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Razer DeathAdder

Will Smith — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:24:38 -0500

We love the shape of this mouse—it’s comfortable for even the longest session—and the DeathAdder just gets better from there. The sensor delivers pixel-perfect accuracy, and we love that the driver lets us adjust everything from X and Y sensitivity to the lights on the mouse. We’re still not sold on the idea of constantly updating firmware for a mere mouse, but Razer’s built a highly compelling rodent with the DeathAdder.

Hit the jump for the full review.

Dream Machine '08

The Maximum PC Staff — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:30:00 -0500

A Dream Machine graced the inaugural issue of Maximum PC back in 1998, and the tradition of building an annual no-holds-barred PC beast has continued unabated since then. True to form, this year’s rig is the most audacious, most powerful dream rig to date. Equipped with no fewer than eight processing cores, four graphics cores, and five hard drives, DM2008 is probably also our most controversial build. But as Lando said, it’s not our fault.

In the old days, we would just pick the very best hardware available. But those were simpler times, when parts vendors all got along and their sole mission was to provide you with badass gear. Sadly, the stakes are so high today that politics has an undue influence on hardware configurations.

To find out who's on our naughty list, and see an in-depth kick-ass examination of our Dream Machine, hit the jump! And hold onto your hat.

Samsung 245T

David Murphy — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:00:00 -0500

It’s no secret that the expensive Samsung 245T hosts an S-PVA panel beneath its slim black exterior. But this display’s performance is certainly worth the price. The 245T offers a stunning picture for its class, trumping our longtime favorite 24-inch panel, Dell’s 2407WFP, and even its latest rev, the 2408WFP.

This 1920x1200 display boasts a 97-percent color gamut and the effect is clear. The 245T dishes out notably vibrant blues, reds, and greens, and its color saturation remains strong at even very light levels. To us, the display’s colors feel just right: crisp and bold without any hint of oversaturation. But even if you disagree, the monitor comes with a number of preset options for tweaking the coloration to your exact preferences. We found success using the Mild preset, as Normal made images appear drab and Brilliant made our images look like a supernova.

Check out this superb display post-jump.

A Decade of Kick Ass

Katherine Stevenson — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:00:00 -0500

From Deschutes to Penryn, from Voodoo2 to GX2, from floppy drives to SSDs, the definition of pure PC power has changed radically over the last decade, and Maximum PC has been there—hands-on and no holding back—helping computer enthusiasts make sense of it. In honor of those 10 eventful years, we take a look back at some of the key moments in the magazine’s history, hear from some of the editors who have been there along the way, and take a wild guess at how another 10 years might shape the computing landscape. Strap on your sneaks, folks, we’re taking a walk down memory lane.

Celebrate 10 years of pure PC power after the jump!

Western Digital Velociraptor

David Murphy — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 11:00:00 -0500

We’ve seen this day coming for a long time. There was no way that Western Digital was going to sit back and let other manufacturers usurp the Raptor’s place at the top of the storage speed charts. Consider the rule of the speedy terabyte drives a hiccup on the timeline. The Raptor is back: upgraded, renamed, and… physically smaller.

To read our full review of the Velociraptor (not the preview we gave you before), hit the jump.

Mass Effect

Norman Chan — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:23:06 -0500

Fans of Star Wars and Star Trek finally have a role-playing game that’s worthy of their love. Mass Effect takes the most compelling themes and ideas of both franchises and mind-melds them into one of the best science fiction games we’ve ever played.

The full review of this stellar science-fiction epic is after the jump!

NZXT Tempest

David Murphy — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:30:39 -0500

Does something about this case look familiar? That’s the first thing we said when pulling NZXT’s Tempest out of the box. Save for a few minor modifications to the chassis, this case is a carbon copy of Antec’s Nine Hundred chassis. It’s built like the Nine Hundred, performs like the Nine Hundred, and even glows like the Nine Hundred, thanks to its front- and side-panel blue LED fans.

And yeah, that's a good thing. Hit the jump for deets.

Axiom Audio Audiobyte Speakers

Michael Brown — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:28:26 -0500

Axiom Audio’s Audiobyte speakers have convinced us it’s time to retire the M-Audio Studiophile LX4 system we’ve long used as a reference point for speaker reviews. They also surprised us in a number of ways: They’re made in Canada, not China; the amplifier comes in its own enclosure, as opposed to being hidden in one of the speaker cabinets; and the subwoofer is passive! We think we're in love.