Jacob Ridley

Jacob Ridley

Managing Editor, Hardware

Jacob earned his first byline writing for his own tech blog, before graduating to breaking things professionally at PCGamesN, where he was one half of a popular weekly YouTube show. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, Jacob is now managing editor of the hardware team, and you'll usually find him testing the latest components or building a gaming PC. He says he's determined to build a fort as big as a house out of case boxes. Jacob enjoys heading out of the office to report from floors, benches, and, if he's lucky, plush press rooms at the biggest tech shows, such as Computex and CES.

When he's not writing about components, you'll find Jacob trying to get away from the modern world as fast as possible by bike and pitching up camp in murky woods.

Latest articles by Jacob Ridley

The Havn HS 360 at Computex 2026.
Havn is making a smaller, lighter version of the excellent HS 420, with a few convenient upgrades too

By Jacob Ridley Published

News The HS 360 is smaller and a little more convenient compared to the HS 420.

News
UGreen NASync DXP4800 Pro on a desk with multiple HDDs installed.
If I had known how incredibly useful a NAS would be, I would've set one up a lot sooner

By Jacob Ridley Published

NAS Queen I'm running a NAS and loving it.

11 Comments
NAS Queen
A tour around Secretlab's office in Singapore ahead of the launch of the Secretlab Atlas, the company's brand new task chair.
Secretlab's new Atlas chair is cheaper, slimmer than the Titan Evo and I've been sitting comfortably in it for the past couple days

By Jacob Ridley Published

News Starts at $499.

News
A tour around Secretlab's office in Singapore ahead of the launch of the Secretlab Atlas, the company's brand new task chair.
Secretlab's CEO is getting tough on copycat chairs and doesn't feel pressure to adopt AI: 'If we were owned by outside investors, you can bet that AI will be somehow jammed down our throats'

By Jacob Ridley Published

Talking chairs I speak with Ian Ang about building a gaming chair company at the company's Singapore office.

Talking chairs
A tour around Secretlab's office in Singapore ahead of the launch of the Secretlab Atlas, the company's brand new task chair.
I was roasted by a physician for sitting weird but they gave me some great tips for healthier gaming

By Jacob Ridley Published

Sort your posture It only took talking to an esports medicine expert to make me realise where I was going wrong.

13 Comments
Sort your posture
Thermal Grizzly's new prototype products at its Computex 2026 booth.
Thermal Grizzly's experimental direct-die CPU block is '3-4 times better' than most—but it uses diamond sheets that cost €500 each

By Jacob Ridley Published

News It's just a pet project, I'm told.

News
Corsair's new Warthog case with a light over the rear IO panel, at computex 2026.
Corsair's fighter jet-inspired case comes with a switch to toggle a light above the rear IO panel

By Jacob Ridley Published

Computex 2026 Technology is going places at Computex 2026.

Computex 2026
The Cooler Master MasterFlow GPU accessory at its Taiwan HQ.
The blower is back: Cooler Master has made a GPU accessory that pushes hot air outside your case rather than onto your CPU

By Jacob Ridley Published

News This thing sits atop of your graphics card and offers a 4–6 degree improvement, says Cooler Master.

News
Cooler Master's Project AIO at its HQ in Taiwan.
Cooler Master is playing around with a 2000 W CPU and GPU cooling solution with four huge 180 mm fans

By Jacob Ridley Published

News Project AIO Liquid Cooling Solution.

News
Thermaltake's new novel PSU design at Computex 2026.
Thermaltake has built a PSU that splits in two… on purpose

By Jacob Ridley Published

Computex 2026 All in the name of an easier installation process.

Computex 2026
Cooler Master's new case products on display at its HQ during Computex 2026.
Cooler Master is stuffing its latest cases with truly humongous fans for high airflow and quiet operation

By Jacob Ridley Published

Computex 2026 Up to 220 mm.

Computex 2026
Wooting's new knob on display at its booth at Computex 2026.
Wooting's big knob is much more than a volume dial, set to arrive later this year for 80 HE

By Jacob Ridley Published

Computex 2026 There's more to this knob than meets the eye.

Computex 2026
The Tryx Holo with a holographic display on the show floor at Computex 2026.
Tryx claims 'world's first holographic liquid cooler' at Computex but I doubt it was much of a contest

By Jacob Ridley Published

Computex 2026 The Tryx Holo has a 3D holographic visual effect through a window on the pump unit.

Computex 2026
Noctua Thermosiphon cooler on display at Computex 2026.
Noctua's pumpless liquid cooler prototype is now 'neck and neck' with a normal AIO: successfully cools Ryzen 9 9950X3D at 230 W

By Jacob Ridley Published

Computex 2026 This one might make it out of prototype.

Computex 2026
Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang on stage at GTC in Taiwan with the new RTX Spark.
Nvidia sets out roadmap for RTX Spark, its new PC platform, which also gives us a better idea of when to expect next-gen RTX GPUs

By Jacob Ridley Published

Computex 2026 Rubin in 2028, Feynman in 2030.

Computex 2026
Fractal Terra and Corsair Air 5400 PC cases
The best PC cases in 2026: These are the chassis I'd use for my next gaming build

By Jacob Ridley last updated

Best case You'll want the best PC case if you're building your perfect gaming PC.

Best case
The Steam Controller on a desk in front of a Steam Deck.
Hear the Steam Controller sing whole songs with haptics, including the Wii Store soundtrack, Still Alive, and even attempt a Rick Roll

By Jacob Ridley Published

News This was a triumph. I'm making a note here, 'huge success'.

News
The SteelSeries QcK Performance mouse pad and the Razer Firefly V2 Pro on a silver/white background with the PC Gamer recommended badge in the top right
Best mouse pads for gaming in 2026: the fabric and hard-top mats I prefer to game on

By Jacob Ridley last updated

Slick The best mouse pads offer slick mouse movement and awesome aesthetics, no matter what surface you prefer.

Slick
AMD's Radeon RX 7900 XTX graphics card
AMD bringing FSR 4.1 ML-powered upscaling to RX 7000 series in July, RX 6000 series in 2027

By Jacob Ridley Published

News Modders and Sony proved it possible. Now AMD is making good with official support.

News
Intel's logo on the side of the McLaren F1 car.
Intel is back in F1 as it officially partners with last year's winners McLaren to provide the team with heaps of chips

By Jacob Ridley Published

News Gotta go fast.

News
The CoolerMaster MasterFrame 360 Panoramic PC case with various components installed on a desk.
Cooler Master MasterFrame 360 Panorama review

By Jacob Ridley Published

Score: 80% A great way to show off your Hatsune Miku statue.

Score: 80%
Framework 13 laptop on a dark grey background
Framework says DDR5 memory costs 'remain fairly stable' but 'on SSDs, the pricing story is unfortunately not as positive' as it raises prices again

By Jacob Ridley Published

News One step forward, two steps back.

News
The Steam Controller on a desk during a teardown, with various parts removed.
Valve forming an orderly queue for the Steam Controller makes it clear we need the same for the Steam Machine, Frame, and perhaps a lot more in-demand tech too

By Jacob Ridley Published

Grab a ticket We need a better system.

Grab a ticket
A picture of Nintendo Switch 2 dock with the console inside, and the Switch 2 box behind it
Nintendo is raising the price of the Switch 2 later this year

By Jacob Ridley Published

News A $50 increase in the US. Further increases rolling out in Japan, Europe, and Canada.

News
Ubuntu's software updater on an orange background.
Ubuntu servers restored after DDoS attack sends services down for days

By Jacob Ridley Published

News Who has a gripe with Ubuntu?

News
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