Maximum PC (August 2005)

Source: Maximum PC – August 2005

Maximum PC, which start its life as boot, was my favorite PC magazine. It was oriented towards ‘enthusiasts’ such as gamers and those who like to build their own PCs, overclock, etc. It was published up until a a few years ago. The August 2005 issue includes:

Regulars

In/Out – Letters from readers about choosing a video card for Quake 4, video card benchmarks, Quake III on a multi-core CPU, the Pentium D, DVD-R vs. DVD+R, and more.

Quick Start – ATI introduces crossfire; ATI releases 10 new drives including internal, external and portable models; Windows Mobile 5.0 released for PDAs and smartphones; DisplayPort standard announced; Athlon 64 X2 series replaces single core models; and more.

Head2Head – A look at the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ vs. the Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 840.

WatchDog – Maximum PC investigates industry issues including D-Link router problems, counterfeit copies of Windows XP, motherboard warranties, and more.

How To – A guide to protecting yourself from Phishing and Pharming.

Ask the Doctor – Questions answered about USB ports on the A7V333 motherboard, ethernet on the Asus P4P800 motherboard, power supply issues, case filters, and more.

In the Lab – Testing the 64-bit version of Windows XP.

Rig of the Month – A PC custom designed to look like something recovered off of a derelict space ship in Alien.

Reviews

Desktop PC: MMC Modular PC – A modular PC that requires a docking station to work. It includes 1 GHz Transmeta Crusoe TM5800 CPU, 512MB of DDR RAM, 20GB hard drive, Silicon Motion 3DR graphics processor, and more for $1900.

512MB videocards – A look at both the Sapphire Hybrid X800 XL and XFX GeForce 6800 Ultra 512MB. At the time 512MB video cards to offer much advantage over 256MB models.

Water-cooling Kit: Koolance Exos 2 – This liquid CPU cooler includes a unit with radiator, fans ad digital display that mounts on top of your case.

PDA: PalmOne LifeDrive – The unique features of this Palm based PDA was the 4GB internal hard drive.
External Hard Drive: Seagate 400GB – A highly rated and very large for the time external drive.

Video Editing Suite: Turtle Beach Video Advantage USB – A USB device and software that allows you to capture analog composite and S-Video with stereo audio.

Personal Video Player: Ovideon Aviah 5GB – A portable video player with a 2.2″ OLED screen, 5 GB of storage, and built-in TV Tuner.

Digital Cameras – Reviews of the Kodak EasyShare Z740 and the Leica Digilux 2.

Wireless Headphones: Sennheiser RS140 – A mediocre pair of wireless headphones.

MP3 Player: Gateway 6GB MP3 Photo Jukebox – A 6GB MP3 player that could also store and display digital photos.

USB Keys – A look a couple of USB thumb drives including the M-Flyer TravelDrive and CryptoStick USB 2.0.

DV Disc-Mastering Suite: Easy Media Creator 7.5 – One of the most popular pieces of software for mastering CDs.

Gaming

Cold Fear – A port of a console survival horror game.

Guild Wars – A very popular MMORPG.

Pariah – A first person shooter with questionable AI.

SWAT 4 – A squad based game in which you command a SWAT team.

Features

Heal Your PC! – Reviews of 23 utilities to prevent and cure viruses and other malware.

Picture This! – A review of 11 LCD monitors including the BenQ FP19V+, Eizo L778, Formac, Hewlett Packard L2035, LG L1980Q, Norcent LM-960, Philips 190P5, Planar PX212M, Samsung 193P, Sony SDM-HS95P, and Viewsonic VP191b.