Jacob Fox

Jacob Fox

Hardware Writer

Jacob got his hands on a gaming PC for the first time when he was about 12 years old. He swiftly realised the local PC repair store had ripped him off with his build and vowed never to let another soul build his rig again. With this vow, Jacob the hardware junkie was born. Since then, Jacob's led a double-life as part-hardware geek, part-philosophy nerd, first working as a Hardware Writer for PCGamesN in 2020, then working towards a PhD in Philosophy for a few years while freelancing on the side for sites such as TechRadar, Pocket-lint, and yours truly, PC Gamer. Eventually, he gave up the ruthless mercenary life to join the world's #1 PC Gaming site full-time. It's definitely not an ego thing, he assures us.

Latest articles by Jacob Fox

An MSI Stealth 16 AI+ gaming laptop.
MSI Stealth 16 AI+ B3W review

By Jacob Fox Published

Score: 80% Hella nice, but hella expensive. Thanks, 2026.

Score: 80%
Three Asus ROG OLED monitors, showing the difference between TrueBlack Glossy and other coatings
OLED gaming monitors have finally gotten so good that a Counter-Strike 2 tournament is using one

By Jacob Fox Published

News The Asus ROG Swift OLED PG259QWS Ace is the first OLED to make it into a CS2 Major.

News
An AMD processor on the left and an Intel processor on the right.
Both AMD and Intel's desktop CPU sales are falling off a cliff but Ryzen is falling a little slower

By Jacob Fox Published

News Desktop processors aren't selling as well as they were, I wonder why.

12 Comments
News
Three gaming PCs on a custom PC Gamer Deals background.
RTX 5070 gaming PCs look to be the last bastion for midrange rigs and here are three of the best deals on them I can find

By Jacob Fox Published

Deals It seems the midrange is no longer dominated by RX 9070 XT rigs.

Deals
Two handheld gaming PCs on a yellow background with the PC Gamer Recommended badge in the top right
Best handheld gaming PC in 2026: my recommendations for the best portable powerhouses

By Jacob Ridley Last updated

Portable PC PC gaming is officially portable now, and these handheld gaming PCs are the best around.

Portable PC
A GameSir Nova Lite and Gamesir G7 Pro pair of controllers against a coloured background with a PC Gamer recommended logo
Best PC controllers in 2026: I've tested lots of gamepads and these get my recommendation

By Dave James Last updated

Total control Grab one of the best PC controllers for when your keyboard and mouse simply won't do.

Total control
The PowerA LucidSound LS500 and Razer BlackShark V3 wireless gaming headsets float in a red gradient void. The PC Gamer recommended badge sits in the top righ corner.
Best gaming headsets in 2026: I'd bet my ears on these headphones

By Dave James Last updated

Quality cans Treat your ears to some audio treacle with the best gaming headsets.

Quality cans
An iBuyPower and ABS gaming PC on a custom PC Gamer Recommended background.
Best gaming PCs in 2026: We've tested the best current-gen gaming PCs and these are our picks

By Dave James, Jacob Fox Last updated

Perfect PC Everything you need to know about buying the best prebuilt gaming PC.

Perfect PC
The new Framework 12 laptop (version 2).
The new Framework 12 laptop's secret weapon is its battery life courtesy of Intel's Wildcat Lake

By Jacob Fox Published

News Plus some extra goodies like a backlit keyboard.

News
OpenAI representatives using a rotary phone to call ChatGPT via the 1-800-ChatGPT phone number
OpenAI says it'd be a shame if something were to happen to your servers like what happened to Hugging Face, better use our AI models to protect yourself

By Jacob Fox Published

News Call 1-800-ChatGPT in case of cyber emergency?

News
The right-click context menu on Windows 11.
Microsoft is finally letting us turn the Windows 11 right-click context menu into something more like Windows 10

By Jacob Fox Published

News All these years later and I still haven't adjusted. Oh, and there are File Explorer improvements, too.

News
The CXMT logo is displayed on a smartphone screen placed on a reflective surface on which the flag of China is projected.
Chinese RAM hits 9000 MT/s and even matches the speed and latency of the memory in our western gaming PCs

By Jacob Fox Published

News DDR5-6000 with CL 28 or 30 sounds about right to me.

News
MSI Claw 8 EX AI+
Intel might be cooking up a budget-friendly handheld chip but I'd still be surprised if it's cheap enough or fast enough to matter

By Jacob Fox Published

News Could this take some of the sting out of the handheld market?

News
An Andromeda Insights gaming PC on a custom PC Gamer Deals background.
I didn't think I'd see an RX 9070 XT gaming PC for $1,500 again in 2026 but I'm not complaining after spotting this one

By Jacob Fox Published

Deal AMD rigs seem to be holding out stronger against the memory shortage.

Deal
Illustrations Of The Microsoft Windows Operating SystemThe Windows logo appears on the screen of a smartphone reflecting an abstract illustration in blue colors. Microsoft releases a major update to Windows 11 (25H2) and Windows 10 support ends permanently on October 14. In Creteil, France, on October 9, 2025
It looks like Windows updates might actually be speeding up the OS now

By Jacob Fox Published

News Less AI, more performance improvements: I'm here for it.

30 Comments
News
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on the left, and an Nvidia building sign on the right.
Nvidia reckons new $500 billion investment should allay fears AI companies are just funded by the same pot of cash moving around in one big circle. Reassured yet?

By Jacob Fox Published

News Still seems like a big bubble to me, though.

20 Comments
News
A robot from Atomic Heart, showing under its faceplate, with fire in the background
Welcome to the internet in 2026, where AI agents are both victim and attacker in malware wars

By Jacob Fox Published

News Let's hope safeguards develop in-line with AI agent capabilities.

News
MSI and Asus gaming monitors on a green background with the PC Gamer recommended logo in the top right
Best gaming monitors in 2026: the pixel-perfect panels I'd buy myself

By Dave James Last updated

Eye candy The best gaming monitors balance price with panel quality, resolution and refresh rate.

Eye candy
A Logitech G Pro X2 Superstrike with the '2' numbers crossed out and replaced with a '3'.
These could be the first leaked images of the new Logitech Superstrike, which looks rather dashing in all-black

By Jacob Fox Published

News Much better than my attempt at a rendition, that's for sure.

News
Hands-on with Valve's new VR headset, the Steam Frame, during an interview at Valve HQ in Bellevue, Washington.
Yet another sign the Steam Frame is approaching launch—maybe really for real this time?—as the SteamOS beta adds 'preliminary support' for its wireless adapter

By Jacob Fox Published

News Valve really likes to keep up the anticipation, doesn't it?

News
A Microsoft Surface and Surface Pro laptops on a grey/blue gradient background
As if PCs weren't expensive enough already, Microsoft is reportedly now charging OEMs more for Windows licenses

By Jacob Fox Published

News Supposedly, it's a "significant increase."

News
Two DDR5 RAM modules lit up in pink inside a gaming PC
A researcher says 'we just undid about 20 years of progress' when it comes to memory prices, so I broke out my calculator and compared actual RAM kits from 2007 to 2026

By Jacob Fox Published

News Spoiler: it's not pretty.

News
A 3D Printed replica Steam Machine tissue box created by Boyso @ MakerWorld.
The Steam Machine design makes for a frightfully good tissue box, and now you can 3D print your own

By Jacob Fox Published

News Maybe useful to catch our tears over memory prices right now.

News
Three gaming PCs on a custom PC Gamer Deals background.
I've finally found an RTX 5060 Ti gaming PC for $1,000, but this is 2026 so there's a memory caveat. But I've got you alternatives, too

By Jacob Fox Published

Deals It all depends on what RAM you're willing to settle for.

Deals
An Andromeda Insights gaming PC on a custom PC Gamer Deals background.
A round of applause please for the 250KF Plus making this RTX 5080 gaming PC deal actually reasonable

By Jacob Fox Published

Deal Fingers crossed it stays at this price as the memory shortage rages on.

Deal
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