Back Issues

Issue: 72
January, 2007
COVER: Mega Game Machines
Craig Simms called round and gathered the most powerful gaming systems known to man. And then he went psycho and benchmarked the hell out of them.

FEATURE: Inside the 8800GTX
With the latest and greatest from NVIDIA’s engineers in our ninja-trained paws, we couldn’t help but take this baby apart.

PLUS: Mammoth Cooler Roundup!
In the market for a new cooler to keep your toasty hardware not so toasty? Look no further than this comprehensive head to head, put together by our man Craig Simms.

ALSO THIS ISSUE: Supreme Commander tech preview; virtualise with Mac; 3D desktops on Linux

WIN! AUTOGRAPHED World of Warcraft posters! Only in Atomic!

$1000 worth of prizes to give away! Movie tickets, games, DVDs, video cards, speakers and more!

Issue: 71
December, 2006
Cover: Cash in on gaming!

Seamus Byrne wants you to make money from playing games. But not just playing – developing, selling virtual goods, gold farming and more. It’s all there, so why don’t you find out how to make the big bucks from your favourite pastime?


Plus: Budget graphics cards

Craig Simms puts 12 affordable 3D accelerators through their paces. If you’re looking to find a compromise on power and price, this is the labs test for you.


Also: Encoding with Linux, Radiator mod part 2, in-game advertising, the new Sam & Max, return of Caesar, X1950XTX reviewed! and loads more.


Win: $2499 MSI notebook, FEAR Extraction Point, Dark Messiah and Burning Crusade ZBoards!

Issue: 71
December 2006
Cover: Cash in on gaming!
Seamus Byrne wants you to make money from playing games. But not just playing – developing, selling virtual goods, gold farming and more. It’s all there, so why don’t you find out how to make the big bucks from your favourite pastime?

Plus: Budget graphics cards
Craig Simms puts 12 affordable 3D accelerators through their paces. If you’re looking to find a compromise on power and price, this is the labs test for you.

Also: Encoding with Linux, Radiator mod part 2, in-game advertising, the new Sam & Max, return of Caesar, X1950XTX reviewed! and loads more.

Win: $2499 MSI notebook, FEAR Extraction Point, Dark Messiah and Burning Crusade ZBoards!

Issue: 70
November, 2006
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
Ben Mansill complies all the info you need on Blizzard’s upcoming expansion to the biggest MMO in history. Developer interviews; class, race & instance breakdowns; flying mounts and more.

Super RAID guide
Craig Simms shows you how easy it is to get the real grunt from your hard drives.

Head to head: ADSL2+ modems
Ashton Mills locks himself away with eight ADSL2+ modems and tweaks them till they bleed speed.

Engine Room: Joint Task Force
Logan Booker discovers the tech behind this new and modern realtime strategy game. It’s got tanks!

Mac OS tweak guide
Jake Carroll knows Macs. Now, he wants to share his secret knowledge with Atomic.

Car radiator PC mod
Ron Prouse wasn’t satisfied with current water cooling gear. So he had to improvise – with a car.

Fast and furious Linux GUIs
Leigh Dyer’s excellent and easy guide to a slick Linux desktop. Works with the Uber Linux project!

Hardcore reviews
Sony BWU-100A
Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6
Chimei CMV 221D
Samsung SyncMaster 931C
Gigabyte 3D Rocket II
Thermaltake Mini Typhoon
ASRock Conroe945G-DVI
ATI RADEON X1950 XTX

Gameplay reviews
Samsung LA26R7
Defcon
Faces of War

Issue: 69
October, 2006
COVER: Silent computing
Does your PC makes you want to strap a pair of ear muffs to your head and cry? Do away with that nasty loudness with Atomic's easy to use do-it-yourself guide to a silent PC. With everything from tweaking fans and heatsinks to building custom drive bays. Hit those decibels on the head - right now!

EXCLUSIVE: Mega modern RTS Joint Task Force reviewed!

FIRST LOOK: First ever Core 2 Duo notebook - so powerful it'll blow you and your mum away!

ALSO: How GPUs are kicking CPU arse; 15 big, cheap and wonderful hard drives tested; PS3 shooter HAZE exposed; final Uber Linux tutorial; GTR 2; Samsung 244T; ASUS P5W DH Deluxe and more!

Issue: 68
September, 2006
Core Wars: Intel Core 2 Duo vs AMD Athlon 64
Can Intel hit back at the mammoth Athlon? Core 2 Duo struts its stuff this issue, showing off its new architecture, complete with ridiculous buzzwords! We break through the hype and tell you exactly how this hot new baby performs.

INCLUDES ANIME SPECIAL - WIN $1150 OF ANIME DVDS

PLUS: Future Vista gaming with Crysis; Hotbox of the Year; AM2 AMD motherboard roundup; Windows on Mac benchmarked; Dell 2407; Uber Linux guide; Caesar IV roundtable and more!

Issue: 67
August 2006
Quad Damage: Quad SLI whipped, kicked and benched!
Two cards. Four chips. NVIDIA's latest foray into the graphics arena is with us - and we couldn't help but try it out! Everything you need to know about Quad SLI in this issue – the tests, the benchmarks, and our verdict.

PLUS: Atari's GTA killer Just Cause revealed; ATI physics; Retro RAM; Intel's Conroe; AMD Live!; projector round-up; David Braben interviewed; Half-Life 2: Episode 1; Titan Quest and more!

Issue: 66
July, 2006
AGEIA: The Birth of PhysX!

Are you ready for the physics revolution?

Is the next step in gaming finally here? Will we have something to add alongside the graphics and sound cards we cherish? We take an in-depth look at AGEIA's answer to the growing use of physics in next generation games and tell you if it matches the hype.

PLUS: E3 special report; HDCP exposed; The Uber Linux Project Part 2; 12 HDTV tuners reviewed; inside Battlefield 2142; Tintin boxset giveaway; $5000 Prey PC up for grabs and more!

Issue: 65
June, 2006
7900GTX horsepower put to the test, in the June issue of Atomic. Sure, they may all look identical but there’s a performance gap between these cards that makes our feature story essential reading.

There’s loads of juicy goodness in the June issue, including an interview with Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia’s creator. Tomb Raider games are good again, we’re pleased to report, and if you’ve ever considered being an actual real live game developer we show you how.

Steaming hot hardware for the desktop comes from Altech’s challenge to Alienware’s dominance, while on the notebook front Dell’s remarkable reinvention continues with the new ‘XPS’ brand, which is Dell for ‘cool’.

Issue: 64
May, 2006
Cover story: Killer 5.1

The absolute best in PC 5.1 surround sound systems. We tested them till our ears bled.


ALSO: 11 DVD burners benchmarked; BitTorrent - good or evil; GeForce 7900 GT and GTX tested; Elder Scroll 4: Oblivion reviewed; the tech being Splinter Cell: Double Agent and more!


PLUS: Battle for Middle Earth 2; Galactic Civilizations 2; OCZ Gold GTX PC4000 DDR; Vapochill super-cooling; everything you need to know to supercharge Internet Explorer.

Issue: 63
April, 2006
Cover story: Alien autopsy!
Have pre-built PCs come of age? Can they go up against custom machines? We take apart Alienware's Aurora 7500 in our Australian exclusive review.

ALSO: Project: Offset -- we reveal the secrets of 3D graphics with the help of the best 3D engine!; Internet 2.0, next-gen net; 1000W power supplies; Chris Taylor on Strategic Commander and more!

PLUS: TimeShift the game previewed, tech explored; Netgear 240MB/s wireless router reviewed; everything you need to know about Bittorrent; energy drinks compared!

Issue: 62
March, 2006
Cover story: 10,000RPM hard drives!

150GB. 16MB of cache. 10,000rpm. We say hello (and you can too!) to Western Digital's latest super-fast, super-sexy hard drive. Check out this issue for all the benchmarks, info and more!


ALSO: 3DMark06! See why it's the next best thing since 3DMark05 and why you'll want it sleeping next to you at night, plus hacking your 7800: All the hot tips to make it faster than fast.


PLUS: Neverwinter Nights 2, analysed bit by bit; 512MB video card round-up; RADEON 1900XT reviewed; V8 Supercars 3 and more!