Australian PC Awards 2023 presents: the nominees for the best PC gear
All the finalists across every category revealed.
![Australian PC Awards 2023](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/GNeaRWnZnQMY4mbyydvT4o-320-80.jpg)
2022 won’t be forgotten quickly by PC fans! Over the course of that tumultuous year we witnessed a depressing continuation of scarcity and high pricing in some sectors, only for that to be reversed towards the end of the year for graphics cards – ever so briefly as crypto mining slowed GPU demand and saw availability go up again – only for Nvidia to wreck the whole ball game again by setting new standards for high prices.
Then, in the closing quarter of the year there was suddenly more to cheer about than we see in most years, as a flood of innovative and highly desirable gear was released, all seemingly at about the same time. Intel dropped its 13th Gen CPUs, regaining the fabled ‘gaming crown’, before AMD hit back just a few weeks later with Ryzen 7, levelling the field again. This also saw a maturation of Intel’s P+E core architecture – though we’re a little saddened to see the maximum number of P cores seems to be eight, for this generation at least.
2022 wound up with a still-not-over battle royale between the RTX 40 series and AMD’s supposedly sensibly priced 7900 cards. And we can tell you that as we choose finalists and winners for these awards, value has never been a more important consideration.
The same is true for every category. While the onwards march on innovation slowed slightly in some areas, companies did their best to keep us all excited with new technologies and features. The price, though, the price... Inflation has bitten hard, so as tech shoppers you and we here are all super mindful to chase value as a top priority.
It’s all a fascinating melting pot of things to consider, and the editorial teams here at Tech Radar, APC, PC PowerPlay, PC Gamer and Tom’s Guide have been engaged in careful debate, because when we choose finalists here – which we’re announcing today – as well as winners – which will come on March 10 – there’s so much to take into account.
Our awards cover all the main categories that affect the PC, as well as our special awards:
Excellence Award: Presented to the person, product or technology that advanced the PC more than any other in 2022.
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Gold Award: For the best overall company operating in the PC space for 2022. This list includes every one of the finalists across all the other categories – and has been carefully considered by our expert panel of judges.
And, for the first time we feel compelled to add a new category recognising the standout failures of the year – and in 2022 there were many. Thus we present the Epic Fail Award, and you’ll find our finalists for that one below.
So, with that we reveal the finalists for the latest round of the Australian PC Awards. Each product or company here has proven its chops, delivering gear that stands out, advances the PC scene and is something we think is a great choice for you to buy and enjoy.
I want to know what won!
And you will, quite soon in fact!
We'll be announcing all the winners right here on Friday, March 10, 2023.
See you on the big day!
Finalists: Best motherboard maker
Finalists: Best value motherboard
- MSI MAG B660 Tomahawk WIFI DDR4
- Asus TUF Gaming B660 Plus Wi-Fi D4
- Asrock B660 Pro RS
- Gigabyte B660I Aorus Pro DDR4
- Asrock B650E PG Riptide Wi-Fi DDR5
- Gigabyte B650M Aorus Elite AX
- MSI MAG B660M Mortar Max Wifi DDR4
- Asus Prime B660M-A Wi-Fi DDR4
Finalists: Best premium motherboard
- MSI MEG X670E Ace
- Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero
- Gigabyte X670 Aorus Elite AX
- Asrock X670E Taichi
- MSI MAG Z790 Tomahawk DDR4
- Asrock Z790 Steel Legend
- Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Master
- Asus ROG Strix Z790-I Gaming Wi-Fi
Finalists: Best video card maker
Finalists: Best value video card
- MSI GeForce RTX 3050 Gaming X
- Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 6400
- MSI Radeon RX 6650 XT Gaming X 8G
- Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3050 Gaming OC 8GB
- XFX Speedster MERC 308 RX 6650 XT
- Gigabyte Radeon RX 6500 XT Eagle
Finalists: Best premium video card
- Asus TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3090TI
- Asus ROG Strix RTX 4090 OC Edition
- MSI GeForce RTX 4080 16GB Suprim X
- Asus TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4080 OC Edition
- Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 XTX Vapor-X 24GB
Finalists: Best value CPU
Finalists: Best Mid-range CPU
Finalists: Best premium CPU
Finalists: Best internal storage maker
Finalists: Best external storage maker
Finalists: Best value laptop or 2-in-1
- Acer Enduro Urban N3
- Dynabook Tecra A40-K
- Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2
- Framework Laptop
- MSI Prestige 14Evo A12M
- Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2
- Dynabook E10-S
- Microsoft Surface Go 3
- Acer Aspire 5
- Dell Inspiron 15
- Acer Chromebook Spin 311
- Asus Vivobook 15
Finalists: Best premium laptop or 2-in-1
- MSI G76 Stealth
- Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio
- Asus Zephyrus M16
- Dell XPS 13 Plus
- Apple MacBook Air M2
- Dell XPS 15 (9520)
- LG Gram 2-in-1 16”
- Asus Zenbook 14X Space Edition
- Fujitsu Lifebook U9312
- Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X
- Asus Zephyrus Duo 16
- HP Envy x360 13.3-inch 2-in-1
- Microsoft Surface Pro 9
- Microsoft Surface Laptop 5
- Asus Vivobook Pro 16X OLED
Finalists: Best gaming laptop
- MSI GE76 Raider
- Asus ROG Zephyrus G15
- Razer Blade 17 (2022)
- Alienware x14
- Razer Blade 15
- Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 SE
- Asus ROG Zephyrus G14
- Aorus 17
- Asus ROG Zephyrus G15
- Asus ROG Zephyrus m16
- Asus ROG Flow Z13
- Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 16
- Lenovo Legion 5i Pro Gen 7
- Dell G15
- Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7620
Finalists: Best desktop PC builder
- Apple
- MSI
- HP
- Dell Inspiron Compact Desktop
- Mwave
- Leader
- PC Case Gear
- Intel
- Alienware
- Nzxt
- Lenovo
- Acer
- Aftershock PC
Finalists: Best memory maker
Finalists: Best cooling product
- Deep Cool CK560
- Deep Cool AK400
- DeepCool LS720 (360mm) AIO
- DeepCool LE500 CPU Cooler
- Be Quiet Pure Loop 2 FX
- Be Quiet Pure Rock 2 FX
- Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE
Finalists: Best monitor
- MSI Optix MAG281URF
- BenQ Mobiuz EX3210R
- Apple Studio Display
- Benq GW2785TC
- Alienware AW3423DW QD-OLED Gaming Monitor
- Samsung M8 Smart Monitor
- Acer Predator XB323QK
- Prism+ C315 Max
- Dell 32 4K UHD Gaming Monitor G3223Q
- Prism+ PG270 Ultra
- Samsung 55” Odyssey Ark
- LG UltraGear 48GQ900 OLED UHD 140Hz
- Benq Zowie 360Hz XL2566K
- LG 27GP950-B
Finalists: Best keyboard
Finalists: Best keyboard
- DeepCool KB500
- Corsair K70 RGB Pro
- Asus ROG Strix Scope RX TKL Wireless Deluxe
- Corsair K70 Pro Mini Wireless
- SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini
- Alienware AW510K
Finalists: Best mouse
- Logitech Lift Vertical Mouse
- Razer Huntsman Mini Analog
- Nzxt Lift
- Logitech MX Master 3S Wireless Mouse
- Corsair Katar Elite Wireless
- Microsoft Modern Mobile Mouse
- Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro
- Asus ROG Chakram X
Finalists: Best gaming headset
- SteelSeries Arctis 7+
- JBL Quantum 610 Wireless headset
- Asus ROG Delta S Wireless
- Alienware Tri-Mode AW920H
- JBL Quantum 810
- SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro
- HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless
Finalists: Best PC case
- Corsair iCUE 5000T RGB
- Be Quiet Pure Base 500 FX case
- Nzxt H7 Flow
- Cooler Master Cosmos C700M
- Corsair 1000D
- Fractal Design North
- Corsair iCUE 5000T RGB
- Be Quiet Pure Base 500 FX case
- Nzxt H7 Flow
- Cooler Master Cosmos C700M
- Corsair 1000D
- Fractal Design North
Finalists: Best router
- Asus ROG GT-AX6000
- TP Link Deco X73-DSL
- Synology RT6600ax
- Fritz!Box 4060
- Mercusys AX1800 Whole Home Mesh Wi-Fi System
- TP Link WiFi 6E Deco
- Asus Zenwifi XT12 Pro
- Draytek Vigor2927ax
- Synology Router WRX560
- Draytek Vigor2865ax
Finalists: Best reseller
- Aftershock PC
- Allied Gaming PC
- Austin
- BPCtech
- Centre Com
- Computer Alliance
- CPL Online
- IJK
- JW
- Mwave
- PC Case Gear
- PLE
- Scorptec
- TI Computers
- Umart
- MSY
Finalists: Excellence Award
For the person, product or technology that advanced the PC more than any other in 2022.
- AMD Ryzen 5800X3D / V-Cache
- Nvidia RTX 4090
- Nvidia DLSS 3
- QD OLED monitors
- Apple M2 CPU
- Wi-Fi 6E
- 10GbE LAN
- Intel 12th-Gen mobile CPUs
- Microsoft PC Game Pass
- Chiplet GPU
- Apple - M1 Ultra
Finalists: Gold Award
The company that impressed us the most, overall, in 2022.
This list comprises all of the companies that made the finalist lists, plus more that the editorial team felt deserved to be included.
- Acer
- Adata
- Aftershock
- Alienware
- Allied Gaming PC
- AMD
- Apple
- Asrock
- Asus
- Austin
- Be Quiet
- BenQ
- BPCtech
- Centre Com
- Computer Alliance
- Corsair
- CPL Online
- DeepCool
- Dell
- Draytek
- Dynabook
- Framework
- Fractal Design
- Fujitsu
- Gigabyte Aorus
- G.Skill
- Geil
- HP
- IJK
- Intel
- JW
- Kingston
- LaCie
- Leader
- Lenovo
- Logitech
- LG
- Microsoft
- MSI
- MSY
- Mwave
- Nvidia
- Nzxt
- PC Case Gear
- PLE
- PNY
- Powercolour
- Prism+
- Razer
- Samsung
- SanDisk
- Sapphire Technology
- Scorptec
- Seagate
- SteelSeries
- Synology
- Team Group
- Thermalright
- TI Computers
- TP-Link
- Umart
- WD
- XFX
- XPG
- Zotac
Finalists: Epic Fail
- NFTs
- The Metaverse
- GPU pricing and availability
- Optus + Medibank hacks
- Elon Musk
- No Steam Deck in Australia yet
- Google Stadia
- Crypto currency
- Nvidia RTX 4080 12GB Unlaunching
Last year's winners
See who won last year right here!