maximumpc.com aug 2019 MAXIMUMPC 53
R&D
examining technology and putting it to use
tIP OF tHe MONtH
MaKe use CReate
stePBYsteP guIdes tO IMPROVINg Y OuR PC
christian guyton
staff writer
Budget
Battles
This month, we’ve been squeezing
our wallets to make every cent
count. I was responsible for
our cover feature, where we
endeavored to build a reasonably
nippy work computer within a
tight budget. Elsewhere, we’ve
got a guide to budget VR on your
smartphone, and a comparison of
affordable GPUs in our “Head to
Head.” It feels a bit like this is the
“let’s spend less money” issue,
which is a mindset I’m sure our
bosses could happily get behind.
With prices in constant flux, it’s
good to see that PC building isn’t
overly expensive. There’s plenty of
cool stuff soon to come, too: AMD
is bursting out with the Ryzen
3000 series and Navi coming
soon, while Nvidia is teasing its
new “Super” project. There’s lots
to be excited about, and not just
for high-end hardware. There’s
never been a better time to work
on a 1080p or 1440p gaming rig.
If—like me—you’re rocking an
older rig (my home PC has an i5-
7400 and a GeForce GTX 1060), it’s
worth getting ready to upgrade. I
was hoping for a sensibly priced
GTX 1670 from Nvidia, but it looks
like the green team is moving on
to bigger and better things. We’ve
recently enjoyed a variety of game
bundles with GPUs and CPUs, too,
so hopefully that will hold true of
any new products.
GooGle Tune exTension
Internet got you down? Sick of the relentless stream of
vitriol that social media commenters spew out day after day?
Good news, Chrome users: An experimental new extension,
Tune, uses machine learning to filter out profanity and toxic
comments on websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit.
You can manually set the level you want to see, from full
exposure to a peaceful “Zen” mode.
↘ submit your How To project idea to: [email protected]
60
Turn an old
smartphone into
a VR headset
56
Beautify your
games with
ReShade
72
Build a gamer’s
delight with lots of
high-end hardware