In July’s "Budget Upgrade" issue, we extended an offer to our loyal readers: Tell us about your best/worst PC upgrade story, and earn yourself two of the kick-ass, custom-made Maximum PC coins we featured on the cover of that issue. We had no idea what we were in for.

Hundreds of submissions later, we emerged traumatized. Drained of all emotion. We laughed. We cried. We got angry. We felt your pain. And, in more than one instance, we literally had no idea what the hell you were talking about (but thanks for trying!).

Alas, as you have no doubt guessed, the majority of the submissions weren't aflutter with touching, heartfelt stories about successfully upgrading a GPU or processor. No no. There were a few of these—and we promise to publish them next week—but not many. And you know, to be honest, we prefer it this way. We know the heartache of breaking a PC in the process of attempting to improve it. We also know the grief we give each other when it happens.

Don't get us wrong, a lot of these stories were hilarious-- full of D'oh! moments and stupid mistakes. But some of the winning entries were absolute horror stories; the type that make tech nerds ball up in their seats and bite their lower lip. You know the look a die-hard sports fan gets on their face when their home team loses? That's the look we had while reading through some of these.  

That being said, we humbly present the 15 Worst User Upgrades of All Time. We wouldn't be able to do so without all you guys. Thanks for making this happen.