
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

Valve wants you to know that the Steam Frame is not the Index 2: 'we're trying to do something new with this'
By Jacob Ridley published
News It's still a good upgrade from an Index, however.

Valve announces three new products: the Steam Frame, Steam Machine and Steam Controller
By Jacob Ridley published
News Good things come in threes?

Valve's new Steam Machine is a SteamOS-powered mini PC over six times faster than a Steam Deck
By Jacob Ridley published
News "We finally have all the software and the hardware bits to make the original vision a reality."

I've tried the Steam Frame and I'm now ready to ditch cables from my virtual reality set-up forever
By Jacob Ridley published
Cut the cord Valve's new VR headset is completely wireless and very convincing.

Valve announces the Steam Frame: 'a new way to play your entire Steam library'
By Jacob Ridley published
News Wireless connectivity, improved optics, new controllers and a chip all of its own, the Steam Frame looks to be worth the wait.

You don't need to spend loads for a quality gaming chair: this Corsair TC100 is $160 and one of our favorites
By Jacob Ridley published
Deal This isn't the first time we've seen this chair at this price, but I'm glad it's come back round.

Thinktank recommends the EU hit China where it hurts if it restricts access to rare earths: limit the country's access to older chipmaking machines
By Jacob Ridley published
News China uses DUV machines for much of its chip manufacturing.

This video on USB Type-C made by European Parliament goes harder than it has any right to
By Jacob Ridley published
News Now this is effective political communication.

Razer thoughtlessly alienates half its audience with ad showing a man blocking out a woman's 'yapping' with its latest headset
By Jacob Ridley published
News The ad is still live…

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 The best PC fans will keep your gaming PC cool and quiet.

Take the plunge into VR with the Quest 3S, the best budget headset, dropping to its lowest price with this Prime Day bundle
By Jacob Ridley published
Prime Day Key improvements over the Quest 2 without the price tag of the Quest 3.

This PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD is down to $80 for a terabyte—actually less than some PCIe 4.0 drives
By Jacob Ridley published
Prime Day Now we're getting serious speedy storage at excellent prices.

I bought this 140 W charger because it can charge everything all at once, including my laptop—now it's just $60 for Prime Day
By Jacob Ridley published
Prime Day The other reason I picked one up is I left my original laptop charger in a hotel room. Good stuff.

I'm surrounded by PC cases I've reviewed and these are the best PC case deals I'd go for this Prime Day
By Jacob Ridley published
Prime Day It's a great time to rehome your gaming PC.

Take advantage of the Prime Day PC deals to build your own RTX 5070 Ti gaming PC with better components and a price to match prebuilt systems
By Jacob Ridley published
Prime Day It's better if you build it yourself.

Walmart might have actually dropped the best Prime Day gaming PC deal: I give you an RTX 5080 rig with a 12-core Ryzen CPU wrapped up with a bow and a $1000 discount
By Jacob Ridley published
Prime Day That's one helluva Prime Day deal.

This Samsung ultrawide gaming monitor is at its lowest price ever at Amazon—it's less than you might think at just $260
By Jacob Ridley published
Prime Day That's some value for money.

Newegg's going toe-to-toe with Amazon over Prime Day gaming monitor deals, especially with this 280 Hz 27-inch screen at just $115
By Jacob Ridley published
Prime Day That's not bad on a budget.

Havn BF 360 PC case review
By Jacob Ridley published
Score: 90% Excellent airflow and stunning good looks.

Good news, SSD prices are coming down this Prime Day, with this $110 2 TB Lexar NM790 one of my favorite deals of the day
By Jacob Ridley published
Prime Day A trusty SSD that I use in my own PC.

I build multiple gaming PCs a month and this is my favorite so far this year—here's what you'd need to build it yourself
By Jacob Ridley published
Get the build Wood and gold.

This 2 TB PCIe 5.0 SSD with speeds up to 10,000 MB/s is only fractionally more than its slower PCIe 4.0 equivalent right now
By Jacob Ridley published
Prime Day Crucial's P510 is excellent value and even more so today with this deal just in time for Amazon Prime Day.

Worried about melty graphics cards? This seriously capable gizmo keeps power in check for more peace of mind
By Jacob Ridley published
News Ideally you wouldn't need to worry at all, but this Ampinel option looks like the next best thing.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.



