Maximum PC (February 2002)

Maximum PC was my favorite PC magazine (and its incarnation as 'boot' before it). It covered PCs from an enthusiast point of view for those that liked to build or upgrade their own machines, gamers, those who liked to edit video, etc. The February 2002 issue includes:

Maximum PC (February 2002)

Maximum PC (April 1999)

Maximum PC was my favorite PC magazine. It was also one of the last major PC magazines to survive in print form. This was a magazine for PC enthusiasts with an emphasis on things like custom builds, overclocking, etc. The April 1999 issue includes:

Source: Maximum PC (April 1999)

Maximum PC (February 2004)

Maximum PC was my favorite computer magazine. It had a pretty long run starting as 'boot' in the late 1990s. The last issue was published just a few years ago. The February 2004 issue includes:

Maximum PC (February 2004 0

Maximum PC (June 2001)

Maximum PC (or 'boot' in its earliest days) was my favorite PC magazine. It started life in the late 1990s and continued being published until just a few years ago. It was targeted towards PC enthusiasts. It was sort of like a PC version of the Macintosh dedicated MacAddict. The June 2001 issue includes:

Source: Maximum PC (June 2001)

Maximum PC (May 2000)

Maximum PC was by far my favorite computer magazine for the years it was published. It started in 1998 as 'boot' but was soon renamed to Maximum PC. It was published up until just a few years ago. The May 2000 issue includes:

Source: Maximum PC (May 2000)

Maximum PC (May 2003) | PeakD

Maximum PC was by far my favorite PC magazine. It started life as 'Boot' in, I believe, 1998. It soon changed it's name to Maximum PC and it was a magazine for PC enthusiasts. Those who bought gaming PCs or built their own high performance machines. It survived later than most PC magazines but it ceased publication a few years back. The May 2003 issue includes:

Source: Maximum PC (May 2003)

Maximum PC (August 2005)

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:

Maximum PC (January 2006)

Maximum PC (January 2006) | PeakD: Maximum PC was my favorite PC magazine. It had a pretty long life with the first issue being published in September 1998 and the last print issue coming in April 2023. Unlike some magazines, it maintained a fairly consistent quality. It limped on another couple of years as a digital only magazine but the last issue in that form was published last month. Sadly, Maximum PC is officially, completely dead. The January 2006 issue includes:

Maximum PC (December 2001)

Maximum PC (December 2001)

Maximum PC was by far my favorite computer magazine. It also survived longer than most with publication only ceasing a couple of years ago. When it was first introduced (in 1998 I believe) it was called boot. It was a magazine for enthusiasts and it reminded me a bit of MacAddict which was a similar sort of thing for Mac users. The December 2001 issue includes:

Regulars

• In/Out - Letters from readers about Hot Tamales (the candy), teen stereotypes, overclocking videocards, the G550, Windows XP, online privacy, gaming as a driver of the PC industry, and more.


• Quick Start - How September 11th changed PC gaming; IBM's CPU of the Future, the dual core POWER4; Windows XP optimization tips; Intel's plans for a 20 GHz chip; new Treo phones; wireless print server device that turns HP printers into wireless printers; mobile Pentium 4 to be introduced at 1.5 GHz and use DDR RAM; and more.


• Head2Head - A detailed comparison of the Pentium 4 2GHz and Athlon XP 1800+.


• Watchdog - IBM 75GXP hard drives seem to experience a high rate of failure; MaxGate stops responding to customers; some vendors refuse to support existing hardware with Windows XP drivers; Compaq recalls notebook power adapters; and more.

_{Table of Contents from of the December 2001 issue of Maximum PC}

Reviews

• Dell Dimension 8200 desktop system - A highly rated $3000 system from Dell that includes a 2GHz Pentium 4, 256 MB RDRAM, nVidia GeForce3 Ti 500, and more.


• Falcon Northwest Mach V system - A nearly $4000 gaming machine featuring an Athlon XP 1800+, 512 MB DDR RAM, nVidia GeForce3 Ti 500 64MB DDR, and more.


• TDK veloCD 16/10/40 external CD-RW drive - If you needed an external CD writer then this one was a good one to have.


• VisionTek Xtacy 6964 videocard - A highly rated video card using the GeForce3 Ti 500 chipset.


• OCZ Titan 3 videocard - Also highly rated but using the original GeForce 3 chipset.


• ATI Radeon 7500 videocard - A great card if you were looking for something on a budget.


• Sony DSC-S85 4.1 megapixel digi-cam - Digital snapshot cameras aren't as popular as they once were but at the time they were far superior to phone cameras which barely existed.


• Olympus C-4040 4.1 megapixel digi-cam - Both this camera and the Sony model above were pretty average examples of what was available.

_{Table of Contents from the December 2001 issue of Maximum PC (continued)}

Features

• Gear of the Year - Some winners include the AMD Athlon XP 1800+ (CPU), Cooler Master ATC-101 (case), nVidia GeForce 3 (3D accelerator), Tyan Tiger MP S2460 (motherboard), Plextor PlexWriter 24/10/40 (CD-RW Drive), Pioneer DVR-A03 Recordable DVD/CD Combo (DVD Recorder), Creative Labs Nomad II MG (MP3 Player), Sony Clie PEG-N760C (PDA), Falcon Northwest Mach V (desktop system), Dell Inspiron i8000 (desktop replacement notebook), Sony F520 (monitor), May Payne (game of the year), and lots more.


• Rigs of the Year - A look at 15 machines custom built by readers with case mods.

_{Back cover of the December 2001 issue of Maximum PC}

Read more: https://www.megalextoria.com/wordpress/index.php/2024/09/19/maximum-pc-december-2001/

Maximum PC (January 2004)

Maximum PC (January 2004)

Maximum PC, known as 'boot' in its earliest days, was my favorite PC specific magazine. It was also still around until a few years ago. The January 2004 issue includes:

Regulars

• In/Out - Letters from readers about using an AMD64-FX CPU with an Opteron motherboard dual-GPU cards, motherboard recommendations, the nForce3 chipset, the remaining life for EIDE drives, upgrading a Pentium 4 machine, and more.


• Quick Start - A look at a few pocket sized PCs including one by oqo that includes a 1 GHz Transmetta Crusoe CPU and 256 MB of RAM, a look at some new games including Madden 2004, Knights of the Old Republic, and Deus Ex, and more.


• Head2Head - Comparing online music services iTunes, MusicMatch, Rhapsody, and Napster.


• WatchDog - Poor OS X performance on G3s, Belkin router spam, and more.

_{Table of Contents from the January 2004 issue of Maximum PC}

Reviews

• HyperSonic Sonic Boom desktop PC - This PC features a yellow case, 3.2 GHz Pentium 4 Extreme Edition overclocked to 3.37 GHz, 1GB of DDR400, an ATI Radeon 9800 XT), two Western Digital WD360 10,000rpm SATA drives, and more for $3,384.


• Hewlett-Packard Pavilion ZD7000 laptop - This laptop features a Pentium 4C @ 3.2GHz, 1GB DDR333 dual channel RAM, nVidia GeForce FX Go5200 video, 40GB hard drive and more for $2700.


• ATI 4600 64Bit desktop PC - This PC features a Chieftec case, 430 watt power supply, an AMD Athlon 64 FX-51 CPU @ 2.2GHz, 1GB registered DDR333 RAM, 256MB nVidia GeForce FX 5900 Ultra video card, two 36GB Western Digital Raptor drives, and more for $3650.


• PNY Verto GeForce FX 5950 Ultra video card - nVidia's new top of the line card gets a positive review here.


• Serial ATA Drives - Several Serial ATA hard drives are reviewed including the Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 250GB, Western Digital Caviar SE WD250JD, Hitachi Desktar 7K250 (the highest scoring in this review round-up), Seagate Barracuda 7200.7, and Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 16 300GB (the largest drive in this review round-up).

_{Table of Contents from the January 2004 issue of Maximum PC (continued)}

Features

• Hardcore Hardware - A look at hardware and technologies that will appear in PCs in 2004. These include Serial ATA 2.0, Intel's Prescott Pentium 4 CPU, AMD's Newcastle, DDR2 memory, BTX, dual layer DVD burners, 802.11n, nVidia NV40 based video cards, ATI R420 based video cards, and more.


• Meet the Mach L - An overdesigned PC featuring an 3.2 GHz Pentium 4, 2GB of PC4200 RAM, Raid 0 array of four 18GB 15,000rpm SCSHI drives, Radeon 9800 XT video card, Asetek's Vapochill Case, and more.


• The Softies - Maximum PC's 2nd annual software awards featuring the 10 best applications and utilities of 2003. These include Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP, DVD X Copy Platinum, Cakewalk Project 5 Soft Synth Workstation, JBuilder, Adobe InDesign 2.0, POPFile, Spybot Search and Destroy, iTunes, Trillian Pro 2.0, and Mozilla Firebird.

_{Back cover of the January 2004 issue of Maximum PC}

Read more: https://www.megalextoria.com/wordpress/index.php/2024/07/12/maximum-pc-january-2004/

Maximum PC (March 2004)

Maximum PC (March 2004)

Maximum PC, known as 'boot' in its early days, was my favorite computer magazine. It was published from the late 1990s until just recently. It made me a little sad when this one ceased publication but I can't really say it was a surprise. It was really the last significant computer print publication still being published in the U.S. as far as I am aware. The March 2004 issue includes:

Regulars

• In/Out - Letters from readers about buying MP3s from other countries, EULAs and kids, Dolby encoding, the Radeon 9600 XT, and more.


• Quick Start - An overview of the changes in Windows XP Service Pack 2, CPU naming schemes, why games don't ship on DVD, modding your iPod, the exponential growth of digital cameras, moral choices in games, Creative acquires Sensaura, the OQO uPC, a 4GB 0.85-inch hard drive, the Creative Portable Media Center, dual layer DVD recorders, the Phantom fanless power supply, and more.


• Head2Head - Yahoo vs. Hotmail! Yahoo was the winner here and it is still around. Hotmail sort of went away.


• WatchDog - Copyleft.net appears to go out of business, issues with counterfeit Xbox controller to PC adapters, hard drive sizes, and more.

_{Table of Contents from the March 2004 issue of Maximum PC}

Reviews

• Vicious PC Assassin desktop system - A PC in a clear case that features an AMD Athlon 64 3400+ CPU, MSI K86-Neo (Socket 754, VIA K8T800 chipset) motherboard, 1GB DDR400 RAM, an ATI Radeon 9800 XT video card, two 36GB Western Digital Raptor hard drives (10,000 RPM), and more for $3000.


• Belkin Bluetooth GPS Receiver - Sure, every phone has GPS today but in 2004 if you wanted to, for example, to have GPS capability on your Pocket PC then you would need an external receiver like this for an extra $300.


• Kyocera FineCam SL300R - A 3.2 megapixel digital camera with an interesting form factor for $400.


• AOpen AK86-L 64-bit mobo - This Socket 939 motherboard features VIA's Apollo K8T800 chipset and supports the new Athlon 64 3400+.


• Albatron K8X800 PROII 64-bit mobo - A similar motherboard to the one above. One of the small differences is that it features a whopping 6 PCI slots (vs. 5).
• MSI K856 Neo-FIS2R 64-bit mobo - One of the earliest motherboards to support the Athlon 64. It has three memory slots but will only support two and DDR-400 speeds.


• Toshiba e805 PDA - PDAs were what people used in addition to phones when phones were still dumb. This one features Intel's PXA263 processor running at 400MHz with 128MB SDRAM and is among the first to feature a VGA (640x480) resolution screen.
• Creative Labs Wireless Music MP3 streaming box - A device designed to stream your MP3 music collection wirelessly.


• Slim Devices Squeezebox MP3 streaming box - Similar to the above but this one gets a perfect 10 rating. The idea is that you install a piece of software on the PC hosting your MP3 collection then plug this device into your stereo system (or headphones or whatever) then use the provided remote to control playback.


• Addonics 18-in-1 Multi-Function Recorder - A portable USB 2.0 DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive that also provides slots for CompactFlash, Memory Stick, Sd cards, MMC cards, and more.


• Mad Dog Entertainer 7.1 DSP soundcard - A decent (but not perfect) sound card for a bargain price.

_{Table of Contents from the March 2004 issue of Maximum PC (continued)}

Features

• Join the Wireless Revolution! - A guide to adding wi-fi to your home. Includes tips on positioning your access point, making any printer a wireless network printer, protecting your wi-fi network (which meant enabling WEP in this case) and more.


• P4 Prescott - A look at the new Prescott version of the Pentium 4. Changes include a new SSE3 instruction set, redesigned pipeline (that would supposedly take the Prescott to speeds of up to 5 GHz), double the cache, and a die shrink. This article makes the point that it could have been called the Pentium 5. At the end of the day, it didn't end up being much faster and didn't scale to higher speeds nearly as well as expected.

_{Back cover of the March 2004 issue of Maximum PC}

Read more: https://www.megalextoria.com/wordpress/index.php/2024/04/25/maximum-pc-march-2004/

Maximum PC (February 2007)

Maximum PC (February 2007)

Maximum PC was by far my favorite PC magazine. Sadly, they recently ceased publication. I think it was the last monthly PC magazine being published in the U.S. The February 2007 issue includes:

Features

• Lean Machine - Maximum PC builds their version of the best budget PC possible for $1500. It features a BFG GeForce 8800 GTS video card, EVGA nForce 680i SLI motherboard, Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 CPU, 1GB Corsair TwinX DDR2/800 RAM, Antec Nine Hundred case, Antec TruePower Trio 650 power supply, Windows XP, 250GB Maxtor DiamondMax9 hard drive, and Lite-On SHM-165H6S optical drive.


• Vista - A look at Microsoft's latest OS and why you don't need it.


• Quad FX - A look at AMD's new enthusiast dual CPU Quad FX platform featuring two 3GHz AMD Athlon 64 FX-74 CPUs.

_{Table of Contents from the February 2007 issue of Maximum PC}

Departments

• Quick Start - The Justice Department investigates Nvidia and AMD for GPU price fixing; AMD announces its 65mm processors and sets timeline for 45mm processors; HDMI version 1.3; and more.


• Head2Head - A comparison of the latest consoles (PS3, Wii and Xbox 360) and a modern gaming PC featuring a GeForce 8800.


• WatchDog - Maximum PC's consumer advocate weighs in on AVG, HP's expiring ink, and Dell notebook drivers.


• How To - A guide to using Google Search, Google Books, and more Google tools.


• Ask the Doctor - Questions answered about a potential power supply problem with an Athlon XP 2600 based machine, safely removing USB devices, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro refresh problems, and more.

_{Table of Contents from the February 2007 issue of Maximum PC (continued)}

Reviews

• Gaming Rig: ABS Ultimate X8 III - Featuring an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 overclocked to 3.47GHz, EVGA Nvidia nForce 680i SLI motherboard, 2GB Corsair DR2/800, two 140GB Western Digital (10,000 RPM SATA) in a RAID-0 config, two GeForce 8800 GTXs, and more for a little over $4,600.


• Videocard: EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS - Nvidia's "cheaper" DirectX 10 card featuring 96 shaders and 640MB of GDDR3 for $440.


• MP3 Player: Samsung YP-K5 - An expensive MP3 player ($210) with only 2GB of memory.


• Media Player: Microsoft Zune - Zunes weren't cheap but I generally liked them better than iPods.


• Headphones: Ultrasone iCans - A decent pair of over the ear headphones for $129.


• Earbuds: Etymotic ety8 Bluetooth - Expensive, large and ugly but they get a good review here.


• HDTV Tuners - A look at two portable HDTV tuners including the Pinnacle PCV HD Pro Stick and Onair USB HDTV-GT.

Read more: https://www.megalextoria.com/wordpress/index.php/2023/09/23/maximum-pc-february-2007/