BUDGET BUILDS
I DO LOVE a good challenge, and nothing is more difficult in this industry than building the ultimate budget PC. Bizarrely, the value of the dollar actually shifts depending on how much you have to spend. The less budget you have, the more important it is to allocate it correctly into the components that will give you the most performance. Things like flashy motherboards, cases, and memory just aren’t important. On top of that there’s an industry side-challenge to this as well. Namely, most manufacturers just don’t want to showcase their more budget-oriented parts. That’s what makes it so interesting from a journalistic perspective, because these are components that we don’t see a lot of, and it’s fascinating to analyze just how that performance from the flagship halo products filters its way down the product stack.
So this issue that’s exactly what we did. The challenge was simple: grab the Intel Core i3-10100 that we used in our ultimate office PC, and then build a system around that that was as affordable and as quick as humanly possible. So that meant 8GB of DDR4, an SSD at a minimum, and stock componentry all round, to really find out just what you can achieve when on a super-tight budget in the middle of this hardware drought.
This issue we’ve got a ton more epic features too, including a guide on installing an OS on your own DIY NAS (including an introduction to Docker) from Nick Peers, a phenomenal headset group test and audio explainer from our new staffer Sam, and a perfectly short-yet-sweet analysis of the latest advancements in wireless technology, Wi-Fi 6E, from our favorite screen and chip guru, Jeremy Laird.
We’re welcoming two new faces to this issue as well. I’m super excited to bring on Brittany Vincent, who joins us as a columnist from the realms of the digital, to give us her insight on industry trends (in a new section I’m fondly calling Trade Chat). She’s worked across a ton of brands over the years, from Tom’sHardware to LaptopMagazine, Mashable, and even for Lucasfilm too. We’re also saying hello to Kris Butterill who, aside from fighting fires as his day job, has also been a keen PC modder for a very long time and comes highly recommended. He’s going to be bringing us some easyto-follow how-to guides and tutorials, covering everything from modding your own GPU backplate (see PG 64), to 3D printing deep-dives and more.
On top of all that we’ve got an epic Photoshop tutorial, John Knight’s retro lookback with his machine of the month, installing Chromebook OS on a Raspberry Pi, another antivirus head to head, Hitman3, Blueprints, and reviews, including everything from AMD’s monstrous Ryzen 9 5950X 16core processor, to the latest Samsung 870 Evo 2.5-inch SSD, to an awesome modern-day review of IBM’s prestigious Model-M keyboard, the pseudomechanical keyboard that started it all.
Honestly, this issue has been a pleasure to put together, and I truly do hope you enjoy it! As always stay safe out there, thanks for still supporting myself and the team, and I look forward to seeing you next time!