SO, THIS WAS CERTAINLY a tough one. We have
built countless machines and rigs here at
Maximum PC throughout the years and despite
some spectacular end results, it’s not all as
glamorous as it may seem. There have been
plenty of head-bashing moments, close calls,
and blank screens on boot up. Fitting issues
have occurred and last-minute parts swapping
has happened more than once. However, that’s
all part of the passion and love we have for
these builds. Every single one of them has been
a journey of its own and that’s what we love
about working here at Maximum PC.
Building PCs is part of our DNA. Every single
build has been so special to us and each one
has a specific motive behind it. Whether that is
for a standout showcase part or an interesting
case. It could be sticking to a specific budget
or comparing two similar machines together
in a head-to-head. Many of these builds
have impressive benchmarking and high-
performance results—and who doesn’t love a
speedy beast? But sometimes it’s not all about
performance, a beautiful machine with equally
impressive cable management also makes for
a nice PC build. We treat these computers like
artwork. It’s all subjective, but we appreciate
every single one and we hope you do too.
There are plenty of reasons why we piece
together the machines we
do and we know you share
the same passion we do
when it comes to building.
Looking at our builds down
the years and picking our top
six was difficult, but these
ones will always have a special
place in our mag. They all have
different characteristics but
each is a standout machine that
deserves a spot on this list.THE PINK PARIAH
GREAT CASE + LIQUID
COOLING = WIN-WIN!Let’s just sit back and take a
minute to admire this beautiful
PC. We ’ve said that it’s not
always about performance
and sometimes about looks,
but what about the best of
both worlds? This thing
was designed initially as a
console killer and it does that.
Powered by a Ryzen 5 2600X
CPU and a GeForce 2080 GPU
inside, it’s a nippy little thing.
That’s one box ticked, no more
nagging from the console
world. Sure, it’s not the most
powerful machine, but that’s
not th is rig’s party piece.
You probably noticed the
brilliantly shaped Phanteks
case. This literal tower
named the Evolve Shift X is
a great ‘shift’ away from the
traditional cases we see day in
day out. More impressive than
its chassis though is of course
the glowing pink veins that
cool this beast down.DREAM MACHINE ‘04
FRONT -MOUNTED TOUCH
SCREEN LCD? WHY NOT?We’ve turned back the clocks
back to 2004 and, oh boy , do we
have a cool machine for you.
Total overkill would undermine
this PC , but that’s the whole
point of building a dream
machine , isn’t it?
It would also burn a hole
in your wallet, cost ing around
$18,000 in today’s money. But ,
this was a special build and
you can’t put a price on the
passion that went into this one.
With a custom paint job, next-
generation parts (at the time),
and future-proofing in mind,
this was ahead of its time.
It came fully equipped
with an Intel Pentium 4 560
processor, 1GB of DDR2
from Crucial Technology, ATI
Radeon X800 XT Platinum
Edition graphics card, and a
total of three displays. The
main CTR display was from
NEC with a resolution of
1920x1440. As a secondary
display, we used Sharp’s 37-THE TOP 6
BUILD PICKS
Come with us
as we take a
deeper dive into
some of our
most interesting
builds at
Maximum PC Yes, that’s right, pink liquid
cooling! Not only does this look
awesome, but it also needed to
work as , sure enough, this PC
could crank up the heat. The
only downside was that it was
a nightmare to fill. While it’s
not exactly the most practical
machine , just look at it!inch TFT Active Matrix LCD.
It may be a small screen by
today’s standards, but it was
an impressive beast in its day.
Last but not least, we have
the Earth LCD XLK-5002T
touchscreen panel that sits
in the front of the PC. Fast
forward to the present and
unfortunately, this hasn’t
become the norm, but it was
a cool touch, if somewhat
unnecessary. This rig was
more than impressive in 20 04
and i t’s still capable of turning
a few heads in 2021.MAY 2020SEPTEMBER 2004the best of Maximum PC
54 MAXIMU MPC FEB 2022