Meet Maximum PC's New Editor-in-Chief

[[Coi] Mr.CLuBBeR]

Introducing Tuan Nguyen

Hi! I’m Tuan, the new Editor-in-Chief for Maximum PC, at your service. I suppose this is an obligatory piece, since I’m supposed to introduce myself and let people know I’m legit. So, here goes.
I’ve been a huge fan of Maximum PC, and boot before it, since the very first issue of boot, way back in 1996. I wrote for Maximum PC back in 2001 and 2002, and never stopped subscribing to the mag. The publication has a very special place in my heart.
I’ve always been a tinkerer. When I was young, I would always open up various electronics and random knickknacks just to try and understand how things worked on the inside. I almost killed myself at the age of 11 by sticking a drawing compass into an AC outlet. What can I say; the risks associated with curiosity.
I’ve been in the industry in various capacities for a good number of years. The one thing that remains constant, though, is my love for the PC platform. It’s unlike anything else in the electronics world. The PC sparks passion in people, yet in itself is not a living thing. The PC is supremely flexible and is able to be molded in a way that’s very personal to its owner. And of course, the PC brings all the benefits imaginable to our daily lives and entertains us at the same time. The PC has come a very long way in a relatively short period of time.
Through the years I have upgraded and built countless PCs for my own use. From simple file servers to a crazy machine that used both Ultra320 SCSI and a fiber-channel storage array, to small, compact HTPCs. I always wanted to build around the most cutting-edge hardware. Of course, it’s sometimes prohibitive to keep chasing the top, but that’s the nature of things in the PC world.
My current system at home is a mix of minimalism—if you can even call it that—and excess. Here are the specs:
CPU: Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition 3790X
Motherboard: Gigabyte X79-UD5
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan Black
- With NZXT Kraken G10 bracket + NZXT Kraken X31
Memory: 32GB Samsung “Green” 1,600MHz DDR
SSD: 2x Samsung 850 Pro 256GB
- One for OS, one for User folder/Programs
HDDs: 4x Western Digital 4TB Blacks, 2x Western Digital 2TB Blacks
Network: Intel Pro/1000 MT dual-port Gig-E PCI-e NIC
Chassis: NZXT H440 (in black/blue)
Display: Dell UltraSharp U3011
Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1
Miscellaneous: Dual APC Smart-UPS 1500, Fujitsu Dyna-MO magneto-optical drive
Aside from my primary PC, I have an Intel NUC for my home theater duties, a MacBook Air 13 (mid-2013) for traveling duties, and a spare IBM ThinkPad T60 for emergencies. Everything is connected via Ethernet, except for the Air. I also connected the networking gear and home theater stuff to their own APC battery back-up units (Smart-UPS 1000s), just in case. My drawers are filled with PC components. In fact, my kitchen cabinets are stocked with PC hardware: hard drives, memory, add-in boards, etc. Obviously hardware takes priority over any form of cooking. Lastly, I have a 500 megabit synchronous fiber connection to my place.
So as far as the PC goes, I have some of my best moments building and configuring. In fact, the truly best moments are often researching and reading. There’s a certain joy in seeing what the latest gear is.
Now that I’m here though, I won’t preach on about what Maximum PC is all about—as a reader, you probably know that already.

Tuan loses sense of reality.

What I do want to touch on is what Maximum PC can be going forward. There’s a lot of stuff out there that our team can be doing that you would enjoy, and I’m thoroughly interested in discovering these topics. And I believe you have the ability to steer this ship, too! Through emails, comments, etc., you can help inject new ideas and points of views into what we do.
Contact us. Send in your thoughts. Have an interesting idea? Let us know. Think we can do something better? Sound off! It’s important that we remain engaged as a community. I’d like to think that we’re open and yet like-minded people. It’s a rich ecosystem to be part of, and it just keeps getting better.
I think covering as many different things to do with a PC is just as critical as covering the components themselves. Because at the end of the day, the user—you—is what ultimately makes the PC such an amazing platform.
And that, really is what Maximum PC is all about.
(Shoutouts to the people who made my journey here awesome: SC, JRQ, MH, D "Impulsive" T, BS, JH, AH, TM, JH, DS, TC88, AH—you all know who you are!)


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