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
![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.
![Images of Nvidia's Blackwell GPU from GTC.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/b6eLaaVWBjgus7NJqF32zW-320-80.jpg)
Nvidia had already sold tens of thousands of Blackwell GPUs before the next-gen architecture was announced
By Jacob Ridley published
News What's that old adage again? "The more you buy, the more you save."
![Images of Nvidia's Blackwell GPU from GTC.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/tCAFND4AA2pfArrBZofWeW-320-80.jpg)
Nvidia CEO brings out a monster dual-GPU Blackwell chip at GTC: here's what it tells us about the next GeForce graphics cards
By Jacob Ridley published
News "It's just one giant chip," says CEO Huang.
![High refresh buying guide header with two of the best high refresh rate gaming monitors and a PC Gamer recommends badge.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/w4cfvUWda5Wcm2UqcKFrc8-320-80.jpg)
Best high refresh rate gaming monitor in 2024
By Jacob Ridley last updated
How Refreshing Don't dawdle with one of the best high refresh rate gaming monitors around.
![Asus ROG Zephryus G14 on a desk with the PC Gamer Editor's Pick badge](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/NA4BgrkjgeGLR6gXtUngP6-320-80.png)
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024) review
By Jacob Ridley published
Better than ever AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 (90W) | 32GB LPDDR5X | 1TB SSD | OLED | $2,000 | £2,400
![An image of a headcrab jumping out towards a player in Half-Life 2 RTX.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/tg3pKhyKgMuuwBpoiBSqVY-320-80.jpg)
RTX Remix 'is the great equaliser' bringing veteran and hobbyist devs together to remaster the most beloved and best PC games
By Jacob Ridley published
Remix/Remake The modding platform created by Nvidia is bringing together teams from across the globe to reimagine classic games.
![PARIS, FRANCE - JUNE 16: Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of Twitter, Elon Musk attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre on June 16, 2023 in Paris, France. Elon Musk is visiting Paris for the VivaTech show where he gives a conference in front of 4,000 technology enthusiasts. He also took the opportunity to meet Bernard Arnaud, CEO of LVMH and the French President. Emmanuel Macron, who has already met Elon Musk twice in recent months, hopes to convince him to set up a Tesla battery factory in France, his pioneer company in electric cars. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/XkbW2TPx2hzBUCxrPu7h6Q-320-80.jpg)
Elon Musk calls OpenAI 'a lie' after announcing plans to make his 'spicy' ChatGPT rival open-source this week
By Jacob Ridley published
News Grok is made by xAI and is available for users on X, but 'don’t use it if you hate humor'.
![A screenshot of two NPCs talking under a yellow light in Cyberpunk 2077.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/zcKdSnFiWtR6enz48tF6VX-320-80.jpg)
Convai aims to put an end to basic 'one-line' NPCs with AI but says it 'needs more high quality writers and artists, not less' to get it done
By Jacob Ridley published
Chatty bots I chat to the CEO of Convai, an AI platform that empowers videogame NPCs with personalities.
![Gigabyte G5 (2023) gaming laptop on a white desk](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/6WiQugkAwbJKW8drrDcBiJ-320-80.jpg)
Oregon just passed the most powerful right to repair legislation yet in the US
By Jacob Ridley published
News The law would ban the practice of parts pairing from 2025, and once in place will make repairs much easier for customers.
![Bykski CR-RD120RC-TN-V2](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/FtwUhrDCAq6vvHRBgEZhtj-320-80.jpg)
Destructive testing of six liquid cooling radiators reveals some don't match the marketing
By Jacob Ridley published
News In-depth testing by Igor's Lab shows brass used instead of copper within some radiators, among other complaints.
![An image of TridentZ RAM with an Ask PC Gamer badge in the top right](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/HtDffM86hEHAyEwi8Udq7Q-320-80.jpg)
What are XMP and EXPO profiles and how do I use them?
By Jacob Ridley last updated
Ask PC Gamer XMP and EXPO profiles automatically set your system RAM to higher frequencies. Here's how to do it.
![The Asus ROG Swift OLED PG49WCD set up on a gaming desk.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/nuXTDFusaajiUgsia9qx94-320-80.jpg)
Asus ROG Swift OLED PG49WCD review
By Jacob Ridley published
Ultra OLED The ultimate OLED gaming screen? Probably, but the panel technology still has drawbacks.
![The Nvidia GeForce Experience login screen.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/d6wmJArCGnWUZfk5pjX28h-320-80.jpg)
Nvidia's new desktop app doesn't require you to login: 'your identity isn't essential to this experience'
By Jacob Ridley published
News You can access pretty much all of the features included in the Nvidia App without making an Nvidia account.
![Sons of the Forest pickaxe location](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/5XjSqZb8jW4YVEihBpLMcf-320-80.jpg)
Nvidia's game filter for RTX GPUs lets you enable HDR in games that never supported it
By Jacob Ridley published
News Works with any RTX 20-series or newer graphics card and on games running DirectX 9–12 or Vulkan.
![Nvidia Shadowplay with new 120fps recording option](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/aGLMjeGsYoFh2XYfGf5cyL-320-80.jpg)
Shadowplay can now capture games at 120 fps and gets a new look in the Nvidia App
By Jacob Ridley published
News Do most need to capture at 120 fps? Probably not, but it's nice to have the option.
![Nvidia's new software, the Nvidia App, open on the desktop](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/zNaKTJ5XnoLUzwJ8MbNBdc-320-80.jpg)
The new Nvidia App killing GeForce Experience: new overlay, system monitoring, 120fps capture, and lets you add HDR to any game
By Jacob Ridley published
News The Nvidia App is currently in beta but will also replace the Nvidia Control Panel eventually.
![A collection of electronics on a gaming desk.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/q9BNvnQhW63ieFmKz6NumA-320-80.jpg)
I'm calling time on stick drift and getting Hall effect in every one of my controllers in 2024
By Jacob Ridley published
Drifting away I never want to experience stick drift again in my life, and Hall effect is an easy answer.
![Alan Wake 2](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/eZZQmoA8VVgn4z5PWiibjX-320-80.jpg)
This real-world Angel Lamp from Alan Wake 2 actually works to make you feel like you're stuck in a horror novel of your own creation
By Jacob Ridley published
News If only Wake had an Alexa compatible lamp in the Dark Place.
![The AceZone A-Spire gaming headset on a grey background.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/bvhaaFA4z8xAeqjkqsKRA9-320-80.jpg)
AceZone A-Spire review
By Jacob Ridley published
Stay focused Competitive gamers, look no further. And if you're prone to gaming in loud spots, this is the noise-cancelling headset you need.
![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.
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