a thing or two about a thing or twoHOL 2021 MAXIMUMPC 7
editorialEDITORIAL
Editor-in-Chief: Zak Storey,
Staff Writers: Christian Guyton, Sam Lewis
Contributing Writers: Alex Cox, Ian Evenden, Jeremy Laird,
Chris Lloyd, Nick Peers, Jarred Walton
Production Editor: Jon Crampin
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ART
Art Editor: Fraser McDermott
Photography: Phil Barker, Olly Curtis, Neil Godwin
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↘ submit your questions to: [email protected]ZakStoreyWELCOME to our final issue of 2021. What
a year it’s been, filled with crazy ups-
and-downs, and still stuck in the middle
of a pandemic that refuses to budge. But
before we get on to next year, next issue,
and our predictions for what’s going to
happen in the world of tech in 2 022, we
need to wrap up these last 12 months in
style. To that end, this edition of the mag
is jam-packed with a ton of epic content
to really celebrate this orbit around the
sun. We have the annual Maximum PC
Gear of the Year awards, a guide on how
to get into PC modding from our own
resident system-building guru Kris, a
full explainer on how supercomputers
predict the weather and earthquakes
from Ian, and a fantastic history of
image editing and graphic design as
well from Sam.
If that doesn’t take your fancy, there’s
also a kick-ass $5,000 transplant build
inside of the NZXT H 510 Flow chassis
(admittedly half of that cost is the GPU),
a ton of tutorials, including setting up a
guest network to manage your Smart
Home devices, and enough reviews to
keep even the most eager of hardware
enthusiast happy. Including a first look
at Intel’s latest and greatest Core i9-
129 00K Alder Lake processor. Plus,
there’s even more goodness from the
likes of our regular columnists, news-
writers, and team members too.
Sadly, however, this is also going
to be my final issue as Editor-in-
Chief of Maximum PC. By the time you
read this, I will have left the team for
pastures new. Working here has been
an incredible journey. I remember the
first day I started, sitting down next to
Alan, grinning like an idiot, surrounded
by crazy amounts of hardware, meeting
our Art Editor, Fraser, for the first time
and being introduced to his ridiculously
eclectic music taste (seriously, it’s
something else), and of course beingthrown in at the deep-end a day later,
on my own, at the launch event for the
GTX 980 Ti, where I had absolutely no
idea how graphics cards worked as they
proceeded to do a two-hour deep dive
on the Maxwell GPU architecture.
Since then, time has flown by.
Reviews ed, Deputy ed, a move to
Tom’s Hardware, then coming back
as Editor. Working with Tuan, Jarred,
Jimmy, Jeremy, the two Alexs, Joanna,
Katharine, Christian, Ian, Nick, Chris,
James, Sam, and Jon has just been
awesome. They’re some exceptionally
talented people, and I can’t praise them
all enough. Of course, I’d also like to
thank the guys in the photography team,
without whom we couldn’t do what we
do, particularly Olly, who’s put up with
me over the years, dealing admirably
during the insanity-inducing week-long
Dream Machine shoots.
I’m sure there are more people I
should mention, but word counts have
always been the bane of my existence!
What I’m getting at, though, is that a lot
of people have put their heart and soul
into this mag, and being around such
impassioned folk, piecing this together
each month, has been an honor.
I hope you enjoy the latest issue, it’s
been a blast to produce, and I’m looking
forward to reading the next one too, as I
am positive the new editor is going to do
a standout job. Until then!
All the best,ALL GOOD THINGS
Zak is Maximum PC’s editor-in-chief and long-
time staff member. He’s been building PCs
since he was 10, and is more than capable of
butting heads with the biggest names in tech.