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 aerial view of Samsung's upcoming Taylor Texas fab site.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/owFUE22gjtAUJJka6Tgr53-320-80.jpg)
US promises Samsung $6.4B to build more chips on US soil, which only increases the chance of a Made in USA GPU at some point
By Jacob Ridley published
News Samsung, TSMC, and Intel are all big benefactors from the CHIPS and Science Act cash the US Government is throwing around right now.
![A screengrab of a video showing someone removing the casing from a semiconductor under a microscope.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/HKeDsUngUQbUnWWG6D7Mt3-320-80.jpg)
My top TikTok account of the minute: this 'guy with two microscopes' that peeps inside computer chips
By Jacob Ridley published
News Ready for your close-up?
![The Glorious D 2 Pro 4KHz/8KHz gaming mouse on a desk.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/yVNq4ksC8WrSYEtBj8DUAm-320-80.jpg)
Glorious Model D 2 Pro 4K/8KHz Edition review
By Jacob Ridley published
8K 8,000 Hz polling is wasted on me.
![The Nextorage X Series 2TB drive on a desk.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/maWNGgYgdYhfHSenjTNrck-320-80.jpg)
Nextorage X Series (NN5PRO) 2TB review
By Jacob Ridley published
Cost per GB The fastest SSD for random reads/writes we've ever tested, but for what purpose?
![A Scuf Envision Pro controller on a desk](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/FrubAyLacnu2R7mWpwzxUk-320-80.jpg)
Scuf Envision Pro controller review
By Jacob Ridley published
PC first A high-end controller actually designed for PC gaming.
![Google Earth images of TSMC's Fab 21 construction in Arizona over the span of two years.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ASbkZkKjvPJSXzWQBHYMmh-320-80.jpg)
President Biden says he'll hand $6.6 billion to world's largest chipmaker to stick around and expand in Arizona
By Jacob Ridley published
News That's CHIPS Act cash headed into TSMC's pocket, and in return it'll build not one but three fabs in Arizona.
![Intel Arc A750 Limited Edition graphics card](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/gYoU3QZJsLeuE7SNF5zqam-320-80.png)
Intel Battlemage reportedly headed our way before Black Friday
By Jacob Ridley published
News That's sometime before November 29, for non-Americans or reluctant capitalists.
![Google headquarters is seen in Mountain View, California, United States on September 26, 2022.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/hF9CqPG4h4hmTkKtVQ9FkX-320-80.jpg)
Google sums up 2023's security exploits: the good news is fixes are blocking some types of zero-day attack. The bad news is Windows has seen more than most
By Jacob Ridley published
News 2023 also saw a greater number of zero-day attacks in the wild than 2022, but still fewer than 2021.
![A controller in the style of the Mysterious Artefact from Baldur's Gate 3, created by Rudeism.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/cLBhSKPfVWxK9xdnxSDR6n-320-80.jpg)
This custom controller builder is making one in the shape of the Mysterious Artefact from Baldur's Gate 3, and it mostly works
By Jacob Ridley published
News Shadowheart approves.
![Razer Blade 14 gaming laptop on a desk.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/YqsyoyGrBvstxVCx5PpDre-320-80.jpg)
Razer Blade 14 (2024) review
By Jacob Ridley published
Nice 'n' pricey AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 (140W) | 32GB DDR5 | 1TB SSD | $2,700 | £2,700
![The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. logo atop a building at the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. TSMC is scheduled to release earnings results on Oct. 19.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/K9uYnQH7zFqsKZ4cLofDfn-320-80.jpg)
Major Taiwan earthquake temporarily halts production at Nvidia and AMD chipmaker
By Jacob Ridley published
News The earthquake is one of the largest in Taiwan's history, leaving at least seven dead and more trapped.
![Lexar Play 2230 1TB SSD on top of a Steam Deck.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/UnnKHrxQenMQ6WeBntmNcP-320-80.jpg)
Lexar Play 2230 1TB SSD review
By Jacob Ridley published
Handheld upgrade For a Steam Deck, ROG Ally, or Legion Go SSD update, look no further than the impressive Play 2230.
![The ROG Falchion RX gaming keyboard in white set up on a desk.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/gpkiy3GUKss9yZ5jYYYNWL-320-80.jpg)
Asus ROG Falchion RX Low Profile review
By Jacob Ridley published
Tiny champ A gaming keyboard with a lot to offer considering its small stature.
![Gale the wizard grins](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/wuLX9Dr3mxSN73QuuzBqkd-320-80.jpg)
Snapdragon X Elite spotted running Baldur's Gate 3 at around 30fps, supporting claims that Windows games 'just work' on ARM chip
By Jacob Ridley published
News Qualcomm's chip might be good for a spot of gaming on the go.
![An image showing Chinese custom officials with a haul of RX 580 graphics cards.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/4wpvXctr3oGDTfhHQnbFVV-320-80.jpg)
Man tries to smuggle seven-year-old AMD graphics cards through Chinese airport customs—all 44 of them
By Jacob Ridley published
News The RX 580 wasn't even all that expensive new.
![SteamOS on multiple handheld gaming PCs](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/mmdbL3LgZWp667Azmq32TC-320-80.jpg)
Phil Spencer, forever the optimist, hints that he's interested in a Microsoft version of Big Picture Mode for handheld gaming PCs: 'I want my Legion Go to feel like an Xbox'
By Jacob Ridley published
News "The things that usually frustrate me are more Windows-based than device-based. Which is an area I feel some ownership of."
![Excavation of two around 5,000-year-old cattle burials.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/7CTbyGofthykypwTtLvqUa-320-80.jpg)
Intel's future multi billion dollar mega-fab is set smack-bang on top of multiple neolithic burial sites
By Jacob Ridley published
News More digging to come before the heavy machinery rolls in.
![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.
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