PC Gamer's hardware channel, now powered by Maximum PC

For the last year and a half, we've been giving you the lowdown on what's worth your money, how to build potent gaming systems, and pro-tips on getting the most out of your current rig. As the thirst for more hardware coverage on PC Gamer increased, we decided there was no better way to meet that demand than by bringing on the experts that have been been covering gaming hardware for over 20 years: Maximum PC.

From the days of BeOS, to 3dfx graphics, to ISA sound cards, we've been cutting through the BS to bring you the straight scoop about hardware. And now we're going to bring the same expertise to PC Gamer. For a taste of what's to come, check out some of our recent work:

How we're testing over 56 headsets and headphones

We test 15 graphics cards to find the best one for VR

Build an Oculus Rift ready PC on the cheap

The best mini-ITX cases

Going forward, PC Gamer's hardware channel will be powered by the Maximum PC team. In fact, you've already begun seeing content by our editors in the last several weeks. Our intention is to bring deeper coverage of gaming hardware and surrounding technologies, more technical analysis, and a wider variety of guides to help you get the most out of your system. Most of all, we're here to tell you what's good and what's not. Our motto has always been "Maximum PC, minimum BS" and we intend to keep delivering on that promise.

Meet the team

Tuan

Tuan Nguyen

Tuan is Maximum PC's editor-in-chief, and has been in the IT industry for about as long as Maximum PC has been around, just over 20 years. He picked up his first computer magazine, Byte, at the age of 8 and fell in love with CPU architectures. He's worked at a variety of tech companies ranging from manufacturers, distributors, VARs, and design firms, but always manages to stay in publishing. When he's not writing, he tries to find new ways of tweaking, tuning, and squeezing the most out of his personal rigs, all six of them. Outside of tech, he loves snowboarding, reading, and considers himself a serious automobile enthusiast.

Tuan loves all aspects of technology, but has a special place in his heart for audio, displays, and keyboards. He still has a Voodoo and Voodoo 2 SLI setup laying around.

Follow Tuan on Twitter: @blankspace or Facebook: https://www.fb.com/tuanwrites

Alan

Alan Dexter

Alan Dexter is Maximum PC's Executive Editor and has been writing about motherboards, processors, overclocking, hard drives, graphics cards, and PCs in general since before the Matrox Millennium and Voodoo2 were gaming’s dream combo. He remembers the first Tomb Raider running on Videologic’s PowerVR; the rise of the Riva TNT 2 from a small company you may have heard of called Nvidia; AMD at its height; Intel catching up; and an industry going from strength to strength. In hard terms, since 1997.

Prior to being a tech journalist, he’s had stints in various fields, including chipping away at the IT coalface as a tech support engineer and as a programmer for a data conversion company. He has a degree in engineering and has played way too much World of Warcraft for anyone’s good. He also has an ongoing addiction to Magic the Gathering, but he’s in therapy for that.

Jarred

Jarred Walton

A veteran of the computer industry, Jarred is Maximum PC's Senior Editor, and has been writing about technology for a long time. He previously held an 11-year role at AnandTech as its Senior Editor, and brings a wealth of knowledge to the team. A family man with the soul of a gamer, Jarred spends time with his PC as if it were his fourth child.

Jarred got started playing games on a Magnavox Odyssey2, but these days he's all about PCs. He also studied computer science and dreamed about one day becoming a game developer, but playing games is a lot more fun. He enjoys good RPGs, mostly of the single player variety now. In his youth he was able to recover the Amulet of Yendor, slay the evil wizard Mangar and rescued the town of Skara Brae, and defeat Werdna.

Follow Jarred on Twitter: @JarredWalton

Alex

Alex Campbell

Alex is our resident Linux geek and Maximum PC's Technology Editor. If there's a PC sitting around, chances are he's just itching to install Ubuntu or Arch on it. Alex came to Maximum PC after graduating with a degree in journalism from Cal State Long Beach and working for PCWorld. Before that, Alex served in the U.S. Marines for five years. And before that, he was studying computer science in community college.

Alex has some weird hobbies. He likes the usual hiking, mountain biking, photography, and snowboarding, but he also plays with fire. No joke. He's got two contact staffs that he spins around like a lunatic from time to time, which is an odd pastime for someone who self-identifies as clumsy.

Zak

Zak Storey

Zak joined the Maximum PC and PC Gamer team as a Staff Writer early in 2015. He first found his love for computing way back in 1997 at the meagre age of six, jumping on his shop bought Tiny prebuilt desktop for the first time, he and his father soon fell in love with the Battle Zone franchise, and the obsession to get the most out of your own custom built rig stemmed from there. Although the youngest member of the team, Zak's passionate knowledge of overclocking, high end audio and clean watercooled builds is only trumped by his secret desire to become a pro downhill mountain biker.

As a journo graduate, and at the ripe young age of 24, he's determined to bring PC Gamer forward in the online world of YouTube and other social media outlets, and has been hounding the team to do more video content to show off his good looks. God damn these millennials eh?

paul

Paul Lilly

A Boston native who now resides in Michigan, Paul is Maximum PC's Hardware News Editor and is the epitome of a modern-day geek. You won’t find him pimping a pocket protector with a mechanical pencil shoved inside, but you might catch him donned in a leather vest as he navigates winding curves on a motorcycle. Except when he’s sitting behind a PC writing about all facets of technology, or surrounded by a pile of computer parts putting together a home-brewed gaming system.

Paul’s technical education began with the Commodore 64 and Atari 2600. When he wasn’t at the local park honing his basketball skills or at the local market adding to his Garbage Pail Kids collection, Paul could be found typing Load”*”,8,1 on his C64 so that he could help Dave and his friends save Sandy in Maniac Mansion.

These days, Paul spends less time on the basketball court (those ACLs aren’t what they used to be) and more time helping shape the court of public opinion as a freelance technology writer. His work can be found all over the web and in print in a number of prominent publications, including Maximum PC, where he’s found a home as a frequent contributor and longstanding News Editor.