
Jacob Ridley
Jacob earned his first byline writing for his own tech blog, before graduating to breaking things professionally at PCGamesN, where he was one half of a popular weekly YouTube show. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, Jacob is now managing editor of the hardware team, and you'll usually find him testing the latest components or building a gaming PC. He says he's determined to build a fort as big as a house out of case boxes. Jacob enjoys heading out of the office to report from floors, benches, and, if he's lucky, plush press rooms at the biggest tech shows, such as Computex and CES.
When he's not writing about components, you'll find Jacob trying to get away from the modern world as fast as possible by bike and pitching up camp in murky woods.
Latest articles by Jacob Ridley

I take my game library with me when I travel and there's no reason to miss out with these Black Friday handheld gaming PC deals
By Jacob Ridley published
Black Friday You don't need to spend lots to play your PC games on the go.

(Sold out) RAM prices are ridiculous but Newegg is literally giving sticks away with this AM5 motherboard—easily the best Black Friday motherboard deal
By Jacob Ridley last updated
Black Friday What a deal in today's market, and it's still going strong on Black Friday.

Wooting is giving away a travel case and wrist rest this Black Friday when you buy the pro gamer's weapon of choice, the Wooting 60HE+
By Jacob Ridley published
Black Friday Analog switches and a neat little carry case.

The Hyte Thicc Q60 is the most ridiculous liquid cooler I've ever used and it's now over half off for Black Friday
By Jacob Ridley published
Black Friday A liquid cooler with its very own screen, processor, and even RAM.

It's that time of year when you can pick up Crucial's budget PCIe 5.0 SSD for the same price as a PCIe 4.0 drive
By Jacob Ridley published
Black Friday 1 TB for $90. Or 2 TB for $140.

My biggest problem with this compact ROG keyboard was the price. Now it's at its lowest ever on Amazon, I'm back to singing its praises
By Jacob Ridley published
Black Friday It has excellent and unusual media controls.

I build loads of gaming PCs and this is the first to make me regret my decisions with my own personal rig—here's what you need to build it yourself
By Jacob Ridley published
Chilly Tinted glass makes everything look better.

Best gaming monitors in 2025: the pixel-perfect panels I'd buy myself
By Dave James published
Eye candy The best gaming monitors balance price with panel quality, resolution and refresh rate.

Five things I always tell people before they buy their first gaming chair
By Jacob Ridley published
Saddle up I've been testing gaming chairs for eight years, and here's what I always tell people looking to buy one.

Best wireless gaming mouse in 2025: These are the rodents I love getting my mitts on
By Dave James last updated
Unbound Let go of the tethers and embrace the freedom of living life cable-free.

Best gaming mouse in 2025: I've tested the very best mice and these are my top picks
By Dave James last updated
Pinpoint The best gaming mouse for every game, budget, grip, and size.

Best wireless gaming headsets in 2025: the top cans I'd buy myself
By Dave James last updated
Untethered The best wireless gaming headsets allow you to enjoy your games and music tangle-free.

Best CPU for gaming in 2025: These are the chips I recommend for gaming, productivity, and peace of mind
By Jacob Ridley last updated
Happy Cores Fire up your rig with the best CPU for gaming. More cores, more clocks, more of everything that matters.

How much is that Steam Machine in the window? Let's talk potential pricing for Valve's new living room gaming box
By Jacob Ridley published
Steam Savings We don't know the price of the Steam Machine—but we can take a pretty good guess.

Best PC joysticks in 2025: These are my top picks for everything from flight sims to space shooters
By Dave James last updated
Locked On The best PC joysticks take you to new heights.

How grip sensing was added to the new Steam Controller is a 'typical Valve story' involving a passionate employee moving desks
By Jacob Ridley last updated
News One Valve employee essentially made it happen.

Valve recommends sharing your game library on microSD card between Steam Deck, Steam Frame, and Steam Machine: 'They're fully interoperable, just bring it along with you'
By Jacob Ridley published
News Saves downloading them all again.

Valve announces the Steam Controller and it's genuinely good: 'we knew we needed to make this controller'
By Jacob Ridley last updated
News The new Steam Controller is a smart way to play PC games on the sofa, stealing the Steam Deck's clever controls.

Valve on viral marketing and leaks: 'Everybody assumes we have some sort of like grand plan... and it's literally just somebody fat fingering something'
By Jacob Ridley published
News You're probably thinking about this sort of stuff a lot more than Valve is.

Foveated streaming is the genius tech behind Valve's Steam Frame and its seamless wireless gaming performance
By Jacob Ridley published
News Making wireless VR truly possible.

Valve is all over Arm: SteamOS launching for Arm alongside the Steam Frame, new FEX translation layer for x86 and Arm, and Arm games are coming to Steam
By Jacob Ridley published
News Now Arm is Valve's best friend.

Valve believes its new Steam Machine could open up a whole new world of SteamOS desktops: 'Put it on, say, something that's running an RX 9070 XT, you would be good to go'
By Jacob Ridley published
News "We're really interested to see what other companies do with the form factor."
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.




