CPU (August 2006)

112 Pages·2006·9.36 MB·English

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® August 2006 • Vol 6 Issue 08
Frontside
6 What’s Happening
12 Digital Economy
13 The Saint
Eye Strain
The Experts
Alex St. John
The Saint
page 13
Spotlight
Alex “Sharky” Ross
The Shark Tank
page 30
Anand Lal Shimpi
Anand’s Corner
page 29
Barry Brenesal
The Cutting Edge
48 AMD AM2 page 93
Rob “CmdrTaco”
Evolutionary, But Not Revolutionary
Malda
Mike Magee The Department
53 All Aboard! Shavings From Of Stuff
The AM2-Based Motherboard Express Has Arrived The Rumour Mill page 85
page 98
62 DDR2 On AM2
AMD’s Memory Isn’t What It Used To Be
68 CPU’s Ultimate AM2 Rig
Tweaked, Overclocked & Ready To Rock
Rahul Sood
Wagging The Dog
Copyright 2006 by Sandhills Publishing Company. Computer Power User is a trademark of Sandhills Publishing
page 99
Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction of material appearing in Computer Power Useris strictly prohibited
without written permission. Printed in the U.S.A. GST # 123482788RT0001 (ISSN 1536-7568) CPU Computer
Pete Loshin
Power UserUSPS 020-801 is published monthly for $29 per year by Sandhills Publishing Company, 131 West Chris Pirillo
Open Sauce
Grand Drive, P.O. Box 82667, Lincoln, NE 68501. Subscriber Services: [phone]. Periodicals postage paid at Dialogue Box page 80
Lincoln, NE. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Computer Power User, P.O. Box 82667, Lincoln, NE 68501. page 79
Did you find the hidden CPUlogo on our cover? Turn the page for the answer.
Heroes of Might
& Magic V:
Page 89
Hard Hat Area
PC Modder
31 Tips & Tutorials
32 The GeForce 7900 GT Unleashed
Volt-Mods For Hardcore Overclocking
Page 25 36 Mad Reader Mod
Tribal Eclipse—Color Us Impressed
38 Advanced Q&A Corner
42 X-Ray Vision: Zfone
Heavy Gear
Eliminate The Man In The Middle
44 White Paper: 802.11n
16 Dream Hardware A Work In Progress
17 DVD Burners With Loading Zone
Everything But The Blues
70 The Bleeding Edge Of Software
Rage Against The Dying Of
Inside The World Of Betas
The Red Laser Light
71 Up To Speed
Upgrades That’ll Keep You
24 HP LP2465
Humming Along
Sapphire X1900 XTX Toxic
72 How The Torrents Flow
A Roundup Of BitTorrent Clients
25 ATI Theater 650 Pro
77 Siber Systems GoodSync
Cooler Master iGreen Power 600W
World Market Watch VisitorVille
78 Altiris Software Virtualization Solution 2.0
26 BFG GeForce 7950 GX2
GPSoftware Directory Opus 8
27 Gigabyte G1-Turbo GA-G1975X 79 Dialogue Box What’s Cooking
My Dinner With Jim Allchin
Logitech G5 Laser Gaming Mouse
80 Open Sauce 98 Shavings From The Rumour Mill
Secrets & Secrecy Old Dog Learns New Windows Tricks
28 HIS X1900 XT IceQ 3
99 Wagging The Dog
Cerise Mini PC
Caught In The Web Distant Rumblings: ATI + AMD Marriage
100 Hot Seat
29 Anand’s Corner
81 Digital Diplomacy
Data Loss: Don’t Make It Personal
The Big Four Update
Whose Internet Is It, Anyway?
102 Technically Speaking
85 The Department Of Stuff
An Interview With Vivek Wadhwa,
30 The Shark Tank
vodhell.txt
Founder Of Relativity Technologies,
Nvidia Serves Up A
Duke University Adjunct Professor &
3D Graphics Sandwich Digital Living
Bollywood Exec
106 Under Development
86 Road Warrior
A Peek At What’s Brewing
Seagate’s Hybrid Notebook Drive,
In The Laboratory
International BlackBerry, Kensington
Expansion Dock & More
Back Door
88 At Your Leisure
Games, Gear, Movies & Music 108 Q&A With John Carmack
93 The Cutting Edge Photorealism In Games,
What Was The First Computer Hard Console Hype & More
Drive & When Did It Show Up?
Tips & Tricks
Infinite Loops
94 Software Tips & Projects
Page 26
Slipstreaming With All The Fixins (Part 2) Strange stats and other oddball
96 Warm Up To Penguins items from computing's periphery
Working With Flash In Linux
83. 95. 97
CCuussttoommeerr SSeerrvviiccee
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W ow. The year is more than half over already, and among the things Online Customer Service & Subscription Center
http://www.cpumag.com
I thought I’d have done by now but don’t are a few nagging
WWeebb SSeerrvviicceess
household chores and the fulfillment of my New Year’s resolution
(For questions about our Web site.)
in the form of a new PC. Of course, as I’ve mentioned in the past in this space, [email protected]
the hardware folks who make the innards of our systems haven’t exactly helped [phone]
to make this process easy. Sure, there are plenty of decent options for every AAuutthhoorriizzaattiioonn FFoorr RReepprriinnttss
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Speaking of major upgrades, AMD’s new AM2 platform has arrived and we
www.reprintbuyer.com
have several pages packed with coverage, starting on page 48. We looked at the
EEddiittoorriiaall SSttaaffff
technology up close to see what makes it different, reviewed and compared a [email protected]
number of AM2-compatible motherboards so you know which ones work best Fax: [phone]
131 W. Grand Drive
with FX-62, and put together a roundup of
Lincoln, NE 68521
some of the DDR2 kits out there now,
SSuubbssccrriippttiioonn RReenneewwaallss
as well. Plus our buddy Marco built [phone]
us a super-fast AM2 PC (thus the Fax: [phone]
http://www.cpumag.com
“Fastest AMD PC Ever” headline on
the cover this month) to see just how AAddvveerrttiissiinngg SSttaaffff
Toll Free:[phone]
much go this new pony has in it, and
Fax: [phone]
it turns out AM2 goes just fine, thank 120 W. Harvest Dr.
Lincoln, NE 68521
you. (See page 68.)
When you’re done feasting on all the TThhee GGaanngg
AM2 coverage you can stand (or before if EEddiittoorriiaall SSttaaffff::Ronald D. Kobler / Christopher Trumble / Blaine
Flamig / Trista Kunce / Corey Russman / Rod Scher / Calvin
you like, we’re flexible), make
Clinchard / Katie Sommer / Kimberly Fitzke / Katie Dolan /
sure you stop by “Wagging The Raejean Brooks / Sally Curran / Michael Sweet / Nate Hoppe /
Dog,” the new monthly column Sheila Allen / Joy Martin / Linne Ourada / Ashley Finter / Holly
Zach / Tara Simmons / Barbara Ball / Leah Houchin / Sarah
by Rahul Sood. The man just has
Gabelman / Marty Sems / Chad Denton / Nathan Chandler /
too much to say to limit him to a Kylee Dickey / Josh Gulick / Andrew Leibman / Vince Cogley /
page every other month. This Sam Evans / Jennifer Johnson / Nathan Lake WWeebb SSttaaffff:: Dorene
Krausnick / Laura Curry / Kristen Miller CCuussttoommeerr SSeerrvviiccee::
month he weighs in on the ATI
Lindsay Albers SSuubbssccrriippttiioonn RReenneewwaallss::Connie Beatty / Matt
acquisition rumors that have been Bolling / Patrick Kean / Charmaine Vondra / Miden Ebert /
swirling around industry nooks and Kathy DeCoito / Stephanie Contreras / Nicole Buckendahl AArrtt
&& DDeessiiggnn::Lesa Call / Aaron D. Clark / Fred Schneider / Aaron
crannies lately.
Weston / Carrie Benes / Ginger Falldorf / Sonja Warner / Lori
You’ll find plenty more in these Garris / Jason Codr / Andria Schultz / Erin Rodriguez / Lindsay
pages, as well, so dive in and enjoy. Anker NNeewwssssttaanndd::Jeff Schnittker AAddvveerrttiissiinngg SSaalleess::Grant
Ossenkop / Liz Kohout / Eric Cobb / Ryan Donohue / Bob
We’ll see you again next month, and
ChesterMMaarrkkeettiinngg::Mark Peery / Marcy Gunn / Kelly
thanks for reading. Richardson / Travis Brock / Jen Clausen / Scot Banks /
Ashley Hannant / Lana Matic / Jeff Ashelford / Brynn Burtwistle
Chris Trumble, Publication Editor, CPU
Gotcha.
Here it is.

W h a t ’ s H a p p e n i n g (cid:127) H a r d w a r e
Compiled by Steve Smith
ThinkPad-Less: The nForce Of Five
Lenovo On Its Own
While everyone gushed over the new
Nvidia dual-GPU cards at Computex in
Since acquiring IBM’s PC business Taipei, Taiwan, another Nvidia power-
last year, Chinese manufacturer house slipped out the door. The next-
Lenovo has gone out of its way to generation nForce motherboards should
assure brand loyalists that the ven- be hitting the streets as your read this,
erable ThinkPad notebook legacy promising to stretch just about every imag-
was in good hands. With that mis- inable PC choke point. We expected the
sion accomplished, Lenovo has nForce 500 series to support dual-core
launched its own brand of portable Intel CPUs and quad-GPU SLI arrays, but
notebooks with the impressive- many versions also boast MediaShield
looking 3000 V100. At 4.4lbs, a The new, well-packed, reasonably priced technology, which supports up to six
dual-core CPU, and 12-inch screen, 3000 V100 gives Lenovo’s own SATA drives in various arrays. A network
this modestly priced unit packs a ThinkPads a run for their money. accelerator claims to free the CPU from
lot into a $1,689 package. The many download tasks and dramatically
CPU runs at 2GHz, the hard drive improve performance in LAN parties. And
is 100GB, and the burner is a full- a FirstPacket feature prioritizes network
bore DVD+R DL drive. You even gaming packets. Maybe now we can play
get fingerprint security, the usual WoW while we download those torrents
ThinkPad keyboard yumminess, of old sci-fi TV episodes. ▲
and a built-in Web cam. You could
spend another $1,000 for the same
features in the ThinkPad line. Is
Lenovo competing with itself? ▲
Nvidia’s fifth-generation motherboard seems to
promise enhancements out of every I/O pore.
Live! From AMD,
It’s . . . Another Entertainment PC
Challenging the Intel Viiv initiative for home entertainment PCs with a less cryp- Not for performance geeks anymore. AMD’s Live! initiative
tic name, the long-promised AMD Live! PC and Live! Entertainment Suite rolled aims for media-minded entertainment consumers.
out recently for multiple vendors, including Alienware, HP, and Gateway.
The media center PCs run AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core CPUs but can
have any range of media and entertainment hardware and software that
centralize digital media on the PC for redistribution to home and devices.
But now AMD is emphasizing its Entertainment Suite of media services
more than the hardware. For instance, an on-demand service run by Orb
Networks can stream live or recorded media assets to a variety of devices
that access the Web. A LogMeIn service accesses a home PC from any
Internet connection, and a Media Vault backs up your media to an online
server. Look for Live! PCs to start at $799. ▲
6 August2006 /www.computerpoweruser.com
What’s Happening (cid:127) Hardware
Drivucus Maximus
Cornet Technology’s new 1TB external hard drive is no bigger or heavier
than some AC adapters (Xbox 360 team, you hearing us?). The Maximus
Platinum is a modest 4.5 pounds and comes with its own low-noise cooling
fan. Two 7,200rpm IDE/ATAPI drives supply the storage, and you can
have your pick of connectors: FireWire 800/400, USB 2.0, or an IDE con-
nector. With high-speed FireWire, Cornet says you could hit 100MBps
transfer rates. This plug-and-play unit doesn’t require any drivers, but it will
set you back $1,230. Yeah, but now at least you’ll have something that can
challenge that inexcusably large Xbox power block to a smackdown. ▲
The appropriately named Maximus external hard drive slams a full terabyte of
data into portable—maybe luggable—4.5-pound brick.
HH aa rr dd ww aa rr ee MM oo ll ee
FANG Bites Into “Top Gun” Fantasy
That’s Some
Just in case rudder pedals, headsets, and flight yokes weren’t enough to feed your Hot Camera
Tom “Maverick” Cruise fantasy, Ideazon has one more flight-sim peripheral for
You Got
your desktop, er, cockpit. Ideazon developed the FANG ($34.99) gamepad from
real-world combat sim training devices for training military personnel. You may There, Bud
need formal training to manage the 41 keys (11 dedicated to weapons) and key
Even the most
combos that can recognize up to seven simultaneous key presses. ▲ After all of these years
jaded jet-sim
of powering devices
jockey should be
with rechargeable bat-
Xbox-To-Go? impressed by
teries, we still get inci-
FANG’s 41 keys.
dents of dangerous
Rumors continue to swirl around a handheld game or multimedia unit from
overheating. This time
Microsoft, and Bill Gates is doing nothing to quell them. In Dean Takahashi’s
it’s HP, which has to
(Full disclosure: Dean Takahashi is a regular contributor to CPU) new book about the development
recall over 600,000
of the Xbox 360, “The Xbox 360 Uncloaked: The Real Story Behind Microsoft’s Next-Generation
units sold during the
Video Game Console,” he says there’s a Microsoft handheld game strategy, and it’s also aimed at
past two years in its
attacking the iPod’s market dominance. Gates won’t comment directly on unreleased products, but
Photosmart R707 line,
did say recently that the company was exploring the handheld space, where “there is a lot yet that
and nearly a quarter of
hasn’t been done.” Namely, Microsoft hasn’t monopolized it yet. ▲
a million of those are
in the United States.
Home Theater Gets Its Screamer Luckily this fix only
requires you to down-
Home-theater fanatics who spend $10,000 on peerless tower speakers and movie load firmware that will
house seating probably won’t even blink at the Okoro’s $4,595 OMS- tell the camera not to
GX300 Home Theater PC. The Athlon 64 FX-60 dual-core CPU, charge a nonrecharge-
Nvidia GeForce 7950 GX2, and 1TB of storage will push any contem- able battery. By this
porary game or record and play tons of TV, run the Web directly onto point, isn’t that some-
your big screen TV, and it has full surround sound and HD output. thing even the dumb-
But all we want to do is play with that little 7-inch touchscreen that est device should know
lets you access all of its functions without turning on your TV. ▲ not to do? ▲
CPU/August2006 7
W h a t ’ s H a p p e n i n g (cid:127) C h i p W a t c h
Compiled by DeanTakahashi
Spansion Seeks To Meld
Security With Flash Memory Chips
If mobile phones are truly going to become electronic commerce tools, they have to
become more secure for the likes of credit card companies and banks. Flash memory
chipmaker Spansion is proposing to embed security within the hardware of the mem-
ory chips themselves. With secure hardware, mobile phones will be able to recover
from virus attacks that disable the phone’s operating system and be trustworthy enough
for making electronic payments without contacting the company. Next year Spansion hopes to
Nintendo Taps Micro
field a product that has a custom security chip and flash memory in the same module. Over
time Spansion wants to graft the security silicon to the flash chip itself. ▲ Machine Sensors For
Chipmaker Shows Off Its Wii Controller
UWB To Transfer HD Video
Nintendo’s new Wii game console is
being praised thanks to its innova-
Silicon Valley startup Tzero Technologies has unveiled a chipset
tive game controller with built-in
that promises to enable the wireless transfer of the highest-quality
motion sensors. The Wii controller
videos around the home. Using UWB technology, the Tzero TZ
enables new kinds of gameplay in
7000 chipset can transfer data at speeds of about 107Mbps and
which the controller is like an exten-
distances up to almost 100 feet. At that speed the company says
sion of the body. (For instance, in a
it can transfer video without any obvious glitches and elimi-
fishing game you could cast out a
nate wires in the living room between TVs and devices such
line by holding the controller and
as set-top boxes, game consoles, or other connected
swinging your arm.) The controller
devices. In a two-hour, high-definition movie, the
senses motion with a built-in micro-
company says that, on average, it can transmit the
machined accelerometer. That is, it
video with less than one packet error. ▲
has a sensor chip that can detect
direction and acceleration by mea-
suring changes in the electrons
Watching The Chips Fall *Retail price
** Manufacturer's price per 1,000 units within it. The electrons move
Other current prices, if indicated, are lowest OEM prices
Here is pricing information for AMD and Intel CPUs. available through Pricegrabber.com around depending
upon the position
CPU Released Original Last month’s Current
price price price and motion of
AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 1/10/2006 $999** $934 $901 the con-
AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 5/23/2006 $1,031** N/A $1,031** troller. By
AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core 3800+ 8/1/2005 $354** $291 $287
measuring
AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core 4200+ energy efficient 5/16/2006 $417** $417** $417**
the capaci-
AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core 4200+ 5/31/2005 $537** $350 $346
tance, the sen-
AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core 4400+ energy efficient 5/16/2006 $514** $514** $514**
AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core 4600+ energy efficient 5/16/2006 $601** $601** $601** sor captures
AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core 4600+ 5/31/2005 $803** $539 $535 movement data. Both
AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core 4800+ energy efficient 5/16/2006 $671** $671** $671** STMicroelectronics and Analog
AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core 4800+ 5/31/2005 $1,001** $619 $620 Devices make the accelerometers,
AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core 5000+ 5/23/2006 $696** N/A $696**
and Broadcom makes the wireless
Intel Pentium Processor Extreme Edition 965 3.73GHz dual core 3/22/2006 $999** N/A $999**
Bluetooth radio chip that transmits
Intel Pentium 4 641 3.2GHz 2MB cache 800MHz FSB 65nm 12/27/2005 $218** $207* $207*
Intel Pentium 4 661 3.6GHz 2MB cache 800MHz FSB 65nm 12/27/2005 $401** $400* $400* the positional data to the console in
Intel Pentium 4 670 3.8GHz 2MB cache 800MHz FSB 90nm 5/26/2005 $849** $610* $610* real time. “This started in 1999 with
Intel Pentium D 820 2.8GHz dual-core 2MB cache 800MHz FSB 90nm 5/26/2005 $241** $171* $171* car air bags, but we’ve been waiting
Intel Pentium D 830 3GHz dual-core 2MB cache 800MHz FSB 90nm 5/26/2005 $316** $260* $214* to get into the low-cost consumer
Intel Pentium D 840 3.2GHz dual-core 2MB cache 800MHz FSB 90nm 5/26/2005 $530** $345* $335*
electronics devices for some time,”
Intel Pentium D 920 2.8GHz dual-core 2MB 800MHz FSB 65nm 12/27/2005 $241** $203* $177
says Benedetto Vigna, director of
Intel Pentium D 930 3GHz dual-core 2MB 800MHz FSB 65nm 12/27/2005 $316** $200* $176
the micromachined sensor business
Intel Pentium D 940 3.2GHz dual-core 2MB 800MHz FSB 65nm 12/27/2005 $423** $262* $225
Intel Pentium D 950 3.4GHz dual-core 2MB 800MHz FSB 65nm 12/27/2005 $637** $341* $324 unit at STMicroelectronics. ▲
Intel Pentium D 960 3.6GHz dual-core 2MB 800MHz FSB 65nm 5/1/2006 $530** N/A $530**
8 August2006 /www.computerpoweruser.com