_{Cover of the December 2001 issue of Maximum PC}

Maximum PC was by far my favorite computer magazine. It also survived longer than most with publication only ceasing a couple of years ago. When it was first introduced (in 1998 I believe) it was called boot. It was a magazine for enthusiasts and it reminded me a bit of MacAddict which was a similar sort of thing for Mac users. The December 2001 issue includes:

Regulars

• In/Out - Letters from readers about Hot Tamales (the candy), teen stereotypes, overclocking videocards, the G550, Windows XP, online privacy, gaming as a driver of the PC industry, and more.


• Quick Start - How September 11th changed PC gaming; IBM's CPU of the Future, the dual core POWER4; Windows XP optimization tips; Intel's plans for a 20 GHz chip; new Treo phones; wireless print server device that turns HP printers into wireless printers; mobile Pentium 4 to be introduced at 1.5 GHz and use DDR RAM; and more.


• Head2Head - A detailed comparison of the Pentium 4 2GHz and Athlon XP 1800+.


• Watchdog - IBM 75GXP hard drives seem to experience a high rate of failure; MaxGate stops responding to customers; some vendors refuse to support existing hardware with Windows XP drivers; Compaq recalls notebook power adapters; and more.


• Ask the Doctor - Troubleshooting a supposed Thunderbird Athlon identified as a Palomino; compatibility questions with the Asus A7V motherboard, Elsa Gladian 920 and Sound Blaster Live 5.1; troubleshooting vertical green lines on the screen; intermittent DSL disconnections; overclocking a Pentium III; and more.


• How To... - A guide to hosting a LAN party. Includes steps for insuring you have enough power, preparing ethernet cables and other networking gear, setting up a server, and more.


• Rig of the Month - A custom built machine featuring a Chinese "air" theme built around an ASUS CUV4X motherboard, Pentium III 733 (overclocked to 854 MHz), and AOpen GTS Pro PA256 Deluxe II 32MB video card (also overclocked).

_{Table of Contents from of the December 2001 issue of Maximum PC}

Reviews

• Dell Dimension 8200 desktop system - A highly rated $3000 system from Dell that includes a 2GHz Pentium 4, 256 MB RDRAM, nVidia GeForce3 Ti 500, and more.


• Falcon Northwest Mach V system - A nearly $4000 gaming machine featuring an Athlon XP 1800+, 512 MB DDR RAM, nVidia GeForce3 Ti 500 64MB DDR, and more.


• TDK veloCD 16/10/40 external CD-RW drive - If you needed an external CD writer then this one was a good one to have.


• VisionTek Xtacy 6964 videocard - A highly rated video card using the GeForce3 Ti 500 chipset.


• OCZ Titan 3 videocard - Also highly rated but using the original GeForce 3 chipset.


• ATI Radeon 7500 videocard - A great card if you were looking for something on a budget.


• Sony DSC-S85 4.1 megapixel digi-cam - Digital snapshot cameras aren't as popular as they once were but at the time they were far superior to phone cameras which barely existed.


• Olympus C-4040 4.1 megapixel digi-cam - Both this camera and the Sony model above were pretty average examples of what was available.


• Cambridge Soundworks Megaworks 210D 2.1 speakers - A decent set of 2.1 PC speakers.


• Philips MMS305 4.1 speakers - Another decent set of speakers but this one has a rear channel too.


• 3Com Bluetooth Wireless PC Card - A way to add bluetooth capability to your laptop which was not yet a common built-in feature.


• APC Back-UPS CS 500VA UPS - A highly rated UPS battery backup. APC is probably still the biggest name in UPSes today.


• Allen KEYKatcher device - A PS/2 passthrough device that captures keystrokes.


• Pocket Pyro PyroPro MP3 player - An MP3 expansion device for Palm devices that apparently was not well implemented.


• Red Faction - A pretty average first person shooter.

_{Table of Contents from the December 2001 issue of Maximum PC (continued)}

Features

• Gear of the Year - Some winners include the AMD Athlon XP 1800+ (CPU), Cooler Master ATC-101 (case), nVidia GeForce 3 (3D accelerator), Tyan Tiger MP S2460 (motherboard), Plextor PlexWriter 24/10/40 (CD-RW Drive), Pioneer DVR-A03 Recordable DVD/CD Combo (DVD Recorder), Creative Labs Nomad II MG (MP3 Player), Sony Clie PEG-N760C (PDA), Falcon Northwest Mach V (desktop system), Dell Inspiron i8000 (desktop replacement notebook), Sony F520 (monitor), May Payne (game of the year), and lots more.


• Rigs of the Year - A look at 15 machines custom built by readers with case mods.


• PC Gadget Guide - A look at some of the latest gadgets including the Microsoft Sidewinder Strategic Commander, DM2 Digital Music Mixer, Homer Simpson Dot-Pal Desktop Sidekick, Pentax Optio 430 Digital Camera, AfterBurner CD Labeling System, and more.

_{Back cover of the December 2001 issue of Maximum PC}

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