Dave James

Dave James

Editor-in-Chief, Hardware

Dave has been gaming since the days of Zaxxon and Lady Bug on the Colecovision, and code books for the Commodore Vic 20 (Death Race 2000!). He built his first gaming PC at the tender age of 16, and finally finished bug-fixing the Cyrix-based system around a year later. When he dropped it out of the window. He first started writing for Official PlayStation Magazine and Xbox World many decades ago, then moved onto PC Format full-time, then PC Gamer, TechRadar, and T3 among others. Now he's back, writing about the nightmarish graphics card market, CPUs with more cores than sense, gaming laptops hotter than the sun, and SSDs more capacious than a Cybertruck.

Latest articles by Dave James

Two of the best wireless gaming headsets with a PC Gamer recommends badge in the top right.
Best wireless gaming headsets in 2026: the top cans I'd buy myself

By Dave James Last updated

Untethered The best wireless gaming headsets allow you to enjoy your games and music tangle-free.

Untethered
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
A Logitech G502 X and Razer Viper V4 Pro gaming mouse on a yellow background with a PC Gamer Recommended logo in the top-right.
Best gaming mouse in 2026: We've tested the very best mice and these are the top picks

By Dave James Last updated

Pinpoint The best gaming mouse for every game, budget, grip, and size.

Pinpoint
Alienware 15 laptop
Alienware's new 'budget' laptop is a damning indictment of the current state of PC gaming hardware

By Dave James Published

news The Alienware 15 is a new RTX 3050 gaming laptop in 2026. With resolutely single-channel memory.

news
Hatsune Miku x TUF Gaming collaboration ft. Keyboard, Mini Wireless Mouse, Headset, and Mouse Mat against pale wood background
15% of PC Gamer readers are still rawdogging their desktops, while 43% of you are wholesome full desk pad people

By Dave James Published

Poll Do you use a mouse mat while gaming?

Poll
Palit GeForce RTX 5050 graphics card
Nvidia RTX 5050 review (Palit Dual edition)

By Dave James Published

Score: 69% The best budget GPU, though it pains me to say so.

Score: 69%
Dave's gaming PC on his desk
47% of PC Gamer readers prove to be sensible upgraders, but 3% of you are sickos who will start looking for your next upgrade straight away

By Dave James Published

Poll With nearly half of our readers waiting for 5+ years before upgrading their gaming PC, it's a hell of a contrast.

48 Comments
Poll
Lenovo LOQ 15 Gen10 gaming laptop
Gaming laptop makers should be forced to disclose graphics card TGPs and that's a hill I will happily die on

By Dave James Published

Deals I'm sick of having to search high and low for the power limits of mobile GPUs, despite it being one of the most important specs.

Deals
Lego Star Wars Luke's Red Five X-Wing
I've become a little obsessed with Lego's Smart Bricks and Star Wars Day is the perfect excuse to load up

By Dave James Published

Deals My boys and I have been battling it out in a galaxy far, far away right in our living room.

Deals
Secretlab Stormtrooper edition chair
Celebrate Star Wars Day by giving your Secretlab setup a makeover

By Dave James Published

Deals Here's your reminder the best gaming chairs can be wrapped in Lucasfilm, or you can go big and land a Sith-themed Titan Evo.

Deals
Valve's new Steam Machine during a visit to Valve HQ in Bellevue, Washington. The Steam Machine is a compact living room gaming PC.
Valve on the Steam Machine delays: 'Obviously we're bummed that this is the state of things'

By Dave James Published

news The Steam Controller is here, but we still don't know when the Steam Machine might arrive.

news
Nvidia DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction
So, 47% of PC Gamer readers say they don't use AI at all, but I wonder...

By Dave James Published

Poll Are you guys really not using upscaling in your games?

28 Comments
Poll
The Steam Controller on a desk during a teardown, with various parts removed.
Valve on the $99 Steam Controller: 'I do know price has gone up from where we originally wanted it to be'

By Dave James Published

news Almost inevitably, Valve's new PC pad is pricier than we'd all hoped.

news
The Steam Controller on a desk during a teardown, with various parts removed.
Valve is bullish on global Steam Controller availability: 'We have knobs we can turn to try to get things to people faster'

By Dave James Published

news "We'll have a good amount of stock around the world for the launch."

news
The Steam Controller on a desk during a teardown, with various parts removed.
Valve will be providing Steam Controller replacement parts via iFixit after launch

By Dave James Published

news Valve ensured the new pad has a focus on modding and repairability: "We know our community."

news
Dave's gaming PC on his desk
I asked you lot one of the most important PC gaming questions, and only 37% got it right

By Dave James Published

Poll I feel sorry for your mothers.

30 Comments
Poll
Razer Iskur V2 gaming chair
Exclusive: Get $250 off Razer's OG Iskur V2 gaming chair

By Dave James Published

Deal At $650 the Razer chair was a ludicrous price, but it makes much more sense with this sort of discount.

Deal
Framework Wireless Touchpad Keyboard
Framework is building its own keyboard and will even help you make your own

By Dave James Published

news The new Framework Wireless Touchpad Keyboard can be bought whole or in bits.

news
Framework 13 Pro ultra-repairable and upgradeable laptop
Framework just announced its own 'MacBook Pro for Linux users'

By Dave James Published

news With all-day battery life, stellar gaming performance, and complete backwards compatibility.

news
Framework OCuLink Dev Kit
Framework's new dev kit means you can jam a full desktop GPU into the back of its 16-inch laptop

By Dave James Published

news The OCuLink Dev Kit provides you with the electronics to create your own eGPU.

news
Blade 14 gaming laptop running PopOS with an Xbox Wireless controller in front of it
I found out the hard way that Linux is not a dad-friendly gaming OS, and maybe neither is the PC

By Dave James Published

Bad dad PC gaming still has accessibility issues, and Linux gaming doubly so.

7 Comments
Bad dad
A compact gaming PC on a desk with various parts on show.
This is all the best PC gaming gear we recommend in one techie tier list

By Dave James Last updated

The guide Here are PC Gamer's hardware picks, based on years of experience and expert knowledge, all in an easily digestible but admittedly big ol' list.

The guide
Eve Spectrum 4K gaming monitor
Of course 1440p is your favorite gaming res, but I'm kinda stunned there are as many 4K gamers as 1080p ones in PC Gamer's ranks

By Dave James Published

Poll Sure, 36% of you play at 2560 x 1440, but at 22% it's a straight tie between 4K and 1080p gamers in our latest poll.

45 Comments
Poll
An Mchose G3 V2 Pro and Razer Viper V4 Pro gaming mouse on a green background with a PC Gamer Recommended label on the top right.
Best wireless gaming mouse in 2026: These are the cordless rodents we love getting our mitts on

By Dave James Last updated

Unbound Let go of the tethers and embrace the freedom of living life cable-free.

Unbound
Dave's gaming PC on his desk
Where does your PC live? There is obviously one correct answer, can you pick it out?

By Dave James Published

Poll Don't hide your gaming light under a bushel. Or a desk.

Poll
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