Jacob Ridley
Jacob earned his first byline writing for his own tech blog. From there, he graduated to professionally breaking things as hardware writer at PCGamesN, where he was one half of a popular weekly YouTube show. He would go on to run the team as hardware editor before joining PC Gamer's world-class staff as senior hardware editor. Today, he's managing editor of the hardware team, and you'll find him spending his days reporting on the latest developments in the technology and gaming industries. He's found reporting from floors, benches, and, if he's lucky, plush press rooms at the biggest tech shows, such as Computex and CES. But more often than not he's hunched over the office test bench evaluating the newest PC components.
When he's not writing about GPUs and CPUs, you'll find Jacob trying to get as far away from the modern world as possible by wild camping.
Latest articles by Jacob Ridley
![An image of a thief in Dragon's Dogma 2 considering their dual blades, dressed in scrappy rags.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/6arxB4zAn6BeAhpMSrwVAV-320-80.png)
Free Dragon's Dogma 2 mod hands RTX 40-series owners a much-needed performance bump
By Jacob Ridley published
News Frame Generation will be added to the game at a later date, but for now we have PureDark's swiftly released and slightly turbulent mod.
![Screenshots from the Microsoft Windows 98 website accessed through the](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/dmdbg3BURao66ZWSgdfhoD-320-80.jpg)
Uncovering the secrets of Save As, debunking Y2K and bragging about Internet Explorer—take a trip to the Windows 98 webpage
By Jacob Ridley published
Time machine A journey to the distant past... the late '90s.
![The character Ratchet looking at the camera in bemusement.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/tqvaypHmG2un7uwSAYQKSj-320-80.jpg)
AMD promises less fuzziness and flickering from improved FSR 3.1 upscaling algorithm
By Jacob Ridley published
News Better AMD upscaling is coming to Ratchet & Clank, and likely a few more games this year.
![A screenshot of HWInfo application with the Ask PC Gamer badge in the upper right hand side.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/RhEr7vDnCEcantxFnszU6P-320-80.jpg)
What's a good system monitoring tool?
By Jacob Ridley last updated
Ask PCG There are many system monitoring tools to choose from, but one stands out amongst the crowds.
![A screenshot showing a source photograph of a person talking and an AI generated version of them speaking.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/6Eg8E7JqP7GUfVG6dhsZvQ-320-80.jpg)
Google researchers find novel way of turning a single photo of a human into AI-generated video good enough to make you think 'this might go badly'
By Jacob Ridley published
News Don't think about the repercussions. Don't think about the repercussions. Don't think about the repercussions.
![Playtron OS imagery showing it across laptop and handheld.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/m9YsQKoY7nGvB6My3zjupL-320-80.jpg)
Playtron promises an alternative to SteamOS for handheld PCs: 'Play all your games from every store, Steam, Epic and more'
By Jacob Ridley published
News Playtron claims SteamOS is "compatible with Steam only", which isn't true, but is one reason it's giving for creating its own Linux distro called PlaytronOS.
![Images of Nvidia's Blackwell GPU from GTC.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/b6eLaaVWBjgus7NJqF32zW-320-80.jpg)
Nvidia had already sold tens of thousands of Blackwell GPUs before the next-gen architecture was announced
By Jacob Ridley published
News What's that old adage again? "The more you buy, the more you save."
![Images of Nvidia's Blackwell GPU from GTC.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/tCAFND4AA2pfArrBZofWeW-320-80.jpg)
Nvidia CEO brings out a monster dual-GPU Blackwell chip at GTC: here's what it tells us about the next GeForce graphics cards
By Jacob Ridley published
News "It's just one giant chip," says CEO Huang.
![High refresh buying guide header with two of the best high refresh rate gaming monitors and a PC Gamer recommends badge.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/w4cfvUWda5Wcm2UqcKFrc8-320-80.jpg)
Best high refresh rate gaming monitor in 2024
By Jacob Ridley last updated
How Refreshing Don't dawdle with one of the best high refresh rate gaming monitors around.
![Asus ROG Zephryus G14 on a desk with the PC Gamer Editor's Pick badge](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/NA4BgrkjgeGLR6gXtUngP6-320-80.png)
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024) review
By Jacob Ridley published
Better than ever AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 (90W) | 32GB LPDDR5X | 1TB SSD | OLED | $2,000 | £2,400
![An image of a headcrab jumping out towards a player in Half-Life 2 RTX.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/tg3pKhyKgMuuwBpoiBSqVY-320-80.jpg)
RTX Remix 'is the great equaliser' bringing veteran and hobbyist devs together to remaster the most beloved and best PC games
By Jacob Ridley published
Remix/Remake The modding platform created by Nvidia is bringing together teams from across the globe to reimagine classic games.
![PARIS, FRANCE - JUNE 16: Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of Twitter, Elon Musk attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre on June 16, 2023 in Paris, France. Elon Musk is visiting Paris for the VivaTech show where he gives a conference in front of 4,000 technology enthusiasts. He also took the opportunity to meet Bernard Arnaud, CEO of LVMH and the French President. Emmanuel Macron, who has already met Elon Musk twice in recent months, hopes to convince him to set up a Tesla battery factory in France, his pioneer company in electric cars. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/XkbW2TPx2hzBUCxrPu7h6Q-320-80.jpg)
Elon Musk calls OpenAI 'a lie' after announcing plans to make his 'spicy' ChatGPT rival open-source this week
By Jacob Ridley published
News Grok is made by xAI and is available for users on X, but 'don’t use it if you hate humor'.
![A screenshot of two NPCs talking under a yellow light in Cyberpunk 2077.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/zcKdSnFiWtR6enz48tF6VX-320-80.jpg)
Convai aims to put an end to basic 'one-line' NPCs with AI but says it 'needs more high quality writers and artists, not less' to get it done
By Jacob Ridley published
Chatty bots I chat to the CEO of Convai, an AI platform that empowers videogame NPCs with personalities.
![Gigabyte G5 (2023) gaming laptop on a white desk](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/6WiQugkAwbJKW8drrDcBiJ-320-80.jpg)
Oregon just passed the most powerful right to repair legislation yet in the US
By Jacob Ridley published
News The law would ban the practice of parts pairing from 2025, and once in place will make repairs much easier for customers.
![Bykski CR-RD120RC-TN-V2](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/FtwUhrDCAq6vvHRBgEZhtj-320-80.jpg)
Destructive testing of six liquid cooling radiators reveals some don't match the marketing
By Jacob Ridley published
News In-depth testing by Igor's Lab shows brass used instead of copper within some radiators, among other complaints.
![An image of TridentZ RAM with an Ask PC Gamer badge in the top right](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/HtDffM86hEHAyEwi8Udq7Q-320-80.jpg)
What are XMP and EXPO profiles and how do I use them?
By Jacob Ridley last updated
Ask PC Gamer XMP and EXPO profiles automatically set your system RAM to higher frequencies. Here's how to do it.
![Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro and Logitech G Pro X Superlight gaming mouses](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/zEsdP3hviD4YynHRUPZ2yS-320-80.jpg)
Best wireless gaming mouse in 2024: no tails on these rodents
By Dave James last updated
Unbound Let go of the tethers and embrace the freedom of living life cable free.
![The Asus ROG Swift OLED PG49WCD set up on a gaming desk.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/nuXTDFusaajiUgsia9qx94-320-80.jpg)
Asus ROG Swift OLED PG49WCD review
By Jacob Ridley published
Ultra OLED The ultimate OLED gaming screen? Probably, but the panel technology still has drawbacks.
![The Nvidia GeForce Experience login screen.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/d6wmJArCGnWUZfk5pjX28h-320-80.jpg)
Nvidia's new desktop app doesn't require you to login: 'your identity isn't essential to this experience'
By Jacob Ridley published
News You can access pretty much all of the features included in the Nvidia App without making an Nvidia account.
![Sons of the Forest pickaxe location](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/5XjSqZb8jW4YVEihBpLMcf-320-80.jpg)
Nvidia's game filter for RTX GPUs lets you enable HDR in games that never supported it
By Jacob Ridley published
News Works with any RTX 20-series or newer graphics card and on games running DirectX 9–12 or Vulkan.
![Nvidia Shadowplay with new 120fps recording option](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/aGLMjeGsYoFh2XYfGf5cyL-320-80.jpg)
Shadowplay can now capture games at 120 fps and gets a new look in the Nvidia App
By Jacob Ridley published
News Do most need to capture at 120 fps? Probably not, but it's nice to have the option.
![Nvidia's new software, the Nvidia App, open on the desktop](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/zNaKTJ5XnoLUzwJ8MbNBdc-320-80.jpg)
The new Nvidia App killing GeForce Experience: new overlay, system monitoring, 120fps capture, and lets you add HDR to any game
By Jacob Ridley published
News The Nvidia App is currently in beta but will also replace the Nvidia Control Panel eventually.
![A collection of electronics on a gaming desk.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/q9BNvnQhW63ieFmKz6NumA-320-80.jpg)
I'm calling time on stick drift and getting Hall effect in every one of my controllers in 2024
By Jacob Ridley published
Drifting away I never want to experience stick drift again in my life, and Hall effect is an easy answer.