
Jacob Ridley
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

You can get a PCIe 5.0 SSD for a PCIe 4.0 price with this SSD deal, but you have to take a gamble on delivery from Germany
By Jacob Ridley Published
Deal In this messed up market, $174 is tough to beat.

Best cheap SSD deals today
By Jess Kinghorn Last updated
Deals Add more storage space to your PC for less with one of the deals I've spotted.

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.

Best gaming keyboards in 2026: we've tested the latest Hall effect, mechanical, TKL, 60% and more
By Jacob Ridley Last updated
Keyed in The best gaming keyboards, according to our testers.

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.

Best gaming chair in 2026: I've tested loads of gaming chairs and these are my top picks
By Jacob Ridley Last updated
Take a seat These gaming chairs have earned our recommendation over hundreds of hours of testing.

Noctua NL-LC1 liquid cooler review
By Jacob Ridley Published
Score: 91% The king of quiet.

Best graphics cards in 2026: These are the GPUs worth spending money in right now
By Dave James Last updated
Pixel Pushers I've made a career out of prodding graphics cards and this has been the toughest set of recommendations I can remember.

AMD launches the RX 9050, and it's even more entry-level than expected - update: it's $279 and limited to certain regions
By Jacob Ridley Last updated
News Oh, and the 4 GB version is OEM-only.

Cooler Master V8 Ace 3DHP review
By Jacob Ridley Published
Score: 85% Proving air coolers are still cool in 2026.

Chinese company reportedly building its own DUV chipmaking machines, and that's a really big deal
By Jacob Ridley Published
News Meanwhile, the US still hopes to block ASML from selling and servicing similar machines in China.

Is Intel back? Company's latest earnings report remarkably different in tone to 12 months ago
By Jacob Ridley Published
News "I'm confident that Intel is well positioned to help define the next era of computing," says CEO Tan.

Arctic Freezer 36-S review
By Jacob Ridley Published
Score: 84% Surprisingly effective for the money.

Best PC fans in 2026: I've put these case fans through their paces to find the coolest and quietest
By Jacob Ridley Last updated
Fan-tastic Here are our recommendations from our tests.

Secretlab Atlas review
By Jacob Ridley Last updated
Score: 78% Comfy, smart, and just a lil' too close to the champ.

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.

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.

Best PC racing wheels in 2026: my favorite direct drive and budget steering wheels for sim racing
By Jacob Ridley Last updated
Driven Speed away with the best PC racing wheel for gaming.

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.

Be Quiet Dark Rock 6 and Dark Rock Pro 6 review
By Jacob Ridley Published
Score: 65% Better, but at what cost?

Amazon Prime Day PC gaming deals
By Jacob Ridley Last updated
Prime Day 2026 Amazon Prime Day may be over, but there still deals to be found on gaming PCs, laptops, monitors, and more.

Amazon Prime Day gaming mouse and controller deals
By Jacob Ridley Last updated
Prime Day 2026 Prime Day might be finished, but many deals are still running.

This Prime Day Quest 3S deal knocks the price back to what it was before the memory crisis jacked the MSRP
By Jacob Ridley Published
Prime Day Meta increased the MSRP of the Quest 3S due to memory costs. This deal puts it back.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.

