Or a very popular niche like mirc.com http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=link:y1URC7h877UJ:www.mirc.com/
You can get up to PR6 for free by getting backlinks. Anything above that if you want to have for free you must provide some sort of service, script, or free software.
As everyone else has said, it's REALLY difficult with just backlinks. Not impossible though (obviously)
To get pr 8 without getting caught will require a lot of money and content and also time.. I dont think you should aim for pr 8.. but instead like 3 different sites with pr 5 each..
Personally i dont think you can get pr 8 just buying links because for that you are gonna need a huge amount of money, so if i were you and had those goals , i would work on my content to get to that goal of pr8. Cheers. Ace.
Please check this page rank calculator http://www.thrusites.com/tools/pagerank-calculator/index.php I have noticed that it differs for a while from the calculator you left a link for. Regards
anybody read jon ledgar seo myths. He was talking about anchor tags more important than page rank. Like a game site with less links than yahoo manage get the number 1 spot. I am more focus on anchor than anything
I made it to PR7 in 6 months at a cost of $0... Since have fallen back to PR6. It's work, but can be done.. Don't believe me, let's talk. PR8 - I'm not so sure you could do it for free. That would take some big $$...