Maximum PC was by far my favorite PC magazine. Sadly, they recently ceased publication. I think it was the last monthly PC magazine being published in the U.S. The February 2007 issue includes:
Features
Lean Machine - Maximum PC builds their version of the best budget PC possible for $1500. It features a BFG GeForce 8800 GTS video card, EVGA nForce 680i SLI motherboard, Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 CPU, 1GB Corsair TwinX DDR2/800 RAM, Antec Nine Hundred case, Antec TruePower Trio 650 power supply, Windows XP, 250GB Maxtor DiamondMax9 hard drive, and Lite-On SHM-165H6S optical drive.
Vista - A look at Microsoft's latest OS and why you don't need it.
Quad FX - A look at AMD's new enthusiast dual CPU Quad FX platform featuring two 3GHz AMD Athlon 64 FX-74 CPUs.
Table of Contents from the February 2007 issue of Maximum PC
Departments
Quick Start - The Justice Department investigates Nvidia and AMD for GPU price fixing; AMD announces its 65mm processors and sets timeline for 45mm processors; HDMI version 1.3; and more.
Head2Head - A comparison of the latest consoles (PS3, Wii and Xbox 360) and a modern gaming PC featuring a GeForce 8800.
WatchDog - Maximum PC's consumer advocate weighs in on AVG, HP's expiring ink, and Dell notebook drivers.
How To - A guide to using Google Search, Google Books, and more Google tools.
Ask the Doctor - Questions answered about a potential power supply problem with an Athlon XP 2600 based machine, safely removing USB devices, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro refresh problems, and more.
Table of Contents from the February 2007 issue of Maximum PC (continued)
Reviews
Gaming Rig: ABS Ultimate X8 III - Featuring an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 overclocked to 3.47GHz, EVGA Nvidia nForce 680i SLI motherboard, 2GB Corsair DR2/800, two 140GB Western Digital (10,000 RPM SATA) in a RAID-0 config, two GeForce 8800 GTXs, and more for a little over $4,600.
Videocard: EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS - Nvidia's "cheaper" DirectX 10 card featuring 96 shaders and 640MB of GDDR3 for $440.
MP3 Player: Samsung YP-K5 - An expensive MP3 player ($210) with only 2GB of memory.
Media Player: Microsoft Zune - Zunes weren't cheap but I generally liked them better than iPods.
Headphones: Ultrasone iCans - A decent pair of over the ear headphones for $129.
Earbuds: Etymotic ety8 Bluetooth - Expensive, large and ugly but they get a good review here.
HDTV Tuners - A look at two portable HDTV tuners including the Pinnacle PCV HD Pro Stick and Onair USB HDTV-GT.
