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For the last year and a half, we’ve been giving you the lowdown on what’s worth your money, how to build potent gaming systems, and pro-tips on getting the most out of your current rig. As the thirst for more hardware coverage on PC Gamer increased, we decided there was no better way to meet that demand than by bringing on the experts that have been been covering gaming hardware for over 20 years: Maximum PC.
From the days of BeOS, to 3dfx graphics, to ISA sound cards, we’ve been cutting through the BS to bring you the straight scoop about hardware. And now we’re going to bring the same expertise to PC Gamer. For a taste of what’s to come, check out some of our recent work:
How we’re testing over 56 headsets and headphones
We test 15 graphics cards to find the best one for VR
Build an Oculus Rift ready PC on the cheap
The best mini-ITX cases
Going forward, PC Gamer’s hardware channel will be powered by the Maximum PC team. In fact, you’ve already begun seeing content by our editors in the last several weeks. Our intention is to bring deeper coverage of gaming hardware and surrounding technologies, more technical analysis, and a wider variety of guides to help you get the most out of your system. Most of all, we’re here to tell you what’s good and what’s not. Our motto has always been “Maximum PC, minimum BS” and we intend to keep delivering on that promise.
Meet the team
Tuan
Tuan Nguyen
Tuan is Maximum PC’s editor-in-chief, and has been in the IT industry for about as long as Maximum PC has been around, just over 20 years. He picked up his first computer magazine, Byte, at the age of 8 and fell in love with CPU architectures. He’s worked at a variety of tech companies ranging from manufacturers, distributors, VARs, and design firms, but always manages to stay in publishing. When he’s not writing, he tries to find new ways of tweaking, tuning, and squeezing the most out of his personal rigs, all six of them. Outside of tech, he loves snowboarding, reading, and considers himself a serious automobile enthusiast.
Tuan loves all aspects of technology, but has a special place in his heart for audio, displays, and keyboards. He still has a Voodoo and Voodoo 2 SLI setup laying around.
Follow Tuan on Twitter: @blankspace or Facebook: https://www.fb.com/tuanwrites
Alan
Alan Dexter
Alan Dexter is Maximum PC’s Executive Editor and has been writing about motherboards, processors, overclocking, hard drives, graphics cards, and PCs in general since before the Matrox Millennium and Voodoo2 were gaming’s dream combo. He remembers the first Tomb Raider running on Videologic’s PowerVR; the rise of the Riva TNT 2 from a small company you may have heard of called Nvidia; AMD at its height; Intel catching up; and an industry going from strength to strength. In hard terms, since 1997.
Prior to being a tech journalist, he’s had stints in various fields, including chipping away at the IT coalface as a tech support engineer and as a programmer for a data conversion company. He has a degree in engineering and has played way too much World of Warcraft for anyone’s good. He also has an ongoing addiction to Magic the Gathering, but he’s in therapy for that.
Jarred
Jarred Walton
A veteran of the computer industry, Jarred is Maximum PC’s Senior Editor, and has been writing about technology for a long time. He previously held an 11-year role at AnandTech as its Senior Editor, and brings a wealth of knowledge to the team. A family man with the soul of a gamer, Jarred spends time with his PC as if it were his fourth child.
Jarred got started playing games on a Magnavox Odyssey2, but these days he’s all about PCs. He also studied computer science and dreamed about one day becoming a game developer, but playing games is a lot more fun. He enjoys good RPGs, mostly of the single player variety now. In his youth he was able to recover the Amulet of Yendor, slay the evil wizard Mangar and rescued the town of Skara Brae, and defeat Werdna.
Follow Jarred on Twitter: @JarredWalton
Alex
Alex Campbell
Alex is our resident Linux geek and Maximum PC’s Technology Editor. If there’s a PC sitting around, chances are he’s just itching to install Ubuntu or Arch on it. Alex came to Maximum PC after graduating with a degree in journalism from Cal State Long Beach and working for PCWorld. Before that, Alex served in the U.S. Marines for five years. And before that, he was studying computer science in community college.
Alex has some weird hobbies. He likes the usual hiking, mountain biking, photography, and snowboarding, but he also plays with fire. No joke. He’s got two contact staffs that he spins around like a lunatic from time to time, which is an odd pastime for someone who self-identifies as clumsy.
When he goes home, Alex also helps edit a business-to-business sustainability website for the good karma it supposedly brings. That is, when he’s done playing ArmA or testing out the latest open-source software.
Zak
Zak Storey
Zak joined the Maximum PC and PC Gamer team as a Staff Writer early in 2015. Brought into the fold for his innate ability to generate static electricity at will, he has an unhealthy obsession with motherboards and overclocking frequencies. Known for his acceptance of, and, poor taste in films, his favorite movies of all time are in fact, Pacific Rim, and 300: Rise of an Empire.
Zak’s love for all things hardware knows no bounds. He covers everything from headphones, to GPUs, to the innards of Windows. He also loves videos and has been hounding the team to do more videos to show off his good looks.
paul
Paul Lilly
A Boston native who now resides in Michigan, Paul is Maximum PC’s Hardware News Editor and is the epitome of a modern-day geek. You won’t find him pimping a pocket protector with a mechanical pencil shoved inside, but you might catch him donned in a leather vest as he navigates winding curves on a motorcycle. Except when he’s sitting behind a PC writing about all facets of technology, or surrounded by a pile of computer parts putting together a home-brewed gaming system.
Paul’s technical education began with the Commodore 64 and Atari 2600. When he wasn’t at the local park honing his basketball skills or at the local market adding to his Garbage Pail Kids collection, Paul could be found typing Load”*”,8,1 on his C64 so that he could help Dave and his friends save Sandy in Maniac Mansion.
These days, Paul spends less time on the basketball court (those ACLs aren’t what they used to be) and more time helping shape the court of public opinion as a freelance technology writer. His work can be found all over the web and in print in a number of prominent publications, including Maximum PC, where he’s found a home as a frequent contributor and longstanding News Editor.
