product Reviews!
Ask the Doctor
Rig of the Month
The Watchdog
And a whole lot more!

Click the big giant cover image to the right to download the PDF archive today!

Maximum PC's Fifth Annual Softy Awards

Maximum PC Staff — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 14:12:25 -0500

It’s true that amid all our oohing and aahing over cutting-edge hardware and benchmark results, software often gets short shrift. But that’s not to say the ones and zeros don’t excite us. An email program that anticipates our needs, an app that uses the Internet to build a personal VPN, a utility that gives Windows the white-glove treatment—that kind of stuff makes us giddy. That’s what the Softy Awards are all about. Our annual bacchanal gives us a chance to salute the programs and utilities that have truly improved our lives.

Whittling down dozens of hopefuls into a standout handful is no easy task, and this year our task was even more difficult. We expanded our rigorous selection criteria to include applications that extend the power of mobile devices and web browsers. In the end, the software we present here was unanimously chosen by the uber-finicky Maximum PC staff—and all of it is free.

So, without further ado, let’s get on with the ceremony!

CCleaner

It's like a high colonic for Windows XP

You’re probably feeling a little like Harcourt Fenton Mudd, the way we constantly nag you to empty your Recycle Bin, clear out old chkdsk file fragments, and zap old prefetch data. Well, good news: CCleaner, aka Crap Cleaner, does the dirty work for you. With the push of a button it dumps Windows XP’s useless detritus and clears out those log files that, umm, you don’t want anyone to know about. Best of all, this handy app comes at the right price—it’s free. Run it once a month to shut old Stella up.

Skype 3.0

Go ahead and throw out your phone

Skype allows you to make crystal-clear, absolutely free, encrypted calls to anyone who also has a Skype account—no matter where they are—and calling to a land line or cell phone can cost as little as 2.1 cents a minute. Conferences, video calls, file transfers, and instant messaging are just a few of the other features we love that are included in this program. And with the service installed on your smartphone, you can make low-cost or free international calls from anywhere you can get a Wi-Fi connection.

PortableApps Suite 1.0

You CAN take it with you

Forget about U3 and Ceedo, we’ve got a better portable application package! PortableApps delivers a free bundle of computing goodies that can be loaded onto any device—thumb drive, hard drive, iPod, whatever! Plug your drive into any computer and you’ll be rocking a fully customized PC experience—from your personal Firefox bookmarks, to your Thunderbird email, to IM contacts, to OpenOffice documents; plus, you get portable antivirus and backup programs. All apps run from within the secure and anonymous confines of your PortableApps environment—unplug the drive and remove any trace of your activities.

LogMeIn Hamachi

VPN for noobs

How do we love thee, Hamachi? Let us count the ways, even though there’s really just one. But, boy, are we smitten. Hamachi makes it possible to effortlessly (and we mean effortlessly) set up a VPN connection between any computers jacked into the Net.

Once you’ve connected your rigs, you get secure access to any network function imaginable—fire up your iTunes shared music; rock an old-school, network-based game (IPX, anyone?); spin up your favorite remote desktop application; you name it. And did we mention that the process is effortless?

Torpark

The secret-agent web browser

We take the Vegas approach to web surfing: What happens on the web stays on the web. Or so we hope. The Torpark browser, though, helps provide peace of mind. Designed to fit on a USB thumb drive, Torpark keeps the sites you visit from knowing who you are by running page requests through the Tor network, allowing you to enjoy an anonymous web experience. The network can be slow, but you have the option of “flushing” the circuit you are on for a faster connection, and should you decide to come out in the open, you can seamlessly jump off the Tor network for speedier web browsing.

WinAudit 2.1

A journey through your PC’s every nook and cranny

Really get to know your system with this PC audit and inventory software. The self-contained program, which requires no installation or configuration, runs a thorough scan of all the hardware and software on your PC and presents the information in a comprehensive, categorized, browser-friendly format. You’ll see your system in a whole new light: Learn which extensions, instructions, and technologies are enabled in your processor; peruse a log of all your application errors; learn whether any of your hard disks are at risk of failure; and even discover which motherboard is in your Aunt Edna’s PC. It works with all flavors of Windows from 95 through Vista.

Last.fm

Finally, intelligent internet radio

Other Internet radio stations have promised to intuitively create a mix of music we’d love, but their limited song libraries and imperfect track selections have failed to impress us. Last.fm, however, has us dancing in our seats. In addition to selecting artists or styles of music, with Last.fm you can tag songs as well as create custom stations based on tags, so it’s easier to refine your listening experience and find the music you want. With its great range of artists, expansive search functions, and spot-on recommendations, Last.fm is where we go to discover new music.

Other Web Apps Worth Checking Out

Writely: Google’s web-based word-processing app offers Word functionality and lets you store and share your documents online.

Backpack: It sounds goofy, but sharing your to-do list and notes online is eminently useful.

Spotback: Get personalized news and customize a front page of all your RSS feeds, complete with updated lists and mouse-over summaries of the latest stories.

Gaim

Taking over the IM world, one emoticon at a time

While Trillian users enter their third year without a major update, Gaim aficionados (we call them Gaimers) are on the cusp of an instant-messaging revolution. Even in beta form, Gaim 2.0 has brought the open-source instant messenger to the pinnacle of Softyness. By eschewing unnecessary features and focusing on rock-solid core functionality, the crazy kids behind Gaim have stolen our hearts, in 300 characters or less.

Thunderbird 2.0

Tag, you’re it!

Thunderbird 2.0 has finally brought Gmail-style tags to your desktop email client. Instead of sorting your messages caveman-style by placing them in static folders—where they’ll rot for all eternity—Thunderbird lets you apply as many tags as you like to any message. This allows you to build dynamic search folders based on your tags (or subject, sender, or date received, for that matter). Thunderbird kicks ass!

Google Maps Mobile

Never get lost again

How many maps are in your car? What about on your laptop? Do you own city, region, and state maps, just in case you need to make a quick run for the border? We didn’t think so.

Google Maps Mobile works on most any cell phone and does exactly what its name implies—provides Google Maps on the go. Just think: You never have to be lost again. The app will work on virtually any phone with a data plan that runs Java apps. You can pan, zoom, generate directions, or even look at satellite photos.

Other Mobile Apps Worth Checking Out

Opera Mini: In many ways, this free Java-based browser is better than its $24 brother, Opera Mobile. Think crazy-useful Start screen, for one.

Cell Profile Switcher: Automatically change the profile on your Windows Mobile phone according to the cell tower you’re connected to. Genius!

Maximum PC's 2006 Gaming Awards

Maximum PC Staff — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 14:46:49 -0500

Let’s get this out of the way up front. This year’s Gaming Awards won’t include any Duke Nukem Forever jokes. We’re not going to mock Jack Thompson, Hillary Clinton, or Joe Lieberman. Nor will we take any digs at our console-gaming, thumb-monkey counterparts. And we won’t even mention the debacle known as the PlayStation 3 launch.

This year we’re simply going to praise our favorite gaming moments from 2006. Last year was a banner year for PC gaming, chock-full o’ amazing experiences that you just couldn’t get on any other platform. And the PC proved to be the best platform for many multiplatform games—Oblivion, anyone? We also saw a couple of new trends really take root. The fi rst episodic games appeared, and we reveled in their too-short glory. We also saw the good and bad of microtransactions, with some publishers delivering hours of gameplay for a nominal price, while others gouged for tutorials and cheat codes.

In short, 2006 was like any other year. Some good stuff happened, along with some bad. But we played dozens of games and enjoyed a whole bunch of them. So without further ado, let’s roll out the metaphorical red carpet and begin the annual bestowing of props!

Best Multiplayer: Battlefield 2

That’s right, rub your eyes. There’s no typo here. We spent more hours online in 2006 with Battlefield 2 than we did with any other multiplayer game, even though it was 2005’s war. EA’s release of two lean booster packs kept us hooked on the habit, taking the good fight from the Great Wall of China to the suburbs of Middle America. We were far from enthralled with its futuristic sequel’s obnoxious in-game ads and dearth of vehicles—real men fly jet fighters. Home’s where the heart is, and our hearts are still bleeding on the streets of Karkand, Mashtuur, and Sharqi.

www.battlefield2.ea.com, ESRB: T

Least Offensive In-Game Ad: Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter

In-game advertising is a necessary evil; whether you like it or not, it’s here to stay. The thing is, when done properly, you’ll barely even notice it. The ads in Ghost Recon are placed on large billboards that are high in the sky. Instead of drawing your attention away from the action, they add to the game’s sense of realism, giving you the feeling you are playing in the real world. Nokia, we noticed your ads, and we appreciate you not ruining our game.

www.ghostrecon.com, ESRB: T

Crassest Cash Grab: Rainbow 6: Vegas

Surprisingly, both the least- and most-offensive in-game ads we’ve seen this year were from the same publisher: Ubisoft. The ads in Rainbow 6: Vegas are both ubiquitous and intrusive. They stand out not just because of the cheesy copy but because their textures seem to be fuzzier and of a lower resolution than the surrounding walls. Nivea, Axe, and Comcast, your ads are lame and they annoy us. That is all.
www.rainbowsixgame.com, ESRB: M

Best Excuse to Upgrade Your PC: Flight Sim X

This award could have also been titled Biggest System-Requirements Fibber, as FSX crawls at near-slide-show levels on machines vastly exceeding Microsoft’s guidelines. This might tick off many gamers, but honestly, it thrills the masochist in us. We just love it when a game comes out that punishes top-end PC hardware—it gives us a new performance benchmark with which to showcase the most cutting-edge gear. We’re sure this game won’t run at its maximum potential until the release of DX10, spawning a wave of upgrades across the country.

www.microsoft.com/games, ESRB: E

Best MMO for People Without Internet Access: Oblivion

If you’re stuck in the boonies with limited or no access to the Internet, crying in your +7 Orcish Armor of Dread about not being able to join the MMO party, we have good news: Oblivion is the next best thing, if not THE best thing. This massive RPG has just about all the best MMO gaming elements—free-form gameplay, a huge world to explore, tons of side quests, rideable horses, houses and businesses you can own, scores of NPCs to interact with, and downloadable content—and none of the nasty side effects (glorified that rooms and annoying noobs talking about Hilary Duff while you’re trying to slay dragons).
www.elderscrolls.com, ESRB: M

The Next-Gen, My Ass Award: Oblivion

The simultaneous release of Oblivion on the 360 and PC made the console fanboys proclaim victory in the ongoing console-vs.-PC debate. But they cried victory too soon! Oblivion served to illustrate the fact that the PC remains, without a doubt, the most powerful, flexible, and enjoyable gaming platform on the planet. Not only does Oblivion look better on the PC, but several free PC-only mods have fixed the game’s flaws—does anyone like the console-tastic interface? Not only that, but we enjoy being able to play without enduring 30-second load times every three minutes.

www.elderscrolls.com, ESRB: M

Most Nauseating Experience We Loved: Prey

Forget space Camp. Not since the original Descent has our ability to stomach disorienting environmental twists and flips been put to such a test. The unique combination of gravity-shifting panels that turn rooms upside down and portals that create Escher-like spatial puzzles warrants not only special acclaim, but doses of Dramamine too. The best part about Prey is that its unconventional level design transfers to the multiplayer arena as well. We had great times fragging buddies while running upside down and dropping grenades... upward. Take that, gravity!

www.prey.com, ESRB: M

We Salute You, Boss Key: Defcon

Our game time with Defcon would probably have been even more enjoyable if it weren’t part of our job. The gracefully designed strategic simulation of nuclear war is fun to play not only for its hidden complexity, but also because it’s the perfect office distraction. This is the kind of game that sparks budding workplace alliances and collusion against the bosses. In fact, the "office mode” of gameplay forces rounds to run in real time, lasting up to six hours. Those of you who can devote six hours of an eight-hour work day to nuking your communist coworkers are our nation’s true heroes.

www.everybody-dies.com, ESRB: NR

Best Game Adaptation of a Movie Adaptation of a Book: Battle for Middle Earth II

You’ve got to love an RTS that lets you slay 10,000 orcs in a little less than two hours (that’s roughly 84 orcs/minute) in skirmish mode, and that’s just one of the reasons we loved The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II. This point-and-click fest beautifully captures the look, feel, scope, and mayhem of the epic battles in Jackson’s films and Tolkien’s books. This could be the best movie-licensed game yet, and proof positive that coughing up for a major license isn’t always a waste of time, money, DVDs, and hard drive space.

www.ea.com, ESRB: T

The Second Annual Award for Humane Gameplay: Prey

You guys love repeating the same tricky section of a game over and over just to defeat a challenging boss, right? Neither do we. Prey tries a new tactic to reduce the death penalty and make gameplay more fun. Instead of loading your last save every time you die, Prey has you play a brief minigame to restore your health and vital stats before the game reinstates your corporeal body right back where you died. Any time a dev adds fun where most games add heartbreak, we’ll salute them!

www.prey.com, ESRB: M

Finally, Proof That an Episode 1 Doesn't Have to Suck: Half-Life 2: Episode 1

We were afraid that George Lucas had tainted the Episode 1 badge forever with The Phantom Menace. But Half-Life 2: Episode 1 not only proves that Episode 1s do not have to suck but also gives us hope that episodic gaming will provide us more frequent, if necessarily shorter, tastes of our favorite games. Going episodic will force developers to maintain quality throughout their games—after all, if Half-Life 2: Episode 2 sucks, no one will buy Episode 3.

www.half-life.com, ESRB: M

The NOLF Award for Incidental Scriptwriting: Hitman: Blood Money

We love game devs who take the time and money to write and record dialogue for the underappreciated, hapless stooges who are the cannon fodder that make our games fun. It all started with No One Lives Forever, but this year, Hitman: Blood Money used stooge dialogue to inject needed comic relief in a brutally brilliant game. Creeping through missions, we heard everything from Mob bosses calling in hits to musings on the meaning of being a professional henchman.

www.hitman.com, ESRB: M

The Jack Bauer Award for Moral Conflict: Splinter Cell: Double Agent

We’ve played tons of video games that promised to force us to make tough decisions, but most of them presented nothing more than straightforward choices between right and wrong. Double Agent thrusts multiple moral quandaries upon you—Jack Bauer-style—and forces you to discern different shades of gray. Should you kill an innocent man to save thousands of lives? Only you can decide.

www.splintercell.com, ESRB: M

Best. Comic Book. Game. Ever.: Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

Stroll into The Android’s Dungeon & Baseball Card Shop on any given day and you’ll find Jeffrey Albertson laying down authoritative verdicts on pop-culture happenings. But even the Comic Book Guy would have to agree with us that Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is the holy grail of comicbook games. Not only can you control 20 of the greatest superheroes from the Marvel universe, but more than 100 familiar Marvel faces make cameos throughout the game. It’s another reason for geeks to stay indoors—sunlight is overrated anyway.

www.marvelultimatealliance.com, ESRB: T

Fabulous, but Shorter than the Movie: King Kong

The eponymous movie was an amazing spectacle of grandiose cinema, and its game counterpart performs admirably as a complement to the man vs.beast epic. Gameplay is split between playing as Jack Driscoll leading the daring film crew through Skull Island and Kong gracefully swinging through the jungle and besting ferocious dinosaurs. For those of you who enjoyed the movie (us included), King Kong clued us in to what was happening behind the silver-screen story, filling in some plot holes along the way. The brief adventure is capped off with an alternate ending to the movie, “revising” the Kong canon for fans who couldn’t stand to see the big guy die.

www.kingkonggame.com, ESRB: T

Game of the Year: Company of Heroes

OK, we admit it: We thought the WWII gaming horse had been beaten well beyond bloody pulp and was now best reserved or glue production. Company of Heroes proved us wrong, dead wrong. Extremely clever “attack from anywhere” mission design (read: no choke points) and over-the-top sound and pyrotechnics had us zapping Nazis with unbridled joy all over again. Heck, Company of Heroes even had nongamer editors playing. We can’t wait for the add-ons.

www.companyofheroesgame.com, ESRB: M

Zalman CNPS9700 LED

David Murphy — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 14:38:44 -0500

Around this time last year, we were able to get our hands on the predecessor to Zalman’s CNPS9700 LED CPU cooler—cleverly titled the CNPS9500. The blooming, copper-finned device not only rocked our socks off but also beautifully cooled them as they went sailing through the air. Kick ass, indeed.

It comes as no surprise that the 9700—more than 200… well, somethings… greater than last year’s model—is just as noteworthy a cooling unit.

Installing the device is a breeze. For AMD folk, the 9700 clamps right on to your chip’s stock mounting bracket. Intel lovers have to mess with back plates and clip supports, which will necessitate a motherboard removal, but the installation isn’t any more difficult than it is with similar products. The only potential pitfall is in airflow direction. Make sure that the 2,800rpm blue LED-lit fan is pushing your case’s air in the correct direction and you’ll be OK.

Said fan is moderately loud at its top setting, which is the default speed if you plug the 9700 directly into a motherboard. But Zalman must care about your ears because the company includes a fan-speed-adjuster knob in the box. While the knob will look goofy if you tape it to the side of your case, at least you won’t go deaf.

We cranked the fan to the max during testing, and go figure: The 9700 performed flawlessly, showing a slight improvement over its predecessor’s cooling marks. Even at its lowest setting, the 9700 delivered acceptable cooling on our Athlon FX-60-equipped test bed. Our only, ever-so-slight, hesitation with the 9700 comes from the sheer size of the device; it’s almost twice as heavy as the maximum cooler weight that Intel and AMD specify.

But really, that’s an almost meaningless consideration for someone who just wants a cooler CPU. And in that sense, the 9700 fulfills the prime criteria for a CPU cooler—it’s easy to use and works great, with the added bonus of looking “cool” while doing so.
-DAVID MURPHY

Month Reviewed: February 2007
Verdict: 10/KickAss
URL: www.zalmanusa.com

Logitech Z-5500 Digital

Maximum PC — Sat, 16 Oct 2004 19:13:12 -0500

These speakers are our new favorites—and for good reason

Since Logitech’s Z-680 5.1 speaker set currently reigns supreme in Labville, and is the only speaker system to receive a perfect 10 verdict in the past two years or so, we wondered what Logitech could possibly do to improve them. Now we know. The Z-5500 Digital system is better than the Z-680 in every possible way, with one small exception (more on that later).

Essentially, this setup delivers the exact same hair-raising, soul-crushing power as the Z-680, but is much easier to live with thanks to a dramatically redesigned control pod and a few other amenities. The controls look more elegant and are now one thousand times easier to read, thanks to added contrast in the display. Additionally, the wheel lag that made dialing up the desired volume level in the Z-680 has thankfully been 86’d in favor of a knob that offers a much faster response time. The satellites have also been redesigned, and are now less pod-like and more sleek, and feature a swiveling base (a la the Z-5300) that allows for easy wall-mounting. The speaker wires are now attached to the satellites, which is unfortunate since the Z-680 set let you use any length and type of speaker wire you wanted. Fortunately, the 25-foot Logitech wires should be more than sufficient for most folks. If not, you’re up a creek.

Technologically, Logitech is sticking with its single-driver phase plug design, and we’re not complaining. During testing they delivered the same killer treble and midrange we experienced with the Z-680, making the two speaker systems virtually indistinguishable at the satellite level.

The subwoofer, however, has grown to such a gargantuan size that Lab technicians were heard muttering a respectful “holy sh--” when we removed it from the box, followed by an awe-filled “daaaamn…” when its girth was fully revealed. We had zero complaints about the previous set’s 8-inch driver, but the new all-black 10-inch unit is downright incredible. It’s not a night-and-day difference from the older unit, but it’s noticeably deeper at higher volume levels.

That said, we have to slightly amend the Z-680’s record. We didn’t notice it until recently, but the center channel in this speaker set emits a slight but continuous hiss that’s audible at a close proximity when no sound is playing—mind you, most people would probably never notice it. Sadly, this problem was not fixed on the Z-5500. It’s not a deal breaker by any means, but it’s a small annoyance that Logitech definitely needs to address. --Josh Norem

+ Satellite: Easy-to-read controls, even more powerful sub, all-around awesome.

- Cellulite: Speaker wire is attached to speakers.

Month Reviewed: November 2004
Verdict: 10
kickass=yes
URL: www.logitech.com