Maximum PC - USA (2019-06)

(Antfer) #1
editorial
a thing or two about a thing or two

maximumpc.com JUN 2019 MAXIMUMPC 9


EDITORIAL
Executive Editor: Alan Dexter
Senior Editor: Jarred Walton
Hardware Lead: Bo Moore
Hardware Staff Writer: Joanna Nelius
Staff Writer: Christian Guyton
Contributing Editor: Chris Angelini
Contributing Writers: Alex Campbell, Christian Cawley,
Alex Cox, Nate Drake, Ian Evenden, Matt Hanson, Phil Iwaniuk,
John Knight, Jeremy Laird, Chris Lloyd, Zak Storey
Copy Editor: Katharine Davies
Editor Emeritus: Andrew Sanchez


ART
Art Editor: Fraser McDermott
Image Manipulation: Gary Stuckey
Photography: Neil Godwin, Olly Curtis, Phil Barker
Cover photo credits: Windows Logo © Microsoft


BUSINESS
US Marketing & Strategic Partnerships: Stacy Gaines,
[email protected]
US Chief Revenue Officer: Luke Edson, [email protected]
East Coast Account Director: Brandie Rushing,
[email protected]
East Coast Account Director: Michael Plump,
[email protected]
East Coast Account Director: Victoria Sanders,
[email protected]
East Coast Account Director: Melissa Planty,
[email protected]
East Coast Account Director: Elizabeth Fleischman,
[email protected]
West Coast Account Director: Austin Park,
[email protected]
West Coast Account Director: Jack McAuliffe,
[email protected]
Director, Client Services: Tracy Lam, [email protected]


PRODUCTION
Head of Production: Mark Constance
Production Manager: Vivienne Calvert
Project Manager: Clare Scott
Production Assistant: Emily Wood


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Alan


Dexter


THE GRAPHICS CARD MARKET continues
to be an odd beast: In the last few
months, we’ve gone from having no
affordable new cards to play with, to
having almost too many options. And
there are more on the way, meaning
that the crowded landscape is going to
get even more confusing.
Knowing what hardware to focus
on is where we come in, and whether
you’re upgrading an existing machine
or building one from scratch, you
can rely on us to tell you what really
matters. When it comes to affordable
graphics cards, there are a few options
for anyone not interested in the first
generation of RTX cards: from last-gen
AMD and Nvidia cards, to the new
GeForce GTX 1660 and 1660 Ti. You’ll
find a review of the 1660 on page 76,
while we show you how to build a whole
system around the 1660 Ti on page 70.
The beauty of any build is that you can
tweak it to suit you. For instance, you
could use the cheaper non-Ti card in
this month’s cover build if you’re trying
to save cash, but you’ll probably have to
dial back from the highest settings
to hit smooth frame rates—something
you shouldn’t have to do with the factory
overclocked 1660 Ti we’ve used.
The rest of the build is simple
enough, and a good guide for anyone
looking to build a machine for the first
time. You’ll end up with a system that
can game brilliantly, but also turn
its hand to more serious endeavors
without breaking into a sweat. It’s a
powerful machine that puts in a good
turn in the value-for-money stakes.
If you’re a fan of older hardware,
you should find the feature starting on

page 24 interesting, as it shows you
how to recreate some of the machines
of your youth using emulation. The
likes of the Commodore 64, Atari ST,
and consoles from the ’90s can now
strut their stuff for your entertainment,
and it’s far easier to do now than it was.
One thing that older systems did
very well was making the most of the
storage they had available, and when
you look at the size of Windows 10 with
this in mind, Microsoft’s latest OS can
appear bloated. The good news is that
there are tools that can help you cut a
lot of this bloat, and focus on the core
functionality of Windows without a lot of
the extras that you never use. On page
44, we show you how to use these tools
to strip out apps you don’t need to create
a trimmed, stripped-down install.
Our other big feature this issue
looks at the viability of Google’s game
streaming service, Stadia. It isn’t the
first such service, and it probably won’t
be the last, but what hurdles will it
have to overcome to stand a chance, is
it something that people actually want,
and will having Google’s sizable funds
behind it mean that it can succeed
where so many others have failed? Turn
to page 34 to find out.
Enjoy the issue!

NEW GEAR IS COMING


THICK AND FAST; PICK


YOUR PARTS CAREFULLY


Alan Dexter is Maximum PC’s executive
editor and a punisher of hardware. He’s been
a tech journalist for over 20 years, and has no
problem upsetting the PC industry as a whole.
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