Maximum PC

Maximum PC is the magazine that every computer geek, PC gamer, or content creator should read every month. Get Maximum PC digital magazine subscription today for punishing product reviews, thorough how-to articles, and the illuminating technical news and information that PC power users crave. Maximum PC covers every single topic that requires a lightning-fast PC, from video editing and music creation to PC gaming; we write about it all with unbounded enthusiasm for our collective hobby.

Maximum PC

editorial

NSA plans Quantum-Resistant Encryption • Preparing for the challenges of quantum computing

BITCONNECT SCAMMED $2BN FROM INVESTORS • A FAKE TRADING BOT SWINDLED CRYPTO

NETGEAR SMART SWITCHES POTENTIALLY HACKED • Patched already but highlights flaws in the IoT

Tech Triumphs and Tragedies • A monthly snapshot of what’s good and bad in tech

APPLE EXPLORING RISC-V CORES • Job Opportunities Open Up for RISC-V Programmers

GOOGLE DEVELOPING CUSTOM SOC • Google Only Chromebooks Due to Arrive Circa 2023

Sony Alters PS5 Cooling

Corsair’s 500mm RGB Fan

EVGA’s Soldering Killed RTX 3090s

TECH TALK PCIe Gen5 Is Coming • LAST ISSUE I talked about the upcoming switch to DDR5 memory for the next generation Intel and AMD platforms. Now, I want to talk about something we won’t see with AMD’s socket AM5, and most likely not on Intel’s LGA1700 Alder Lake CPUs either—at least, not on consumer parts. The specifications and requirements for PCI Express 5.0 are complete, and AMD and Intel will be supporting the tech soon enough, but initially only on data center hardware.

TRADE CHAT Dear Microsoft: please don’t mess this up • ANOTHER MONTH GOES BY and there’s no sign of a crack in the weird wall of silence around Windows 11. As I write, it is exactly one month before the newly announced official release date for Windows 11, yet from the state of the preview builds—both dev and beta—you wouldn’t know it.

THE LIST • MAXIMUM PC’S FAVORITE BUILDS

DOCTOR • THIS MONTH THE DOCTOR TACKLES…

SILENCE OF THE FANS • Fans are so last year, right?

HARDWARE

A QUIETER PLACE • How well will our silent system run?

THE SILENT MASTER?

LIFE IS JUST A STREAM • Learn the ins and outs of streaming with Sam Lewis

CREATOR CAMP

THE ESSENTIALS WHEN IT COMES TO STREAMING, THESE PERIPHERALS WILL SET YOU OFF ON THE RIGHT PATH TO TWITCH STARDOM

NVIDIA SHADOWPLAY

CAPTURE CARDS

MAXIMUM PC • THE GO-TO RESOURCE FOR PC ENTHUSIASTS

COMPUTE THIS • The history of supercomputing turns out to be a tale of eccentric inventors, nuclear weapons, and a constant need to one-up the other guy. Ian Evenden explains.

WHAT HAPPENS TO DEAD SUPERCOMPUTERS?

FLOPS

BEOWULF CLUSTERS

THE VON NEUMANN MODEL

Stream Perfect

GET INTO UBUNTU • The latest version of Ubuntu has landed. Nick Peers discovers what’s new and shows you how to install it.

Install Ubuntu 21.04 • Looking to switch to Linux from Windows? Discover how to take Ubuntu for a test drive, then install it alongside your existing operating system.

TEST-DRIVE UBUNTU IN VIRTUALBOX

PARTITION YOUR HARD DRIVE FOR A DUAL-BOOT SETUP

Wayland strikes back • Ubuntu 21.04 attempts to reintroduce Wayland as the default desktop server. Will it succeed second time around?

XWAYLAND MARKS THE SPOT

GET WAYLAND WORKING ON NVIDIA

What’s new in 21.04? • It may not be packed full of eye-catching new features, but Ubuntu 21.04 features plenty of improvements.

THESE EFI UPGRADES

HOW TO • STEP-BY-STEP GUIDES TO IMPROVING YOUR PC

Playdate • THIS MONTH WE DISSECT…

Minimal vector...