PC Gamer gift guide: Our favorite hardware, tried and tested
With all the major sales done and dusted, you might think that your holiday shopping list will be reduced to another pair of novelty socks or, at best, an Amazon gift card. To that, we say: “No way.”
Here at PC Gamer, we test hundreds of products every year. We dig deep. We min-max every test. We spend hours poring over benchmarks.
Every item on this list was tested by us
How we picked out the products on this list: These products are all things you’ll find in our “best of” roundups. We regularly update our lists of the best gaming gear, including best gaming laptops and best gaming monitors, with our favorite picks. We test everything ourselves, and our testers have decades of combined experience between them, so we know what we’re about.
Where’s this lengthy introduction leading? To our list of recommendations, of course. We can’t have you settling for less or buying some overpriced piece of uh, trash, when we’ve got this treasure trove of the best PC gaming gear ever right at our fingertips.
Whether you’re looking for the best graphics card ever to give your fps a major boost, or maybe the best microphone so your Discord buddies can stop complaining every time you speak, you’re in luck. We’ve tested it all, and this here is a list of our favorite gaming hardware in 2025, all ready for your holiday shopping spree.
Our favorite gaming gear in 2025
The Razer Blade 16 (2025) is hands-down the best gaming laptop this year, and we say that with full confidence after hours of testing. It’s one of a select few laptops we’ve ever tested that lets you actually do some meaningful gaming on battery. It’s super slim and sleek, but despite how thin it is, it packs some fantastic performance. This isn’t a cheap laptop, mind you, but if you want the best money can offer, you just found it.
Razer: $3,499+ | Budget option: Lenovo LOQ 15 Gen 10 | $1,299 on Amazon
The MSI MPG 321URX QD-OLED is our favorite monitor by far. The QD-OLED panel is nothing short of stunning, and to combine that with a speedy 240Hz refresh rate is fantastic for us gamers. Despite being a gorgeous OLED, this monitor is actually not too expensive as far as 32-inch OLEDs go, and it’s on sale now, saving you a neat $300.
Amazon: $1,050 $750 | Budget option: KTC H27T22C-3 | $200 $165 on Amazon
Given the current market conditions, buying a prebuilt is often your best bet for good hardware at a reasonable price. Our favorite prebuilt PC is the HP Omen 35L—a gorgeous computer with fantastic specs. We tested the model with an RTX 4080 Super and were blown away by its performance. These days, you’re better off picking up the version with the RTX 5070 or the RTX 5070 Ti to make the most of Nvidia’s newest frame generation tech, DLSS 4. This PC is currently on sale, saving you $450 in time for the holidays.
Best Buy: $1,850 $1,400 | HP: $1,590+ | Alternative option: Lenovo Legion Tower 5i Gen 10 | $1,500 $1,410 on Amazon
In the eyes of our editors, the Secretlab Titan Evo is best gaming chair for most people. You can get it in S, R, and XL sizes. It’s comfortable and adjustable, plus we love the magnetic cushion and covers. Our review model has been mistreated in our office for going on four years now, and it’s still like new. Secretlab has a rare sale going on right now.
Secretlab: $579 $499 | Budget option: Corsair TC100 Relaxed | $270 $252 on Amazon
The superb, yet understated Razer DeathAdder V4 Pro is the best gaming mouse right now. It’s the successor to our previous favorite, the DeathAdder V3 Pro, so it’s clear that Razer is doing something right here. It has an incredibly smooth sensor with a max sensitivity of 45,000 DPI, it’s super-light at just 55 g, and a polling rate of 8K.
Razer: $170 | Budget option: Logitech G305 Lightspeed | $50 $30 on Amazon
Asus ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless
The Asus ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless is our favorite gaming keyboard. Hot-swappable switches are a huge plus, and boy, does this one feel good to type on—it’s silky smooth. You can pick between the ROG NX Snow or NX Storm switches, and we used the linear Snow switches with an actuation force of 45 g. The Storm switches are heavier and tactile. This keeb is also relatively quiet, which cannot be said about every mechanical keyboard out there. And all this at a 38% discount? Grab it while it’s on sale!
Amazon: $210 $130 | Budget option: Gamakay x NaughShark NS68 | $43 on Amazon
Discounts on some of the best graphics cards are rare, which is why I’m happy to report that the RX 9070—our favorite GPU this year—is currently 13% off for a decent $80 in savings. This is the best GPU for most people. It’s not too far off the performance of the pricier XT version, and it can beat Nvidia’s RTX 5070.
Amazon: $620 $540 | Budget option: Arc B570 | $210 on Amazon
We love the combo of Mackie’s CR3.5BT and the CR8SBT subwoofer because of how powerful this set is, despite the small form factor. The design is subtle and not overpowering; they don’t take up loads of room. And yet, they’re still mighty. They have a frequency range of 70-20,000 Hz, and they support Bluetooth 5.0, 3.5mm audio jack, RCA, and 1/4-inch TRS connection.
Amazon: $316 | Budget option: Creative Pebble Pro | $70 $65 on Amazon
AMD’s Ryzen 7 9800X3D dominates our list of the best gaming CPUs, and no wonder. This is the third generation in a row that AMD’s been taking the gaming crown, and it shows no sign of stopping. All of our benchmarks show that this is the best gaming CPU by a mile, only matched by the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, which is an expensive CPU aimed at content creators.
Amazon: $479 $439 | Budget option: AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | $174 on Amazon
MSI MAG X870 Tomahawk WiFi
Our list of the best gaming motherboards heavily depends on socket you’re looking for, but most gamers choose AM5 these days, so the MSI MAG X870 Tomahawk tops the ranking. It has an obscene number of USB ports (21), and it’s easy to use, plus that Wi-Fi 7 is real nice. Our Intel alternative for the LGA1851 (Arrow Lake) socket is the Asus ROG Maximus Z890 Hero, which has heaps of room for storage (6 M.2 slots) and outstanding cooling for all those SSDs, too.
Etsy: $284 $260 | Best budget: Asus TUF Gaming B650-Plus WiFi | $190 $165 on Amazon | Best Intel: Asus ROG Maximus Z890 Hero | $700 $400 on Amazon | Best Intel budget option: ASRock B860 Steel Legend Wi-Fi | $160 on Amazon
The Shure MV6 is a slick, plug-and-play USB mic that delivers impressively clean vocals with almost no setup. Its dynamic capsule and built-in DSP do a great job cutting out background noise, and auto-leveling keeps your voice consistent even if you move around. It’s a little bulky on the desk, and the cable is short, but the sound quality is miles ahead of most gaming mics. Your gaming pals will thank you.
Amazon: $169 $149 | Budget option: Amazon Basics USB Condenser Microphone | $26 $24 on Amazon
Whether you’re a full-time content creator or one of us poor souls who are always asked to “jump on a quick call,” the Elgato Facecam MK.2 delivers gorgeous uncompressed 1080p at 60 FPS with clean, natural colors. We can also attest to the fact that the new HDR mode genuinely rescues windowside streams that’d otherwise wash out your face.
Amazon: $140 $130 | Budget option: Logitech C920 | $70 $60 on Amazon
Guess who’s back, back again? MSI is back, tell a friend? …Sorry. Anyway, if this monitor looks familiar, that’s because it is. The MSI MPG 321URX is simply that good that it tops two of our separate rankings of the best monitors: one overall, one for OLEDs. It’s stunning, bright, and fast, and shockingly inexpensive given just how darn good it is.
Amazon: $1,050 $750 | Budget option: Alienware 34 QD-OLED AW3423DWF | $700 $500 on Amazon
The Minisforum AtomMan G7 PT is our favorite mini PC, and despite how cheap it is, it actually comes with a discrete GPU. It’s outstanding at 1080p, given the small form factor and the price point. It outclassed every other mini PC in our extensive benchmarks, although we wouldn’t necessarily recommend it as your daily driver if 1440p is your goal. At 1080p, it’s brilliant.
Amazon: $1,069 | Budget option: Minisforum Venus UM790 Pro | $469 $376 at Minisforum
This is the best PC fan, no contest. Noctua makes some top-notch cooling hardware, and although they’re not cheap and their colors may not match every case, these fans have outperformed every single alternative in our extensive tests. The airflow is unparalleled, and at low noise levels, too.
Amazon: $35 | Budget option: Arctic P12 PWM PST | $10 on Amazon
Asus ROG Strix X870-I Gaming WiFi
For an impressive mini-ITX motherboard to use with the AM5 socket, look no further than the Asus ROG Strix X870-I Gaming. The external sound card is a nice touch, as is the addition of USB4; we’re simply dealing with a really high-end mobo here. It has so many fantastic features, it simply can’t be topped.
Amazon: $490 $450 | Budget option: Gigabyte A620I AX | $148 on Amazon | Best Intel option: ASRock Phantom Gaming B860I Lightning Wi-Fi | $220 $184 on Amazon
G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32 GB DDR5-6000
Without beating around the bush, RAM is ridiculously expensive right now, and it’s highly unlikely that it’ll get better. When things weren’t quite this bad, we chose the G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32 GB DDR5-7200 kit as the best gaming RAM, and we stand by it. It’s fast and it blasts through memory-intensive apps and games. But given the current price (well above $460), we recommend that you get the 6000MHz version instead. It’ll still be good, but at least a bit cheaper.
Amazon: $349 | Budget option: Doesn’t exist right now
The Secretlab Magnus Pro is an outstanding gaming desk. This is a ginormous workspace, and easily the nicest one we’ve tested. It makes cable management a breeze, and the entire desk is super sturdy, capable of lifting a massive 265 lbs gross weight (that includes the weight of the desk). It’s currently on sale, making it even better than it was when we first reviewed it.
Secretlab: $1,148 $949 | Midrange option: Arozzi Arena | $400 $350
If you want to be ready for Wi-Fi 7, then you’ll love our official best gaming router, the TP-Link Archer GE800. At its fastest, it can outdo a gigabit Ethernet connection. That kind of extreme throughput made it easy for this TP-Link router to score the number one spot, as it outperformed all of its competitors.
Amazon: $600 $351 | Budget option: Asus TUF AX4200 | $170 on Amazon
Lenovo Legion Go S SteamOS
The Lenovo Legion Go S is great all on its own, but the inclusion of SteamOS takes it to the next level. Valve’s signature operating system is simply the easiest to navigate on a handheld. This gaming handheld is super speedy, comfy to use, and extremely user-friendly (that’s the SteamOS doing the heavy lifting). It’s also gorgeous—gaming handheld makers, take note.
Best Buy: $900 | Budget option: Steam Deck | $699 at Steam
If you want the Xbox controller for PC but better, then the GameSir G7 Pro is the right controller for you. It is pricier than the Xbox controller, but it fixes one of the main problems on most controllers: drift. The triggers are Hall effect, and the microswitches on the face buttons and D-pad are perfectly clicky. This is a pro controller in every sense of the word.
Amazon: $80 | Budget option: GameSir Nova Lite | $25 on Amazon
SSDs, much like RAM, are getting pricier—but you can still score our favorite WD Black SN7100 at a decent price. It offers outstanding 4K random read performance, and it stays cool even under pressure. The last version of this SSD was our previous winner in the “best SSD” category, and this one just improves upon all the things its predecessor did right.
Amazon: $190 | Budget option: Biwin Black Opal NV7400 | $102 on Amazon
The Adata SD810 impressed us, quickly climbing to the number one spot on our list of the best external SSDs. It’s available in capacities ranging from 500 GB to 4 TB, and it has IP68 dust and water protection, so it can survive quite a lot of mistreatment before it gives out. We found it to be fast and dependable, and even if you game directly from the SSD, your games will load quickly—they sure did for us.
Amazon: $99 | Budget option: Crucial X9 | $92 on Amazon
Arctic Liquid Freezer III A-RGB
If you want an AIO, our testing shows that you should pick the Arctic Liquid Freezer III. We’ve tested the 360mm version, but other sizes are available, too. This unit provides top-notch cooling, comes with a VRM fan, and despite being powerful, it’s surprisingly affordable.
Amazon: $145 $99 | Budget option: Cooler Master 240 Core II | $81 on Amazon | Best air cooler: Noctua NH-D15 G2 | $190 on Amazon
The mid-tower Havn HS 420 is currently the best PC case for gamers. It supports mobos ranging from E-ATX to mini-ITX, and it looks fantastic. It gives you a full peek inside your PC, letting your components take center stage while providing an elegant backdrop for them. Beyond that, it lends itself to effective cable management and modularity.
Amazon: $230 | Budget option: Phanteks G400A | $190 on Amazon
The Wooting 80HE may surprise you, but only in good ways. This is a fantastic Hall effect keyboard, sporting the Wooting Lekker60 V2 switches, and they’re the most powerful we’ve ever seen. We loved the software side of things on this model, as the Wootility (amazing name) software makes it easy to juggle multiple profiles, and that’s what lets you make the most of this outstanding keyboard.
Wooting: $260+ | Budget option: Gamakay X NaughShark NS68 | $43 on Amazon
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