pcformat may 2012 teaser
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PCFormat May 2012 TeaserTRANSCRIPT
Super Sonic roundup
issue 182 | M
AY 2012
PERFORMANCE & GAMING
issue 182 | MAY 2012
MAY
201
2/18
2/ R
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¤ Z77 chipset¤ MSi Z77A-GD65¤ ROG MAX V Gene
¤ AMD A8-3870k¤ AMD HD7800s¤ Cosmos 2 Ultra
¤ Dell XPS 13¤ Sapphire EDGE HD3¤ G.Skill Ares 1,600MHz
¤ 13 years later, Counter-Strike is back!
CS: GLOBAL OFFENSIVE
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the review Sandbox
dual boot SecretS
Windows 17 pAges
FREEDVD
double-sidedat the back
GTX 680Nvidia Geforce
8 pc speAkers tested
Microsoft’s big gaMble
SOAP BOXGreetings, oh loyal reader, and welcome to another issue. As you are no doubt aware, it’s Diablo month at last and before we all start calling in sick, we’ve put together a cracker of an issue for you.
Chief among the awesome is a collection of bits to get you into Windows 8, including a mammoth review of the OS. We’ll show you how to dual boot, virtualise and tweak the new OS so you can be 100% before you take the plunge to a new, more Metro, you. It may just be the first time in 12 years that M$ releases two good operating systems in a row, so hold on to your butts.
We also dropped the supertest this month in favour of the torrent of hardware that’s come along, including NVIDIA’s surreptitiously released GTX 680. Intel’s new chipset goes through the gauntlet along with some new AMD GPUs and a host of other bits and bobs.
The tweaking continues beyond Windows 8 as we show you a few hacking tools to be stashed up your cyber sleeve, as well as a guide to speeding up your boot times. For all those fanbois still playing CSS there’s a whammy feature preview on the latest instalment of the franchise as well as a review of last month’s time vampire, Mass Effect 3 (protip – play as a girl this time).
Anyways, we can’t stay and chat, there’s a Guild Wars 2 beta that won’t run, some Panderans who need Chi – oh and I’m suddenly feeling under the weather. Cough. Splutter. Stay a while and listen….
Happy paging y’all
Nicholas Boerma, Editor
PUBLISHER Urs Honegger
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Gerard PeterEDITOR Nicholas BoermaG3AR MANAGING EDITOR Dawid VenterSTAFF WRITER Brett VenterHARDWARE WRITER Michael Reed MANAGING EDITOR Kate KennedySENIOR SUB EDITOR Vanessa KoekemoerSUB EDITORS Brigitte Billings, Danica Potgieter
DTP STUDIO MANAGER Paul KotzeLEAD DESIGNER Cronjé du ToitTRAFFIC & PRODUCTION MANAGER Celeste Scholes
ADVERTISING [email protected] GROUP ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER Deborah Bishop-WilliamsSALES EXECUTIVE Leandra Pinho 082 5424515 [email protected]
SUBSCRIPTIONS [email protected] Tel: 011 468 2090 Fax: 011 468 2091
INTERNATIONAL CONTRIBUTORS Alan Dexter, Dave James, Henry Winchester, Adam Oxford, Jeremy Laird, Neil Mohr, Luis Villazon, Richard Cobbett, Simon Crisp, Mike Channell, Al Bickham, Rich McCornmick, Stefan Janicki, Rob Taylor, Andy Kelly, Richard Stanton
FINANCE [email protected] Ultra-Litho, JohannesburgDISTRIBUTION Republican News Agency
ISSN 1027-0469
PCFormat is published monthly. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this magazine in whole or in part is prohibited without prior written permission of Panorama Publications (Pty) Ltd. Copyright © 1997-2010 Panorama Publications (Pty) Ltd. The views expressed in PCFormat are not necessarily those of Panorama Publications and the acceptance and publication of editorial and advertising matter in PCFormat does not imply any endorsement or warranty in respect of goods or services therein described, whether by PCFormat or the publishers. PCFormat will not be held responsible for the safe return of unsolicited editorial contributions. The Editor reserves the right to edit material submitted and in appropriate cases to translate into another language. PCFormat reserves the right to reject any advertising or editorial material, which may not suit the standard of the publication, without reason given.
PUBLISHED BY Panorama Publications (Pty) Ltd.Private Bag X4, Kyalami, 1684, South Africa. 92 Campolino Road, Kyalami.Tel: 011 468 2090 Fax: 011 468 2091
Oct-Dec 201116,271(Total)
PCFormat is printed on partially recycled paper
PCFormat’s AMD Test Bench is kindly provided by the following brands
SpecificationsAMD FX-8150 @ 3.6GHzAsus Crosshair V Formula4GB Kingston HyperX DDR3-1800AMD Radeon HD 6990Seagate 160GB SATA-II HDDKingston HyperX 128GB SSD
PCFormat’s Intel Test Benches are kindly provided by the following brands
SpecificationsIntel Core i7 3960X @ 3.3GHzASRock X79 Extreme916GB GSkill RipJaws Z DDR3-2133 CL9Gainward GTX580WD 320GB SATA-II HDDKingston HyperX 128GB SSD
PERFORMANCE & GAMING
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n5_intel.indd 1 3/12/2012 10:25:16 AM
4 May 2012
RegulaRs 04 Ed’s Note08 Competition09 PCF LAN Calendar10 Your letters 14 First World Memes62 Ask Luis95 Topics of Discussion
WiRed ReVieWs16 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 68018 MSI Z77A-GD6520 ASUS Maximus V GENE22 Asus P8Z77 V Pro24 AMD A8-3870K26 AMD Radeon HD 7870 and HD
785028 Asus HD 7970 DirectCU II TOP29 Sapphire HD 7950 OC Edition30 Asus P9X79 Deluxe31 ASRock 990FX Extreme432 Cooler Master Cosmos II Ultra33 Dell XPS 1334 Sapphire Edge HD335 G.Skill Ares 1,600MHZ DDR3
gRoup tests36 2.1 speaker set round-upEight of the finest sound belchers
FeatuRes42 Windows 8: The review50 Dual boot with Windows 852 Creating a Windows 8 virtual
machine
16 Kepler makes its debut Contents#182/05.12
68 This is about as offensive as we get
54 What is Windows 8 hiding?
54 Discover Windows 8 secrets56 Test real hacking tools60 Speed up boot times
play ReVieWs74 Mass Effect 378 Jagged Alliance: Back in Action
FeatuRes68 Counterstrike: Global Offensive
G3AR pReVieWs 82 Metal Gear Reveangance/Dead
or Alive 584 Sleeping Dogs
ReVieWs 86 SSX90 Wipeout 204892 UFC Undisputed 3
REDEFINE DESKTOP COMPUTING The New Mecer Proficent Compact measures a mere 21cm x 22cm x 9cm
and houses the mini-ITX form factor which accommodates all the components required to match and surpass the computing ability,
power and speed of larger conventional cases.
Powered by the 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i processor family, the Mecer Proficient Compact fully utilises Intel® vPro™
management technologies to reduce cost of owership. The Mecer Proficient Compact is locally assembled
according to customers’ needs and is compliant with all ISO 9001 requirements.
Place on the desk or mount on the rear of the monitor to minimise trip-wires and toe-stubbing obstacles,
and enjoy clutter-free desktop computing.
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www.mecer.co.zaIntel, the Intel Logo, Intel Core and Core Inside are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.
?
86 Time to hit the powder, hopefully just with a board
GRENADES SHGs
GEAR RIFLES
pIStoLS HEAvy