Posted 11/01/2009 at 10:30:20pm

Debate what? There is nothing to debate. Theft is theft; stealing is stealing. If you download music illegally it's the same as walking into the store and stealing the CD. One way or another you obtained posession of the music without paying for it.

Posted 08/11/2009 at 09:41:33pm

I admit that when Vista first came out is was a clunker, but now with SP2 it runs great! I torture it with heavy renders using high-end 3D packages and I also run the Abobe Master Collection, and all of that heavy software runs solid. I may wait for Windows 7 SP1 before I jump into the new OS, because right now all of my software plays nice and runs great in Vista 64.

Posted 08/09/2009 at 09:18:19pm

Maximum PC is telling you the truth about the installation. I own this cooler and it is a little tricky to hold the X-brace while trying to get the spring screws aligned and put in. It takes a few tries and a possible bloody knuckle, but you eventually get'em in.

I previously had the Cooler Master V-8 and this Ultra-120 beats it easily. I would also highly recommend using the OCZ Freeze thermal compound as it has been tested several times to beat Artic Silver and many others.

Posted 08/03/2009 at 07:11:41am

I've been a loyal reader of Max PC for several years and by far this is the WORST issue. Dream machine? Where? Bad Dream machine is more like it. C'mon it's pretty lame when you have a new i7 975 Extreme and you only clock it to a "conservative" 4 GHz. The 975 easily clocks to 4.5 GHz on air! Did the "Maximum" PC guys say "conservative"? I'm going to pretend I never heard that word. Truly the lamest issue ever.

Posted 06/28/2009 at 10:17:55pm

The real point was that Maximum PC was bias-highlighting most of their personal gripes about the Service provider and not pointing out any of the 20 or so positive hardware reasons to justify an upgrade for those interested in the unbiased facts. It was like only getting a fraction of the story. Your point about features is a really user-relative, as the phone with the most "features" is not necessarily the best phone or the fastest. I see a lot of bloatware on newer phones. The iPhone 3GS renders web sites 21 percent faster than the "golden child" Palm Pre, and the poor Android G1 is twice as slow. I guess the Palm Pre and G1 designers forgot about an important "feature" called SPEED! I'm all about speed and performance, which is the sole reason I have been reading MPC for years.

Despite anyone's personal opinions of Apple iPhone, it is without a doubt dominating in the mobile Web arena and gaining even more speed with the new 3GS deployment. Read the numbers. According to recent AdMob Mobile Metrics, the iPhone now accounts for 43 percent of all mobile Web traffic and 65 percent of mobile Net traffic, while Android, Palm, and others are struggling at a 2 percent or less level. Even the previous Symbian OS has been KO'd by the iPhone. Apparently the vast majority of the mobile phone population enjoys and is buying into the iPhone. This is simply an undeniable observation of numerical fact.

Posted 06/23/2009 at 12:39:38pm

1. 3GS has a 600 MHz CPU vs. the 3G's 412 MHz CPU.
2. 3GS processor has been optimized from 90nm to 65nm.
3. 3GS has double the quantity of L1 cache: 32KB up from 16KB.
4. 3GS has 256MB RAM vs. the 3G's 128MB RAM.
5. 3GS has OpenGL ES 2.0 vs. the 3G's OpenGL 1.1.
6. 3GS pipeline depth has been boosted to 13-stage from 8-stage.
7. 3GS has a PowerVR SGX graphics core which is far superior to the MBX in 3G.
8. 3GS has an average data speed of 1568Kbps vs. 3G's 1165Kbps data speed.
9. 3GS has a 19 sec. system bootup vs. the 3G's 48 sec. system bootup.
10. 3GS has a fingerprint resistant oleophobic coating.
11. 3GS has a warmer display tint for easier reading.
12. 3GS applications and games load and run 14% to 72% faster.
13. 3GS now supports up to DirectX 10.1.
14. An average web page load is 5-6 seconds faster than the 3G (yes, with same OS 3).
15. SunSpider Javascript speed benchmarks shows the 3GS at 16.7 ms vs. the 3G at 41.4 ms.
16. The 3GS performs page renders 21% faster than Palm Pre, and 122% faster than the 3G - bench by Anandtech.
17. 3GS shutdown time is shorter.
18. iPhone OS 3.0 is more optimized for the 3GS over the 3G.
19. 3GS now has video ability and a better camera. If you want pro pics, then go buy a Nikon D300 at 1600 bucks (and that doesn't include the lens). No one is expecting to take studio level pics with a phone.
20. The 3GS overall performance increase is has been clearly tested by Anandtech, ArsTechnica, and CNET. And isn't MPC all about Maximum Performance? If you want better performance, then the 3GS is worth the upgrade and don't cry and whine about pricing plans and blame the 3GS hardware device for it. Cry to and blame the greedy carrier and the strangle-hold contract they had you sign. I love Maximum PC, but sometimes MPC gets it wrong. That's why it also took them a full year to figure out the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme was the best performing air cooler over the goofy Zalman. Wake up MPC! You are too slow. Smell what performance is cooking!

Posted 06/20/2009 at 07:56:55am

1. 3GS has a 600 MHz CPU vs. the 3G's 400 MHz CPU.
2. 3GS has 256MB RAM vs. the 3G's 128MB RAM.
3. 3GS has OpenGL ES 2.0 vs. the 3G's OpenGL 1.1.
4. 3GS has an average data speed 1568Kbps vs. 3G 1165Kbps data speed.
5. 3GS has a 19 sec. system bootup vs. the 3G's 48 sec. system bootup.
6. 3GS has twice the web page load vs. 3G slow load.
7. 3GS has a fingerprint resistant oleophobic coating.
8. 3GS has a warmer display tint for easier reading.
9. 3GS applications load and run faster.
10. The 3GS overall performance increase is been clearly evident and tested. I love Maximum PC, but sometimes MPC gets it wrong. That's why it also took them a full year to figure out the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme was the best performing air cooler of the dumb Zalman! Wake up MPC and smell what performance is cooking.

Posted 05/03/2009 at 08:57:52am

Vista SP2 top twelve updates:

1. Support for the 64-bit CPU from VIA Technologies.
2. Support for Bluetooth v2.1 and WCN (Windows Connect Now).
3. Improves performance for Wi-Fi after resuming from sleep mode.
4. Updates to the RSS feeds sidebar for improved performance.
5. Ability to record data to Blu-Ray Disc media.
6. Enables the exFAT file system to support UTC timestamps (more useful for Server 2008 than Vista).
7. Includes Windows Search 4.0.
8. Improves Windows Media Center (WMC) in the area of content protection for TV.
9. Enables modification of the max number of open TCP connections to increase app. compatibility.
10. Service Pack clean up tool.
11. Application compatibility improvements.
12. Hotfixes and Security Updates.

NOTE: TweakTown benchmarks for the previous Release Candidate SP2 demonstrated only a very marginal increase in overall performance compared to Vista SP1. Some areas showed slower boot and slower HDD performance under SP2. Performance enthusiasts should wait for new benckmarks for this final release, and then make a decision based on resultant performance and if new features are needed.

When available, please report any new benchmark links for the final Vista SP2 (not RC1 SP2) in this post.

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Posted 04/23/2009 at 07:55:10am

Re:studlymetts - Yes, to overclock and to deal with the resultant heat increase you will need two more things: a better thermal paste and a better air cooler than the stock items that come with the Intel processor. Through my own experimentation and web research I have found that OCZ Freeze is the near top best thermal paste and performs 1-2 degrees better than the popular Artic Silver 5 and has a much shorter cure time. A better air cooler can make up to a 10-15 degree difference under load compared to a stock cooler. Based on BenchMarkReviews.com, for a 1366 processor, the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme and also Prolimatech Megahalems are the 2009 first quarter bests. Ufortunately Newegg is currently not stocking the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme or Prolimatech Megahalems, but I found the Thermalright Ultra-120 at Microcenter.com.

Posted 04/02/2009 at 05:10:20pm

Great OC article. I wished they had gone more into the value or lack of value for Hyperthreading being ON or OFF.

I'm overclocking an i7 940 at 176 QPI (4048 Mhz) with some intense Vue 7 renders working up to 72 C. I did notice that by turning off Hyperthreading in the Bios, it saves about 10 degrees! That's a big heat difference. With Hyperthreading ON my Cinebench R10/64 scores are Single 5411, Multiple 21951, and OpenGL 8966. With Hypertheading OFF the Cinebench seems to do a little better on the Single, but does drop a little bit in Multiple: Single 5450, Multiple 19589, and OpenGL 8920.

Would Hyperthreading show more value in video production software I wonder? What software currently takes advantage of Hyperthreading?