MAXIMUM PC

EDITORIAL Editor-in-Chief: Guy Cocker Contributing Writers: Reece Bithrey,

CALLING ALL CREATORS

Guy Cocker ONE OF THE MOST COMMON

Intel Launches Arc B Graphics Cards

Budget-friendly gaming GPUs challenge market rivals

MICROSOFT DOUBLES DOWN

AS WINDOWS 10 NEARS ITS END OF LIFE, MICROSOFT CONFIRMS TPM 2.0 IS REQUIRED

OPENAI REVEALS $200 MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION

Advanced models and full access offered

Tech Triumphs and Tragedies

A monthly snapshot of what’s good and bad in tech

MUSK TO LAUNCH GAME STUDIO

Tech billionaire wants to start developing games

JEFF BEZOS BACKS RISC-V

Tenstorrent is getting support from big names

MSI reveals new gaming handhelds

The latest Claw handhelds use Intel Xe 2

Geekom reveals new QS series mini-PCs

According to a post on Chinese social media

Gelsinger says goodbye, again

Jarred Walton Pat Gelsinger has retired as Intel

THE LIST

THE BEST OLED MONITORS

Intel’s new graphics card is what the market needs

Jeremy Laird © INTEL Intel’s new B580 isn’t

DOCTOR

THIS MONTH THE DOCTOR TACKLES...

LETTERS

WE TACKLE TOUGH READER QUESTIONS ON...

THE BUILDS

THIS MONTH’S STREET PRICES...

THE ULTIMATE CREATIVE GAMER

Taking the Ryzen 7 9800X3D from Photoshop to the streets

THE PC TECH GRAVEYARD

PC history has many dead ends, but buried in that graveyard is an enormous amount of innovation and potential. John Knight examines what we lost along the way, and see what lessons might be able to help predict the future. Let’s start with operating systems

THE ULTIMATE WINDOWS 11 INSTALL GUIDE

Maximum PC veteran Zak Storey on how to reinstall our favorite OS

THE PREPERATION STAGE

WHERE DO YOU EVEN START WITH A TASK LIKE THIS?

WHAT IS AN NPU?

New chips put AI in your hands. Darien Graham-Smith looks at the latest in neural processing

MSI Raider 18 HX

DID YOU look at the ridiculous $5,500 RTX

AI IN CYBERCRIME

AI-powered cybercrime is morphing rapidly, transforming both the attacks and how they’re defended against. We show you how to protect yourself from these evolving threats

HOW TO

STEP-BY-STEP GUIDES TO IMPROVING YOUR PC

AUTOPSY

THIS MONTH WE DISSECT...

Boost games with Lossless Scaling

YOU’LL NEED THIS LOSSLESS SCALING ($6.99 on Steam)

Build your own media streamer

YOU’LL NEED THIS

Implementing your air gap

YOU’LL NEED THIS

LAB NOTES

Tariffs and tech The TSMC problem A FLAT

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D

The best gaming CPU, but by how far?

MSI Titan 18 HX

High frame rates at a high price

Corsair MP700 Elite 2TB

Sort of good value, sort of not

LG Gram Pro 16

Super light and super slick

iBuyPower RDY Y40 Valorant VCTA R003

A ready-made machine with a lot to offer

Xiaomi Mini LED Gaming Monitor G Pro 27i

A mini-LED screen that surprises

WD Black SN850X 8TB

All of the terabytes all of the time

Lemokey L4

A premium keyboard experience from a budget brand at a weird price

Lemokey G1

Affordable, simple, and feature-rich

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl

Say it with me now: get out of here, stalker

Google Calendar vs Outlook Calendar

Keep to schedule with these timetable apps