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Maximum PC
Maximum PC, formerly known as boot, was an American magazine and website published by Future US. It focuses on cutting-edge PC hardware, with an emphasis on product reviews, step-by-step tutorials, and in-depth technical briefs. Component coverage areas include CPUs, motherboards, core-logic chipsets, memory, videocards, mechanical hard drives, solid-state drives, optical drives, cases, component cooling, and anything else to do with recent tech news. Additional hardware coverage is directed at smartphones, tablet computers, cameras and other consumer electronic devices that interface with consumer PCs. Software coverage focuses on games, anti-virus suites, content-editing programs, and other consumer-level applications.
Prior to September 1998, the magazine was called boot. boot and sister magazine MacAddict (now Mac|Life) launched in September 1996, when Future US shut down CD-ROM Today.
In March 2016, Future US announced that the Maximum PC website would be merged with PCGamer.com, appearing as the hardware section of the website from that point forward. The magazine was not affected by this change. Browsing to the http://MaximumPC.com/forum site no longer forwards to the forums and instead forwards to the Hardware section of PCGamer.com.
The final shipped print issue of Maximum PC was the April 2023 edition. New issues would continue being distributed through digital magazine formats.
In April 2025 it was announced that all publication of Maximum PC was ceasing and the April 2025 edition would be the final issue.
Product ratings are rendered by editors on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best. The only product to receive an "11" rating was Half-Life 2 in January 2005, raising some objections from readers.
Outstanding products are also given a "Kick Ass" award. Exceptional products with a "9" rating and all products with a "10" rating receive this award.
Each review also includes a "Pros and Cons" section, providing a quick summary of the product. Shortly after the "Pros and Cons" first appeared, the editors began attaching humorous notations to their entries, many being puns or word play on the product itself or its function. For example, in a review of two monitors, one section is captioned LCD (pros) vs. LSD (cons). In another it is liquid crystal (pros) vs. crystal meth (cons). Other "Pros and Cons" comparisons have used B-58 vs. XB-70, Miley Cyrus vs. Billy Ray Cyrus, Delicious vs. Malicious, 3dfx Voodoo2 vs. 3dfx Voodoo3, Nvidia RIVA 128 vs. Nvidia RIVA TNT, AA Batteries vs. D Batteries, Fast Times at Ridgemont High vs. The Fast and the Furious, PCB vs. QVC, Counter-Strike vs. Hexen II, Matrix vs. Matrix Reloaded, 10012 vs. 90210, Mars vs. SARS, Super Troopers vs Starship Troopers, Comedy Central vs. Lifetime, QWERTY vs. DVDRAM, Jimi Hendrix vs. Jimmy Fallon, Sly and the Family Stone vs. Sly Stalone, Liberty Bell vs. Taco Bell, KVM, vs. Kia, Form Factor vs. Fear Factor, Nvidia vs. Chlamydia, RAID 1 vs. Police raid, Fat Tire Ale vs. Budweiser, College vs. The Real World, and Powered Sub vs. Togo's Sub.
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Maximum PC AI simulator
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Maximum PC
Maximum PC, formerly known as boot, was an American magazine and website published by Future US. It focuses on cutting-edge PC hardware, with an emphasis on product reviews, step-by-step tutorials, and in-depth technical briefs. Component coverage areas include CPUs, motherboards, core-logic chipsets, memory, videocards, mechanical hard drives, solid-state drives, optical drives, cases, component cooling, and anything else to do with recent tech news. Additional hardware coverage is directed at smartphones, tablet computers, cameras and other consumer electronic devices that interface with consumer PCs. Software coverage focuses on games, anti-virus suites, content-editing programs, and other consumer-level applications.
Prior to September 1998, the magazine was called boot. boot and sister magazine MacAddict (now Mac|Life) launched in September 1996, when Future US shut down CD-ROM Today.
In March 2016, Future US announced that the Maximum PC website would be merged with PCGamer.com, appearing as the hardware section of the website from that point forward. The magazine was not affected by this change. Browsing to the http://MaximumPC.com/forum site no longer forwards to the forums and instead forwards to the Hardware section of PCGamer.com.
The final shipped print issue of Maximum PC was the April 2023 edition. New issues would continue being distributed through digital magazine formats.
In April 2025 it was announced that all publication of Maximum PC was ceasing and the April 2025 edition would be the final issue.
Product ratings are rendered by editors on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best. The only product to receive an "11" rating was Half-Life 2 in January 2005, raising some objections from readers.
Outstanding products are also given a "Kick Ass" award. Exceptional products with a "9" rating and all products with a "10" rating receive this award.
Each review also includes a "Pros and Cons" section, providing a quick summary of the product. Shortly after the "Pros and Cons" first appeared, the editors began attaching humorous notations to their entries, many being puns or word play on the product itself or its function. For example, in a review of two monitors, one section is captioned LCD (pros) vs. LSD (cons). In another it is liquid crystal (pros) vs. crystal meth (cons). Other "Pros and Cons" comparisons have used B-58 vs. XB-70, Miley Cyrus vs. Billy Ray Cyrus, Delicious vs. Malicious, 3dfx Voodoo2 vs. 3dfx Voodoo3, Nvidia RIVA 128 vs. Nvidia RIVA TNT, AA Batteries vs. D Batteries, Fast Times at Ridgemont High vs. The Fast and the Furious, PCB vs. QVC, Counter-Strike vs. Hexen II, Matrix vs. Matrix Reloaded, 10012 vs. 90210, Mars vs. SARS, Super Troopers vs Starship Troopers, Comedy Central vs. Lifetime, QWERTY vs. DVDRAM, Jimi Hendrix vs. Jimmy Fallon, Sly and the Family Stone vs. Sly Stalone, Liberty Bell vs. Taco Bell, KVM, vs. Kia, Form Factor vs. Fear Factor, Nvidia vs. Chlamydia, RAID 1 vs. Police raid, Fat Tire Ale vs. Budweiser, College vs. The Real World, and Powered Sub vs. Togo's Sub.