Skip to main content
PC Gamer PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Games
  • Hardware
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Guides
  • Video
  • Forum
  • More
    • PC Gaming Show
    • Software
    • Movies & TV
    • Codes
    • Coupons
    • Magazine
    • Newsletter
    • Affiliate links
    • Meet the team
    • Community guidelines
    • About PC Gamer
PC Gamer Magazine Subscription
PC Gamer Magazine Subscription
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$32.49
Subscribe now
Popular
  • Battlefield 6
  • Essential Hardware
  • WoW Midnight
  • Silksong
  • Quizzes
Don't miss these
An air cooler from Noctua and a liquid cooler from Arctic on a blue background with the PC Gamer Recommended badge in the upper right.
Cooling Best CPU coolers in 2025: I've tested the latest liquid coolers and air coolers to find the very best for your CPU
An image showing two retail packaging boxes for AMD Ryzen processors against a green gradient background and a PC Gamer Recommended logo in the corner.
Processors Best CPU for gaming in 2025: These are the chips I recommend for gaming, productivity, and peace of mind
MSI MAG X870 Tomahawk WiFi and Asus ROG Maximum Z790 Hero gaming motherboards on a green background with a PC Gamer Recommended label
Motherboards Best gaming motherboards in 2025: these are the AMD and Intel mobos I'd build a system around today
Minisforum AtomMan G7 PT mini PC and AtomMan Venus UM790 mini PCs
Gaming PCs Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most
Two PC cases on a yellow background with the PC Gamer recommends badge in the upper right corner.
PC Cases The best PC cases in 2025: These are the chassis I'd use for my next gaming build
Two of the best 4K gaming monitors, the MSI MPG 321URX QD-OLED and the LG UltraGear 27GR93U on a grey background with the PC Gamer recommended logo in the top right corner
Gaming Monitors Best 4K gaming monitors in 2025: the ultra hi-res panels I highly recommend
Two of the best Hall effect keyboards on a blue background with the PC Gamer recommends logo in the top right.
Gaming Keyboards Best Hall effect keyboards in 2025: the fastest, most customizable keyboards for competitive gaming
The Velocity Micro Raptor ES40 and HP Omen 35L gaming PCs on a blue background with the PC Gamer recommended badge in the top right corner
Gaming PCs Best gaming PCs in 2025: these are the rigs and brands I recommend today
Best gaming monitors on a green background with the PC Gamer Recommends badge in the top right of the image
Gaming Monitors Best gaming monitors in 2025: the pixel-perfect panels I'd buy myself
Midas in Tokyo during the 2025 PC Gaming Show Tokyo Direct.
Games PC Gaming Show Tokyo Direct live coverage – all the reveals and trailers
A GameSir Nova Lite and Gamesir G7 Pro pair of controllers against a coloured background with a PC Gamer recommended logo
Controllers Best PC controllers in 2025: the pads I recommend for PC gamers
MSI Vector 16 HX AI and Razer Blade 16 gaming laptops on a blue background with a PC Gamer logo in the foreground
Gaming Laptops Best gaming laptop 2025: I've had my hands on the best laptops for gaming of this generation and these are the ones I recommend
The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI on a teal deals background
Gaming Laptops I've admired this OLED-equipped Acer gaming laptop on my travels and now it's down to $1,200 I reckon it's a bit of a bargain
MSI gaming mice, keyboard, controller and headset
Hardware Cutting-edge gaming with MSI
An iBuyPower Slate gaming PC on a pink background
Gaming PCs $1,099 for an RTX 5070 gaming PC this Amazon October Prime Day is giving me hope for our frighteningly expensive hobby
  1. Hardware

The Hardware We Love

Features
By Maximum PC Staff ( Maximum PC ) published 20 February 2013

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Maximum PC's Best of the Best Updated

Today is February 14th, otherwise known as Valentines Day , but we're not here to share chocolate and roses. No, our true love is in computer hardware ! We couldn't think of a better way to share the hardware we love than to give our Best of the Best section a big update.

This time around we've updated five categories: best mid tower case, best water cooler, best headphones and we've added two new sections: best ultraportable and best gaming notebook.

You can preview the new items we've added to our esteemed list in the gallery below, but if you haven't checked out the section in a while and are wondering what we think is currently the Best of the Best, click here . Agree/Disagree with our listings? Let us know in the comments!

Best Headphones: Razer Tiamat 7.1 Gaming Headset
If you're looking for a headset with great surround sound, look no further than the Kick Ass Razer Tiamat 7.1 Gaming Headset. The Tiamat also has powerful bass and is super comfortable.

Page 1 of 5
Page 1 of 5

Best Chassis: Thermaltake New Soprano
Chassis fans running at high RPMs can get loud, but the Kick Ass Thermaltake New Soprano case does a great job with soundproofing. The chassis also offers good cooling, easy installation, and slick aesthetics. It's also very affordable to boot.

Page 2 of 5
Page 2 of 5

Best Water Cooler: Corsair H80i
The H80i is the best-performing cooler we've reviewed yet. Yes, this includes double radiator coolers like the Corsair H100. Even more impressive is that it works with Corsair's Link cooling software, which allows you to customize the cool LED light based on temperatures and adjust fan RPMs on the fly. It is indeed one Kick Ass cooler!

Page 3 of 5
Page 3 of 5

Best Ultraportable: Acer Aspire S7
Acer's Aspire S7 really puts the "ultra" in Ultrabook. The notebook is beautiful, well-built, and offers impressive performance. Did we mention it has a gorgeous IPS touchscreen display?

Page 4 of 5
Page 4 of 5

Best Gaming Notebook: Maingear Nomad 15
The Maingear Nomad 15 is one awesome gaming notebook. It's got a beautiful 1920x1080 display and is uber powerful. It allows you to play the super graphically intensive game Far Cry 3 on "high" settings at 1080p with relative ease. What more could you ask for from a portable PC?

Page 5 of 5
Page 5 of 5
Maximum PC Staff
Read more
A compact gaming PC on a desk with various parts on show.
This is all the best PC gaming gear we recommend in one techie tier list
 
 
AMD, Secretlab, Skytech, Zotac products composited on a pink gradient background
Best October Prime Day Deals Live — The best PC gaming hardware deals still live
 
 
An Asus laptop, Intel CPU box, and Acer monitor on a blue background
I've sifted through hundreds of offers and here are my 7 favorite Labor Day PC gaming deals
 
 
Labor Day Header
Labor Day PC gaming deals 2025: the best bargains available today
 
 
The Velocity Micro Raptor ES40 and HP Omen 35L gaming PCs on a blue background with the PC Gamer recommended badge in the top right corner
Best gaming PCs in 2025: these are the rigs and brands I recommend today
 
 
A hand attempting to install a graphics card that's too big for the PC case.
Everything that grinds our gears about PC gaming in 2025
 
 
Latest in Hardware
Gigabyte MO34WQC2 ultrawide OLED gaming monitor
OLED monitors are the perfect match for any speedy gaming PC and if you're eyeballing a new ultrawide, we've just crowned a new champion for you to consider
 
 
A Gigabyte MO34WQC2 QD-OLED ultrawide gaming monitor on a teal deals background
A massive $370 has been knocked off the price of our new favorite ultrawide OLED gaming monitor and it's a 240 Hz curved beauty
 
 
MSI RTX 5090 Suprim SOC graphics card on a grey background with a gradient
MSI denies selling selling the RTX 5090 in China after pictures surface showing giant pallets of the restricted GPUs in the country
 
 
Adata XPG Lancer RGB DDR5-6000
Uh oh, it's happening: ADATA chairman says the perfect storm of simultaneous DRAM, SSD and HDD shortages is already upon us and it looks like prices are only going in one direction
 
 
A custom DIY walnut wooden ITX PC case by MXC Builds
If anything were to convince me to try out carpentry it would be this gorgeous DIY mini walnut PC case housing an Asus ProArt RTX 5080
 
 
Creative Pebble Pro PC speakers
Creative Pebble Pro speaker review
 
 
Latest in Features
Tanuki in tanuki pons summer with his hands in the air smiling
Between mail delivery, minigames, and BMX tricks, the demo of Tanuki: Pon's Summer feels like it was made specifically for me
 
 
OpenAI logo on some cash.
When will the AI bubble burst? As OpenAI signs yet another megabucks deal with Broadcom, can anyone make sense of the trillions of dollars involved?
 
 
Ion Hazzikostas, WoW game director
World of Warcraft director admits it's too hard without combat mods and explains how bosses will change in Midnight: 'We're not looking to turn all our raid encounters into giant puzzles for people to solve'
 
 
A warrior stands with an axe slung over their shoulder in Final Fantasy 14.
Final Fantasy 14's latest patch finally has me excited to log into Dawntrail again—I just wish it didn't take Square Enix 15 months to get here
 
 
Ama looking in a mirror.
Blumhouse's latest horror game Sleep Awake is the first psychological horror I've enjoyed in a hot minute
 
 
a screenshot from Carimara: Beneath the forlorn limbs showing a strange looking man in a tavern
Five new Steam games you probably missed (October 13, 2025)
 
 
  1. Don't compromise on power or portability with the best gaming laptops.
    1
    Best gaming laptop 2025: I've had my hands on the best laptops for gaming of this generation and these are the ones I recommend
  2. 2
    Best SSD for gaming in 2025: the fastest and the best value solid state drives to perk up your PC
  3. 3
    Best Hall effect keyboards in 2025: the fastest, most customizable keyboards for competitive gaming
  4. 4
    Best PCIe 5.0 SSD for gaming in 2025: the only Gen 5 drives I will allow in my PC
  5. 5
    Best graphics cards in 2025: I've tested pretty much every AMD and Nvidia GPU of the past 20 years and these are today's top cards
  1. Sam Fisher pointing a gun
    1
    Splinter Cell: Deathwatch review: Netflix's animated series brings Sam Fisher out of retirement
  2. 2
    Creative Pebble Pro speaker review
  3. 3
    Lofree Flow 2 mechanical keyboard review
  4. 4
    Razer Wolverine V3 Pro 8K PC controller review
  5. 5
    ASRock X870 Nova WiFi motherboard review

PC Gamer is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...