Maximum PC August 2021

IT’S DIFFICULT FOR US to really talk about building PCs right now, because there’s very little hardware out there available for your average build. Nonetheless, it’s important to stay on top of things, particularly in the world of custom rigs, and it’s something we’ve adamantly supported since the very conception of Maximum PC, and its predecessor, boot magazine. Like a hobbyist mechanic and a classic car, a woodworker with their workbench, and an amateur astronomer and their telescope, building, maintaining, and tinkering with your own machine is a time-honored rite of passage for anyone and everyone interested in the computing world. This issue, we’re revisiting an old favorite, with an updated look at the ultimate builder’s guide, with tips, tweaks, and tricks to help take your next build, or even your current…

WHEN AMD attends an event to show off its new gear, you won’t come away disappointed. At this year’s Computex trade show in Taiwan, AMD’s CEO, Lisa Su, showed us what she called “the next big step forward” in advanced chip packaging. AMD has been working with TSMC and its 3DFabric technology to combine chiplet packaging with die stacking to create a 3D chiplet architecture. The first application of this will be a 3D vertical cache, stacking memory chips directly over the processing units. We were then treated to a glimpse of a prototype chip, a Ryzen 9 5900X with 64MB 7nm SRAM chips stacked on to each core complex, tripling the amount of L3 cache to 192MB. There is over 2TB/s of bandwidth connecting this new cache, faster than the…

BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS, Microsoft will have made a major announcement on the next version of Windows; however, we’ve already seen a leaked beta version. There’s an updated UI, complete with the expected updates from the canceled Win 10X. There are centered app icons, like a Mac, although you can change it back. There’s a simplified Start menu, and a lot more rounded corners. Intriguingly, an icon labeled “Widget” appears (it’s back, hurrah). There’s a smart new Snap feature, to quickly resize windows to a set of predefined arrangements. The Xbox app is also now integrated into the OS. Excited? Probably not; from what we’ve seen, it appears to be a visual refresh, with some tweaking around the edges. It’s due to launch later this year. Meanwhile, Windows…

APPLE, keen to be seen as a protector of privacy, has introduced new security features. We have App Privacy Report, a new section in Settings on iOS that shows what each app has requested access to and where your data has been shared. Also, Siri will no longer send your voice off to a server for processing, but do it locally (minus web searches). Safari will block your IP address, as will Apple Mail, so marketers can’t track where emails go. Apple’s iCloud Plus subscribers also get Private Relay, an encrypted VPN of sorts, as well as Hide My Email, which enables you to create random email addresses when subscribing to online services, so you don’t reveal your direct address. Neat. Cynicism aside, this is a solid set of features…

IT’S DIFFICULT FOR US to really talk about building PCs right now, because there’s very little hardware out there available for your average build. Nonetheless, it’s important to stay on top of things, particularly in the world of custom rigs, and it’s something we’ve adamantly supported since the very conception of Maximum PC, and its predecessor, boot magazine. Like a hobbyist mechanic and a classic car, a woodworker with their workbench, and an amateur astronomer and their telescope, building, maintaining, and tinkering with your own machine is a time-honored rite of passage for anyone and everyone interested in the computing world. This issue, we’re revisiting an old favorite, with an updated look at the ultimate builder’s guide, with tips, tweaks, and tricks to help take your next build, or even…

WHEN AMD attends an event to show off its new gear, you won’t come away disappointed. At this year’s Computex trade show in Taiwan, AMD’s CEO, Lisa Su, showed us what she called “the next big step forward” in advanced chip packaging. AMD has been working with TSMC and its 3DFabric technology to combine chiplet packaging with die stacking to create a 3D chiplet architecture. The first application of this will be a 3D vertical cache, stacking memory chips directly over the processing units. We were then treated to a glimpse of a prototype chip, a Ryzen 9 5900X with 64MB 7nm SRAM chips stacked on to each core complex, tripling the amount of L3 cache to 192MB. There is over 2TB/s of bandwidth connecting this new cache, faster than…