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
![Intel Core i9 14900K CPU on a box and inside a motherboard socket.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/7tjpjrMrVubLmHVzSRuFFB-320-80.jpg)
Intel Core i9 14900KS surfaces ahead of release with claims to a 6.2GHz Turbo and peak wattage to make your graphics card jealous
By Jacob Ridley published
News It's likely that Intel is gearing up the so-far-unannounced processor for release in the next few months.
![Nvidia's Chat with RTX software in use, which offers a personally trained LLM.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/XJLWdxaP8i9bu6hn5tqxhL-320-80.jpg)
I created a highly personalised large language model with Nvidia's entertaining Chat with RTX app but at 60GB+ I'm now beginning to wonder if it's worth keeping around
By Jacob Ridley published
News Chat with RTX is available to download and works with most RTX 40/30-series GPUs.
![Animation of a 3D scan of a Roman scroll.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/54TmZp45FM8uEJ2eYgjMxN-320-80.jpg)
Machine learning means we can read a 2,000-year-old carbonized scroll buried by Mount Vesuvius and turns out it's all about the pleasures of stuffing your face
By Jacob Ridley published
News You'd think this task nearly impossible by looking at the state of these scrolls.
![A demo showing RTX Video HDR in action.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/7yF7ru8jMBJsEsyj6nFNJA-320-80.jpg)
Mod to add HDR to non-HDR games on RTX GPUs is built out of hidden settings in Nvidia's latest drivers
By Jacob Ridley published
News Users are reporting the mod is actually better than Microsoft's AutoHDR option.
![A person wearing an Apple Vision Pro headset](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/VPwZLxnLJuYgT7LxhbsyWD-320-80.jpg)
Viral clip of Tesla driver wearing Apple Vision Pro leads US gov to remind everyone 'self-driving' cars don't mean you can take your eyes off the road
By Jacob Ridley published
News Try this at home, not the highway.
![PowerColor Hellhound RX 7600 XT graphics card on a red background,](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/WVpcLARX8qX4rhtXKpzjb5-320-80.jpg)
AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT review
By Jacob Ridley published
Better options More memory is nice, but not worth the price AMD's asking.
![The ZX Spectrum with a colourful background.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ZWcjPHrjfgScxVYU4AEwmA-320-80.jpg)
Ray tracing made possible on 42-year-old ZX Spectrum: 'reasonably fast, if you consider 17 hours per frame to be reasonably fast'
By Jacob Ridley published
Trace back The 1980s computer produces surprisingly gorgeous ray-traced results, but be prepared to measure performance by hour rather than second.
![Drop + Xduoo TA-84 OTL Tube Amp/DAC set-up on a desk.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/KVFy6BqNYTYmtDEQeJkfSW-320-80.jpg)
Drop + Xduoo TA-84 OTL Tube Amp/DAC review
By Jacob Ridley published
Listen up Tubes never go out of fashion.
![Water cooling kit for the Raspberry Pi 5 installed on the small device.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/2sq7an4KmZtnp6GGQpeqHF-320-80.jpg)
The plucky Raspberry Pi 5 gets the full liquid treatment with this slightly absurd water cooling kit
By Jacob Ridley published
News You need to have a pretty good reason to want to liquid cool a Raspberry Pi.
![Elon Musk, billionaire and chief executive officer of Tesla, at the Viva Tech fair in Paris, France, on Friday, June 16, 2023. Musk predicted his Neuralink Corp. would carry out its first brain implant later this year.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/YYStvSEZRHkogwkVFWbZKK-320-80.jpg)
Elon Musk's Neuralink has stuck a device in someone's brain and he's already talking up its theoretical uses: 'Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist'
By Jacob Ridley published
News Transhumanism can wait. For now, Neuralink's first human patient is "recovering well".
![Using the MSI Claw at CES 2024.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/NvWemKdBFrZX22oYaZ5Npd-320-80.jpg)
MSI's new Claw handheld goes head to head with Lenovo and Asus at $700
By Jacob Ridley published
News Though you only get the pared back Intel Meteor Lake chip for that money.
![Two of the best power supply units for PC gaming from Corsair and Seasonic](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/YU9Dfa3tFnxyxr9iy2F4DD-320-80.jpg)
Best power supply for PC gaming in 2024
By Aristeidis Bitziopoulos last updated
Power play Watt's the best power supply unit for PC gaming? Best PSU puns, FTW!
![The model badge showing the working memory of 128K of an early Apple Macintosh Model M0001, as they celebrate 40th anniversary, is on display at the independent Apple products store chain Amac, on January 24, 2024 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Based on the Motorola 68000 microprocessor, the Macintosh was the first successful mouse-driven computer with a graphical user interface.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/3JrYNkY3dMHhRUQpqGbL7K-320-80.jpg)
The PC's greatest nemesis was born 40 years ago today
By Jacob Ridley published
News The Apple Macintosh was unveiled on this day 40 years ago, but ignoring the PC/Mac feud it's an awesome piece of tech worth celebrating.
![Bill Gates, billionaire and co-chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, during a panel session on day two of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024. The annual Davos gathering of political leaders, top executives and celebrities runs from January 15 to 19.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/bX24VN3869fjsTx6NS59U4-320-80.jpg)
'The key thing is that the good guys have better AIs than the bad guys' says Microsoft founder Bill Gates on the threat from artificial intelligence
By Jacob Ridley published
News 'If the good guys' cyber defence AI is as good or better than the bad guys' cyber attack AI, then that's a good situation.'
![Secretlab's latest gaming chair, the Titan Evo Lite, in front of a gaming PC setup.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/BrsWtB4H58AutyKhFoDdMb-320-80.jpg)
Secretlab's launching a slightly cheaper version of the excellent Titan Evo, starting at $449
By Jacob Ridley published
News The Titan Lite is stripped of a couple features to shave a modicum of expense.
![The Lenovo Legion Go on a red background and playing Sonic.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/H9eokCdbCQELCcRawDu7wK-320-80.jpg)
Lenovo Legion Go review
By Jacob Ridley published
On the Go A handheld gaming PC made bigger, which makes sense once you detach the controllers and sit back.
![Disney's omnidirectional floor.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Znbh99UZ5TXAfvwx5GqAyX-320-80.jpg)
Disney looks to have figured out a limitless VR floor prototype that's a careful step towards a real-world holodeck
By Jacob Ridley published
News They call it the HoloTile and it's up and running over at Disney Research.
![GitHub's Svalbard code vault facility.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/jFBJZDkqG4egccgp8UEfVP-320-80.jpg)
GitHub has a copy of every open source project in its database during 2020 located deep inside a frozen mine
By Jacob Ridley published
News Humans may go, but open source lives forever.
![PC cases from Corsair and NZXT](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/wEJkzQRis9DQFiUhu8357K-320-80.jpg)
The best PC cases in 2024
By Dave James last updated
Best Case You'll want the best PC case if you're building your perfect gaming PC.
![Someone holding a module of LPCAMM at CES 2024.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/DzC8d33QyPEDfQjBUALSDW-320-80.jpg)
Low-profile memory module headed to laptops might be destined for desktops too
By Jacob Ridley published
News The CAMM2 memory module standard would effectively replace 'sticks' of RAM in laptops. Maybe some desktops, too.
![The CES logo on display at the show.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/tS9pSoXGH8XGnm6WV32cwM-320-80.png)
After a deluge of AI-powered products CES 2024 is making it tougher than ever to define what AI actually is
By Jacob Ridley published
AI, eh? Algorithms, automation, and smart features—what does it really mean to have a product powered by AI?
![Samsung's 3D/2D gaming monitor on show at CES 2024.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/uZBqjzqZEo4BC6LfkJfw4Y-320-80.jpg)
I just played Lies of P on Samsung's glasses-free 3D gaming monitor—and it definitely beats a 3D TV
By Jacob Ridley published
CES 2024 Lies of P looks darn good in 3D.
![Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 at CES 2024.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/8cyxSGqhM47ZMhuiudbKME-320-80.jpg)
I saw many gaming laptops at CES 2024 but the redesigned Zephyrus G14 is my pick of the bunch
By Jacob Ridley published
CES 2024 A change worth making.