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

A still from a YouTube video showing a man with his mouth agape while using the Apple Vision Pro VR headset
Apple adds the Steam Frame's most anticipated feature, foveated streaming, to the Vision Pro

By Jacob Ridley Published

News That's a good idea, that.

News
Lenovo Legion Go S SteamOS and Valve Steam Deck on a yellow background with PC Gamer Recommended label
Best handheld gaming PC in 2026: my recommendations for the best portable powerhouses.

By Jacob Ridley Published

Portable PC

Portable PC
A huge Asus RTX 5080 Noctua Edition GPU with a matching Noctua gaming PC.
Asus GeForce RTX 5080 Noctua OC Edition review

By Jacob Ridley Published

Score: 72% Big, chilly, and hella headroom.

Score: 72%
MSI power supply render showing it connected to a graphics card with a shield emblem.
MSI Afterburner and some PSUs can now pull an emergency power brake to prevent your graphics card going up in a puff of smoke

By Jacob Ridley Published

News More peace of mind, if you're willing to pay for the PSU.

News
CyberPower gaming PC on a pink background with the PC Gamer logo and the word deals down the side.
This is the cheapest gaming PC actually worth buying right now—$899 for an RTX 5060, DDR5 RAM, and a 1 TB SSD

By Jacob Ridley Published

Deal I've scoured retailers for something cheaper and I'm yet to find anything as modern as this machine for the same price or less.

Deal
Valve's new Steam Machine during a visit to Valve HQ in Bellevue, Washington. The Steam Machine is a compact living room gaming PC.
Here's what we think the Steam Machine will cost now that Valve's admitted 'limited availability and growing prices' have forced it to change plans

By Jacob Ridley Published

Out of Steam? Let's revise our optimistic guesses from last year now the memory crisis is in full swing.

14 Comments
Out of Steam?
Xbox Series X system-on-chip
AMD CEO suggests next-gen Xbox will launch in 2027—the premium console's chip is 'progressing well'

By Jacob Ridley Published

News Let's hope RAM prices clear up by then.

News
iBuyPower RDY Element 9 Pro R07 on a desk during the set-up process.
iBuyPower RDY Element 9 Pro R07 review

By Jacob Ridley Published

Score: 87% A great choice with a lot going for it.

Score: 87%
The Logitech G325 gaming headset on a headphone stand.
Logitech's new $80 gaming headset has an undercover mic so you don't feel like a donut wearing it out the house

By Jacob Ridley Published

News The G325 is hoping to be the headset for every occasion.

News
The Moltbook social media for AI.
Moltbook is like Reddit but only AI agents are allowed—though after spending hours trawling through threads, it looks more like a huge, unhinged roleplay server to me

By Jacob Ridley Published

News You'd have a better chance of an informed discussion in the chat window of a YouTube live stream than this.

News
Two ultrawide gaming monitors on a blue background with the PC Gamer Recommended label
Best ultrawide monitor for gaming in 2026: the immersive panels I recommend for PC gamers

By Jacob Ridley Last updated

Expansive It's time to go wide... ultrawide: these gaming monitors are wider, brighter, and faster than ever.

Expansive
A screenshot of some code in the cursed programming language.
'Slay, bestie' just some of the Gen Z slang used in programming language dreamt up by AI in a 'Ralph Wiggum loop' that its creator feared may be too powerful

By Jacob Ridley Published

News I don't know, man.

News
Three engineers give a thumbs up inside Intel's Fab 28.
Nvidia might be doing what was once unthinkable: asking Intel to make some of its future AI chips

By Jacob Ridley Published

News Nvidia isn't going all-in on Intel, according to the report, but it's better than nothing for the struggling foundry.

News
TommyB's open source controller project, the OpenSplitDeck.
Open source Steam Controller-a-like is a beast with new screens and gyro controls: 'there's so much more I can add' says creator

By Jacob Ridley Published

News OpenSplitDeck is shaping up to be a seriously impressive controller.

News
A Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE cooler on a desk with the fans beside it.
Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE review

By Jacob Ridley Published

Score: 94% Practically peerless on price/performance.

Score: 94%
Intel Lunar Lake launch event in Berlin, September 2024.
Intel has the memory chips it needs to keep shipping Lunar Lake: 'we were relatively aggressive in terms of getting the memory early'

By Jacob Ridley Published

News On-package memory would've put Intel in a tough spot if not.

News
Intel Core i5 14600K on a blue box with Intel logo on it.
Intel Nova Lake CPUs on track for late 2026 as exec downplays shuffling capacity to meet datacenter demand: 'We have important customers in both datacenter and client and that needs to be our priority'

By Jacob Ridley Published

News Would you consider Nova Lake?

News
A screenshot from the World Economic Forum showing Larry Fink and Jensen Huang on stage together.
Jensen Huang talks AI's insatiable appetite for GPUs at the World Economic Forum: 'spot price of GPU rentals is going up, not just the latest generation, but two generation old GPUs'

By Jacob Ridley Published

News AI is all-consuming.

News
A Hoto screwdriver in a hand on a red background with the word 'deal' down the right.
I just used this electric screwdriver for the first time to build a PC and I'm totally sold—now down to $40 with bits

By Jacob Ridley Published

Deal A familiar saving on Amazon but it's better than paying full price.

Deal
The Razer Thunderbolt 5 Dock on a desk with the RGB enabled and an SSD installed.
Razer Thunderbolt 5 Dock review

By Jacob Ridley Published

Score: 70% Fast and furious… at a cost

Score: 70%
A pair of Sennheiser HD 550 headphones sat in front of its packaging.
Sennheiser HD 550 review

By Jacob Ridley Last updated

Score: 78% A great reason to start taking your gaming audio seriously.

Score: 78%
The splash screen for a game called Process Roulette.
There are a surprising number of programs designed to randomly kill processes on your computer until it crashes—or you wimp out

By Jacob Ridley Published

News Process roulette is the name of the game.

News
Two of the best PC cases with the PC Gamer Recommended badge in the top right.
The best fish tank PC case in 2026: I've tested heaps of stylish chassis but only a few have earned my recommendation

By Jacob Ridley Last updated

Fish sold separately Want to show off your PC components? These fish tank cases are the best way to do it.

Fish sold separately
A composite image, showing a ThunderX3 Flex Pro and Ikea Matchspel office chair, against a grey gradient background, with a PC Gamer Recommended logo in the top right corner.
Best office chairs for gaming in 2026: The top seats for work and gaming that I've tried and tested

By Dave James Last updated

Take a seat Take care of your spine with the best office chairs for gaming.

Take a seat
Asus ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless and Mountain Everest 60 gaming keyboards on grey background
Best mechanical keyboards in 2026: The clacky boards I'd buy in a heartbeat

By Jacob Ridley Last updated

Click Clack Make the switch with our guide to the best mechanical gaming keyboards.

Click Clack
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