| Bad News Comes in (Diablo) Threes: Mods “Expressly Prohibited” Posted: 01 Aug 2011 08:37 PM PDT  We've seen quite a wide range of opinions concerning Diablo III's newly revealed auction house, but it came part-and-parcel with another dark cloud that completely lacks a silver lining. See, plenty of games get released sans official mod support, but Diablo's devil is in the details. Diablo III mods, says Blizzard, are "expressly prohibited."
"For a variety of gameplay and security reasons, we will not be supporting bots or mods in Diablo III, and they'll be expressly prohibited by our terms of use for the game," reads an official FAQ provided by the mega-developer. It's a bit odd, too, seeing as this is the same Blizzard that took StarCraft II's title literally and gave players tools robust enough to craft actual, honest-to-goodness stars. That said, this whole online-only push seems incredibly misguided to us. Blizzard's flying the banner of "full player control" with its auction house (as opposed to developer-driven microtransactions), but snatching away standbys like modding and, well, single-player. To which you probably reply, "Activision!" To which we definitely reply, "Nope." Blizzard's got two of gaming's most mind-obliteratingly gigantic cash cows in its stable. Honestly, with its entire one remaining popular franchise (Call of Duty), Activision's not in any position to be making demands. For now, then, we're just going to keep watching Blizzard and making that face dogs use when they're confused. |
| Old School Monday: This Means War Posted: 01 Aug 2011 03:29 PM PDT For as far back as we can remember, the RTS has provided hours of skill-honing, leveling entertainment. Whether we found ourselves in the dungeons of Diablo 2, or more recently in the war-strapped boots of Jim Raynor, RTS games have long held a special spot in our hearts. Bearing this sentiment in mind, we proudly present to you a look ahead at some of the more technically advanced RTS games--from 10 years ago, mind you. Hit the jump for a trip down memory lane! 
|
| Galaxy Beefs Up Graphics Card Warranty, How Does It Compare? Posted: 01 Aug 2011 03:09 PM PDT  Failed hardware is just a part of life, simple as that. You can nudge the odds in your favor by ensuring adequate cooling and keeping that foot long energy drink away from the edge of your desk so that if it spills it won't ooze into your mid-tower chassis, but there's no foolproof way to guarantee your hardware won't give up the ghost. When that happens, your next line of defense is a warranty, and graphics card maker Galaxy just announced it's offering an "extended warranty" period on its videocards. Cards purchased on or after August 1, 2011 are now backed by a 3-year warranty.
"Galaxy has listened to the enthusiast market and we are glad to move from a 2-year warranty to a 3-year warranty by registration. We will continue to push the limits of performance through Galaxy internal engineering and high end quality with our own manufacturing lines, now we are backed with a 3-year warranty to further service Galaxy customers," said Ric Lewis, Galaxy US sales. Hooray for Galaxy in throwing the enthusiast market a bone, just remember to register your card online within 30 days to be eligible for that extra year of coverage, good from the date of purchase. Saavy? Awesome, now let's take a look at how Galaxy's warranty compares to some of the other guys. 
(Image Credit: flickr cibomahto)
EVGA EVGA is one of Nvidia's biggest and most active graphics partners, and the GPU vendor champions that responsibility with one of the more flexible warranties in the business. Most EVGA videocards carry a limited lifetime warranty, provided you register your purchase within 30 days (if you don't, it drops to just 1 year). The lifetime backing applies to products with the following suffixes: -A1, -A2, -A3, -A4, -AR, -AX, -CR, -CX, -DX, -FR, -FX, -SG, and -SX. EVGA trusts its users with overclocking and using third-party heatsinks, the company just requires that you return the card in its original factory configuration and condition (slap the stock heatsink back on), and that there be no physical damage to the card. EVGA Warranty Terms XFX XFX is another company that backs its graphics cards for life, and in fact these guys and gals offer 'Double Lifetime Protection.' That doesn't mean you can take your warranty with you into the afterlife, but it does allow you to transfer the warranty to a second owner, a great perk should you decide to sell or give your card away when it comes time to upgrade. Like several others, XFX requires its customers to register their card within 30 days of purchase, or the warranty will only last for 2 years. Like EVGA, XFX doesn't mind if you overclock (volt-modding is NOT covered) or swap out the cooling solution, you just have to return it to its original condition when requesting service. XFX Warranty Terms VisionTek Yet another company that offers a lifetime warranty, VisionTek backs its videocards for life as long as you register online within 30 days, or it drops to just 1 year. VisionTek doesn't outright tell users whether or not they can overclock or use a third-party cooling solution, but does warn that any damage arising from tampering, user error, disaster, misuse, neglect, modification, and a bunch of other scenarios will not be covered. VisionTek Warranty Terms PNY PNY's warranty depends on which graphics card you purchase. For regular cards, PNY says it will warrant purchases for 1 year, plus an additional 2 years upon completion of registration on PNY's website, so that's 3 years total (it adds up, trust us). PNY's XLR8 graphics cards, however, carry a lifetime backing, although the company "does not cover items out of production if the company no longer stocks them (Lifetime is defined as the lifetime of the product on the market)." Overclocking and/or using a third-party cooling solution is not implicitly covered. Whether or not you divulge that information, well, that's up to you. PNY Warranty Terms The Others No other company we're aware of offers a lifetime warranty on graphics cards, though if we missed one, be sure to shout it in the comments section below. We also have to give credit to BFG, a fallen graphics partner that pioneered the idea of true lifetime warranties on videocards. Unfortunately, BFG's unexpected and untimely demise is also a reminder that even a lifetime backing is really only valid until the company goes belly-up, and then you're on your own. |
| Home Rental Startup Airbnb Seeks to End PR Nightmare with $50,000 Insurance Policy Posted: 01 Aug 2011 02:49 PM PDT  You might not have heard of Airbnb, a feisty young startup out of San Francisco that lets users book lodging in the vacant homes of other Airbnb users, and rent out their own homes while they are away. The entire process is handeled by Airbnb, not directly by the users. In recent weeks, a firestorm of bad PR has hit Airbnb as a woman, blogging under the pseudonym EJ told the tale of how an Airbnb guest robbed and vandalized her home. In an attempt to diffuse the situation, Airbnb has now offered an unconditional apology and a $50,000 insurance guarantee, but not after a few missteps.
There has been a significant amount of controversy as EJ and the Airbnb people traded barbs over just what happened. EJ claims that she was brushed off when she alerted Airbnb to the incident after returning home in late June. She found her home trashed, and many personal items (including IDs) missing. The police were involved, but Airbnb continued to bungle the PR nightmare. EJ updated her story, claiming that Airbnb's co-founder asked her to delete her blog. When all seemed darkest, the folks running the start up (which is funded to the tune of $100 million) have relented. Airbnb will offer a blanket $50,000 insurance policy to all users that rent out their empty house.The offer is retroactive so EJ should be able to get back on her feet. Although, the emotional damage from having your home essentially destroyed by a drug-addled stranger you were paired with by a service you trusted must be intense. EJ can at least take some small comfort in knowing that the police have a suspect in custody after working with Airbnb. Do you think this situation was resolved amicably? Would you ever use Airbnb? |
| Chrome Web App of the Week: PadMapper Posted: 01 Aug 2011 02:14 PM PDT  Moving, we're certain you'll agree, sucks. Packing, organizing the logistics, paying a security deposit on your new digs, cleaning your old pad from top to bottom after you move out and--worst of all--unpacking, has been rated as one of the most stressful gauntlets of experience that life has to offer. For those of us who have moving to a new apartment in their cards, PadMapper, Our Chrome Web App of the Week, does what it can to make the whole process just a little less painful.
Using Google Maps to illustrate the locations of rental listings from popular services such as Apartments.com, Rent.com and Craigslist, PadMapper makes finding a new place to live almost bearable. In order to get started with the web app, users are invited to click on one of the hundreds of North American cities currently supported by PadMapper. Doing so zooms into a map of your selected location, detailing the rental properties currently available. Through the use of easy-to-apply filters such as minimum/maximum rent cost, number of bedrooms and whether or not the property is pet-friendly, the application makes it possible to quickly whittle your rental options down to a manageable level. 
With select cities, PadMapper also provides users with the ability to overlay crime statistics, locate nearby mass transit routes and even factor in their potential work commute time as variables for selecting a new home. Be sure to check back every Monday for another edition of Maximum PC's Chrome Web App of the Week. |
| Contest Monday: Win a ThermalTake Shock One Gaming Headset! Posted: 01 Aug 2011 01:11 PM PDT We're starting this week off right - with a contest! What better way to console yourself through that wicked case of the Mondays than by getting a chance to win this sweet ThermalTake Shock One gaming headset? 
If we've got your interest, then here are the details: just send us a photo of your favorite PC (or PC-related) purchase, with a sentence or two on why it gets the title of "Best PC thingy I ever spent my hard-earned cash on" to webmaster@maximumpc.com If we use your photo/caption in Thursday's gallery, you're automatically entered to win! We'll pick a winner at random from the gallery and that lucky person will get to rock a set of headphones that our own Alex Castle has called "a solid all-rounder," featuring "solid construction and good all-around sound quality." The usual terms and conditions do, of course, apply (and are detailed below in the fine print). Now, get to submitting! We want to see your entries! *And, if this headset prize or contest doesn't quite appeal to you, stick around - we'll have another contest on Friday!* Rules MaximumPC contest rules: Anyone who emails a photo of their favorite PC (or PC-related) purhcase with caption to webmaster@maximumpc.com will be entered to win theThermalTake Shock One gaming headset described in this article--one entry per accepted comment. Prizes will be awarded by random drawing. Submissions will be accepted until Wednesday the 3rd of August at 04:00 PM PST. By entering this contest, you agree that Future US, Inc. may use your name, likeness, website, and submission for promotional purposes without further payment. Employees of Sponsor, its respective parent, subsidiaries, affiliated companies, and agents, and foregoing employees¹ household or immediate family members (defined as parent, spouse, child, sibling, or grandparent) are NOT eligible to enter Contest. All prizes will be awarded, and no minimum number of entries is required. Prizes won by minors will be awarded to their parents or legal guardians. Future US, Inc. is not responsible for damages or expenses the winners might incur as a result of this contest or the receipt of a prize, and winners are responsible for income taxes based on the value of the prize received. A list of winners may also be obtained by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope toFuture US, Inc. c/o MaximumPC Contest, 4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400, South San Francisco, CA 94080. This contest is limited to residents of the United States. No purchase necessary; void in Arizona, Maryland, Vermont, Puerto Rico, and where prohibited by law. |
| Kingston Now Shipping The SandForce-Powered HyperX SSD Posted: 01 Aug 2011 11:59 AM PDT  Hey, hardcore computer users; Kingston hasn't forgotten about you. After solidifying their base and getting their SSD feet wet in the low-end consumer market, Kingston has teamed up with SandForce for the first time in order to release a high-end SSD capable of pleasing gamers and hardware geeks alike. The company announced today that the super-fast Kingston HyperX SSD is finally shipping to US customers.
Like we mentioned when we first took a look at the HyperX SSD a couple of months ago, this is Kingston's first SATA 3 (6GB/s) SSD. It's capable of sequential read speeds up to 555MB/s and sequential write speeds up to 510MB/s, while its 4KB random performance tops out at 95,000 IOPS read, 70,000 IOPS write. It's powered by the same SandForce SF-2281 controller that's found in many high-end SSD drives. Kingston's offering both a 120GB and 240GB version of the HyperX SSD. You can buy them standalone for $270 or $520, or as part of an install-ready "HyperX Upgrade Kit" that includes the Acronis True Image HD migration software, a desktop mounting plate, an external drive bay, a multi-head screwdriver and a SATA data cable. The 120GB bundle costs $285 while the 240GB bundle will set you back $540 smackers. You can check out the press release at the Kingston website. |
| Giada i50 Review Posted: 01 Aug 2011 11:44 AM PDT A real Velcro PC at last Perhaps you've heard about our concept for the Velcro PC: a computer so small, light, and unobtrusive that you could literally affix it to the back of your HDTV. That concept might have finally arrived in Giada's i50 PC. Similar to the original Giada Ion-100, the i50 is a serious step up over the original box. The most noticeable upgrade is in the brains department: The original Ion-100 sported an Nvidia Ion 2 chip coupled with a 1.3GHz Atom 330; this new model features a 1.2GHz Core i5-430UM processor. It's not wickedly fast, mind you, but despite its 100MHz lower clock, it's several times faster than the weak-sauce Atom 330 part.  
The Giada i50 sports a Core i5 CPU and is small enough to be hidden behind your HDTV.
In graphics performance, however, the Arrandale-based Core i5 falls short. The older Giada with its Ion 2 walks all over the i50 in anything graphics-related. In fact, the Giada is the slowest we've ever seen in an HTPC. Some of that is the fault of the older graphics core in the Core i5, and some is the fault of the single-channel DDR3 RAM running at a leisurely 800MHz. For integrated-graphics folks, system RAM speed matters. But does gaming performance really matter in a box that's meant to be an HTPC machine? We don't believe so. The Giada is more likely going to be used to stream content from various websites. The original Giada, despite its faster 3D performance, wasn't up to that task given its slow Atom chip. The Giada i50 is. We had no issues playing HD video from YouTube, Vimeo, or Netflix. Granted, much of Atom's performance issues have been mitigated by Adobe's addition of GPU acceleration to Flash, but unoptimized players such as QuickTime will still trip up Atom systems. We expected the i50 to sail through our QuickTime test—playing a 1080p Iron Man 2 trailer from the hard drive—but were surprised that the 1.2GHz Core i5 didn't have the chops for it. Is it the machine's fault or Apple's, though? The trailer played perfectly fine from Windows Media Player and also from the VideoLAN player. We were originally prepared to hold it against the Giada but ultimately decided that it's probably better to blame the QuickTime Player, which is an even bigger pile of poo than we had suspected. 
Gigabit Ethernet, VGA, HDMI, and four USB ports adorn the back of the Giada i50.
Is the Giada i50 the best HTPC we've ever tested? No, our heart still belongs to Asrock's Vision 3D with its 2.4GHz Core i3 and discrete GeForce GT 425M part. But then again, the Asrock tips the scales at $800 to $1,000—without the OS. The Giada isn't cheap at $650 with Windows 7 Home Premium installed, but we've seen it for $500 on the street with the OS. The Giada is also quite a bit smaller than the Asrock machine and therefore truly suitable for those who want to mount it behind their HDTV Velcro-style. The i50 even comes with a VESA mount, too. It's not the fastest HTPC, but it's the smallest, most-capable-for-its-size machine we've encountered to date. $650, www.giadapc.com |
| Build It: A $340 Ultra-Budget Box Posted: 01 Aug 2011 11:20 AM PDT Can we build a serviceable rig for just $340? With AMD's Fusion APU, we're gonna try In past months, we've shown you how to build rigs for less than $1,000, and we even built a surprisingly speedy $667 PC Value Meal. But what do you do when your budget is half that? Let's face it, not everyone has half a grand or more to spend on a new computer, and not every build has to be a tricked-out gaming rig. Sometimes you just need a second computer for the family, or an HTPC that doesn't break the bank. Heck, sometimes you just need a cheap first computer. That doesn't mean you have to head to big-boxville and pick a prebuilt off the rack. Indeed, we're betting that with a little elbow grease we can put together a machine for less than $350 that'll perform basic tasks, if not with a surplus of power, at least without smoking and dying. 
How do you build a PC for less than $350? Combine, combine, combine. AMD's Brazos Fusion APU is great for that; for $110 we got an Asrock E350M1 Mini-ITX motherboard with a 1.6GHz dual-core Hudson M1 APU and integrated Radeon HD 6310 GPU. Bam! That's motherboard, CPU, GPU, and onboard cooler taken care of. The E350M1 has two slots for DDR3 DIMMs; we'll use just one 2GB DDR3/1333 DIMM for now. We chose the Rosewill RS-MI-01 BK chassis for several reasons. First, although it's small, it's roomy enough to accommodate one full-size optical drive and two 3.5-inch hard drives. Other Mini-ITX cases are smaller, but require slimline optical drives and 2.5-inch hard drives—too pricy for our budget. The case also comes with a 250W integrated PSU that's more than enough to power our rig. The case also has one PCI expansion slot, just in case we want to upgrade to a single-slot discrete GPU sometime in the future—the motherboard features one PCIe x16 slot. For our drives, we picked a DVD burner with solid performance and a low, low price of $20. We also snagged a 320GB hard drive for $40. We know you can get 1TB for less than twice that, but every penny counts. Ingredients - Case/PSU Rosewill RS-MI-01 BK w/250W PSU $50
- Mobo/APU Asrock E350M1 Hudson $110
M1 Mini-ITX mobo w/AMD E-350 APU
(1.6GHz, dual-core) and integrated Radeon HD 6310 GPU - RAM Patriot 2GB DDR3/1333 DIMM $20
- Optical Samsung SH-222AB CD/DVD burner $20
 - Hard Drive WD Caviar Blue 320GB $40
 - OS Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM $100
- TOTAL : $340
Step 1: Mount the Motherboard The first step is to prep the case. The Rosewill case we're using is pretty simple; to remove the top and side panels, just remove four screws on the rear panel, then lift the panel up and out. Remove the front bezel (but leave it close by) by detaching the clips at the sides and bottom of the bezel. Before you install the motherboard, insert the RAM into the slot closest to the APU. 
Install the motherboard I/O shield, then slide the mobo onto the four raised standoffs at the back of the case, aligning the I/O ports with the holes in the shield. Secure the mobo (above) with four screws (they'll look like the ones you just removed from the rear panel), then, while you're at it, connect the 24-pin ATX power cable, as well as the front-panel HD Audio and USB 2.0 connectors. It's not going to get any less cramped inside the case later. 
You should also attach the front-panel power, reset, and LED connectors (above), as the optical drive will soon make access to that part of the motherboard difficult. Step 2: Install the Optical Drive Now it's time to install the optical drive. Slide it into the 5.25-inch drive tray at the front of the case until the mounting holes on the side of the drive line up with the rearmost sets of holes on the sides of the bay (below). Secure with four to eight optical drive screws. 
Tuck the remaining length of the ATX power cable underneath the optical drive, and attach the SATA power and data cables. We suggest using the SATA power connector that's closest to the PSU for the optical drive, leaving the terminating connector for the hard drive. Replace the front bezel.
Step 3: Install the Hard Drive There are two 3.5-inch drive mounts in the case we're using: one at the front, which can be used for an external 3.5-inch drive, and a mounting point at the rear, to the right of the motherboard. We'll use the latter.  
Attach the drive rails to the hard drive as shown (above, left), using the same style of screw that you used for the motherboard. Insert the drive perpendicular to the optical drive at the front of the case (above, right), then slide it back into place, making sure the SATA ports point toward the front of the case and the mounting holes on the case frame line up with the holes in the top drive rail. Secure with the pointed-ended screws. Step 4: Attach the Connectors Connect the remaining SATA power connector to the drive (below), then use the black 6Gb/s SATA data cable to connect the hard drive to the motherboard's SATA3_0 port. The hard drive doesn't have a SATA 6Gb/s connector, but both port and cable are backward-compatible; besides, the motherboard only comes with one SATA 3Gb/s cable, which we've used for the optical drive. 
At this point, you're ready to go! Check that the 24-pin power cable is connected to the motherboard, double-check your drives' SATA power and data connections, and make sure the front-panel connectors are all in place, then replace the top cover and secure it. Now all you have to do is install your OS and you're ready to go! Benchmarking the Budget Build Don't expect miracles from a budget this small. Our mini rig is more than capable of basic computing tasks, and it's a lot more powerful than a netbook of about the same price, but it can't hold a candle to even our $667 budget rig from last month—but then again, it's half the price. Thanks to the integrated Radeon HD 6310 graphics chip, the mini rig handily trumps much more expensive mini PCs like the Giada i50—at least in gaming and other GPU-limited tests. It can't compete with the Giada's Core i5-430UM, despite our rig's higher clock speeds, in our Photoshop benchmark, or in MainConcept Reference, both of which might benefit from the Giada's 4GB of RAM (our rig has only 2GB) and faster Core i5 microarchitecture. 
Though a Blu-ray drive wasn't in our budget for this build, we were able to play back 1080p video (the Iron Man 2 trailer we usually use for this test) with no issues using Window Media Player. And though this isn't a gaming powerhouse—averaging around 18fps in Left 4 Dead 2 at 1280x800—it still has oomph enough for older games, which is where a gamer with a $340 hardware budget should be looking anyway. We don't mean that in a snobby way; there are dozens of gaming classics available on sites like Gog.com for very little money that will run great on our budget build, and keep you happy and gaming for hundreds of hours. With a $400 budget, we could have added another 2GB DIMM and replaced the hard drive with a 7,200rpm 750GB hard drive. Hell, with $1,000, we could build a truly kick-ass rig. But that wasn't our goal. Our goal was to create a functional PC at as low a price as we could manage, and in that we succeeded, creating a device that outperforms many mini PCs and set-top rigs that are twice its price. If you need a machine for the kids, or for basic computing tasks, you don't have to spend more than this to get something serviceable. And if you come into some money later on, you can smack some more RAM in there, add a discrete videocard, and further extend the life of your PC. Benchmarks: $340 Budget Box vs. Giada PC | Giada i50 | $340 Budget Box | | Premiere Pro CS3 (sec) | 272 | 448 (-39.3%) | | MainConcept (sec) | 4,736 | 8,925 (-46.9%) | | 3DMark03 (3DMarks) | 1,189 | 6,548 (450.7%) | | Quake III (fps) | 87 | 179.6 (106.4%) | | Quake 4 (fps) | 9 | 43.7 (385.6%) | See our review of the Giada i50 here. |
| Time Warner Cable Bemoans Lack Of Porn Sales, Could Internet Be To Blame? Posted: 01 Aug 2011 11:17 AM PDT  People say "You have your mind in the gutter" like it's a bad thing, but the adult video industry has actually spurred on a lot of the technology we now take for granted in the mainstream. Online payment systems? Thanks, porn! Streaming content? Internet users were streaming nude flix a long time before they began streaming Netflix. A lot of modern-day traffic optimization techniques also owe their origins to the skin trade. Soon, we may have something else to thank porn for: higher cable bills.
Sound crazy? That bastion of journalistic integrity, the New York Post, reports that Time Warner Cable saw video-on-demand revenue drop by 13.5 percent over the past year. That adds up to about $14 million. Here's the interesting part: Time Warner Cable prez Robert Marcus told analysts that more than a third of that number came from reduced adult content sales. Congrats, Time Warner Cable customers! You saved at least $5 million on skin flicks last year. The Consumerist theorizes that people are wising up about paying cash for cable porn rentals and simply tapping into the loads of free porn that you can find on approximately 95 percent of the Internet. While saving that $10 may seem like a great idea in the short term, the Consumerist thinks cable companies may fight back against the lost revenue the only way they can. No, they won't begin offering free adult content of their own (Get your mind out of the gutter!), they'll just raise everybody's bill. What do you think? (PS. If you're interested in seeing more about how adult video has shaped mainstream technology, check out this excellent PC World article.) Image credit: missingremote.com |
