Jeremy
Laird
THE EMPIRE
STRIKES BACK
Jeremy is acting editor-in-chief. He’s been
writing about PCs for 20 years and enjoys
nothing more than a serious dissertation on the
finer points of input lag or overclocking.↘ submit your questions to: [email protected]
WITH ANY NEW CPU architecture, our
first build is always a major landmark.
But Intel’s Alder Lake is still something
special. Not only is it a radical departure
from all previous CPUs, what with its
hybrid cores, but it also marks the
first step in what we hope is a multi-
generational return to form for Intel.
As I said in last issue’s Lab Notes,
I’m not convinced Alder Lake is the CPU
Intel originally planned. Problems with
Intel’s 10nm and 7nm nodes put paid to
that. But the benchmarks don’t lie and,
as our reviews from previous issues
and this month’s build prove, Alder
Lake puts out the numbers. It was great
to unleash Sam on our first Alder Lake
build, pairing it with some serious GPU
power and that hot new DDR5 memory.
There’s something about running the
latest technology that’s satisfying, even
beyond the raw numbers.
If you want to understand exactly
how Alder Lake does what it does, take
a look at Jarred’s forensic architectural
overview, which digs deep into the inner
workings of Alder Lake. It’s a surprising
and innovative architecture on several
levels. Did you know that the Gracemont
efficiency cores in Alder Lake each
have 17 execution ports, five more than
the Golden Cove performance cores?
Next up, Nick Peers reboots a
signature Maximum PC series with
his Save Our Systems feature—nine
pages of essential advice for fixing
Windows problems. Everything from
full installation recovery to problems
with system sleep and hubs and also
including some handy general advice
on how to research and solve issues
that aren’t common enough to pop up in
a simple online search.
Our final major feature in this issue
involves a retrospective of over 25 yearsof kicking ass. With a new full-time
editor of Maximum PC incoming (I’ll let
him introduce himself next issue) and
a new era beckoning, now feels like
a good time to look back on how it all
started both for the PC and the mag.
Looking back on past issues, it’s
interesting to see just how quickly
Maximum PC was honed into the
successful formula you see today.
It’s also pretty funny to peruse the
specifications of Dream Machines of
yore. We all love to complain about the
price of GPUs, and the current situation
is ridiculous. But those old builds are a
timely reminder of just how much tech
you get for your cash today. We all like a
little reminiscing, so I hope you enjoy a
dip into the archives.
Speaking of having a laugh, Nvidia’s
GeForce 3070 Ti chipset is a bit of a joke,
as Jarred found out. Elsewhere, Sam
has been up to his ears in both hardware
and software. Highlights include a
beginner’s guide to music production,
an ultra-fast MSI gaming laptop, some
slick-looking headphones, and, of
course, that Alder Lake build.
As for me, it’s been sweet to be back
at Maximum PC for a few issues getting
another fix of the platform I’ve loved
for many years. With any luck, I won’t
vanish from these pages. So, this is
goodbye, but not adieu. Laters.a thing or two about a thing or twoFEB 2022 MAXIMU MPC 7
editorial
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EDITORIAL
Editor: Jeremy Laird
Staff Writers: Christian Guyton, Sam Lewis
Contributing Writers: Alex Cox, Ian Evenden,
Chris Lloyd, Nick Peers, Jarred Walton
Production Editor: Jon Crampin
Editor Emeritus: Andrew Sanchez
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MD Tech Specialist: Keith Walker
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Next Issue On Sale March 1st, 2022