by Call us pedantic, overly critical, picky, picky, whatever. The simple truth is that everyone at PC Gamer not only has very high standards, but also a wealth of experience in a lot of different fields. So when it comes to reviewing hardware, every piece of kit that passes through our hands is thoroughly analyzed.
We only award the highest review scores to products that actually meet or exceed those standards, and throughout 2023, only 25 received a review score of 90% or higher.
You might be surprised by what’s on the list, with some brands you wouldn’t expect to see or have never heard of before. However, there are some notable names missing, but that just means that competition is very healthy in the major PC hardware sectors.
Minor spoiler: there isn’t a single graphics card on our list below. You probably won’t be surprised, of course, since GPU prices are generally too high for our taste. And those that are reasonably priced don’t stand out in terms of performance. Maybe this will change next year and the 2024 list will include some lovely graphics cards.
But pretty much everything else is there: gaming headsets, CPUs, full PCs, monitors, and more. There’s a decent variety of gear to be tempted by and that’s a nice way to end the year.
However, because I’m a complete grinch, I also added an additional list: the five lowest-scoring products we reviewed in 2023. Since three of the entries all come from the same manufacturer, someone’s not going to have a Happy Weekend! year and it’s not me!
The 5 best products of 2023
Sabrent 6-Port Docking Station for Steam Deck
Not everything has to be a technological marvel to get full marks. This sturdy, well-built dock is much better than its price suggests. It doesn’t suffer from the lack of USB Type-C that the competition has, although you won’t get an Ethernet connection. It’s a fair trade, especially you won’t get anything as good as the same low price of $30.
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Philips Evnia 34M2C8600
Philips may not be a brand you normally associate with PC gaming, but it hit the mark in the ballpark with this OLED monitor. It’s very expensive, however, and doesn’t feature super high resolution, but the panel itself is absolutely glorious. It is the monitor we would choose over all the others for HDR gaming. Get one and you’ll never use a non-OLED display again.
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Bright panel lets OLED technology sing
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Super fast performance
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Fewer OLED downsides than the competition
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Holy hell, does it overclock?
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Audio-Technica ATH-M50xSTS StreamSet
Most gaming headsets have fairly weak microphones, but that’s not the case here. In fact, it is probably the most complete headset we have tested. Sure, they’re expensive and the lack of sound controls takes some getting used to, but the build and audio quality more than make up for it. Don’t let the fact that it’s wired discourage you, either.
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Alienware 34 AW3423DWF
This or the Philips Evnia 34M2C8600? They both use the exact same Samsung QD-OLED panel and both have a delicious glossy, anti-reflective coating that makes HDR gaming really shine. Well, the differences are minor: this Alienware is a little cheaper but not as fast as the Philips model. They are too similar to separate, which is why they have identical scores.
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Still quite expensive
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Mediocre pixel density
ThunderX3 Core Gaming Chair Review
Few gaming chairs pamper their owners as well as the ThunderX3 Core, especially at this price. Luxurious materials abound, with a wide range of ergonomic features, there’s very little not to like here. It makes the office favorite, Secretlab’s Titan Evo, look pretty expensive.
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Best Rated PC Gaming Gear of 2023
A total of 25 products, reviewed in 2023, achieved a review score of 90% or higher. That’s just 15% of everything we’ve used, played, sat on, typed on, and poked around inside. So rest assured that, although they are not in the top five, the remaining 20 positions are occupied by simply excellent products.
VRLA Tech Titan
Solid. Imposing. Well-built. Very balanced hardware specifications. The VRLA Tech Titan is all of these things and the fact that it manages to achieve this without being too expensive explains why we rate this gaming PC so highly.
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Asus ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless
Full-size and compact seem like contradictory terms when it comes to keyboards, but the Scope II 96 is precisely both. It’s also an extremely capable gaming keyboard, with a top-notch typing experience. Too bad about the software, but nothing is perfect, right?
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Audeze Maxwell
If you were told that this provided the best listening experience you’ll get with a gaming headset, you’d think something was wrong. But there isn’t (except for dubious software) and even the microphone isn’t that bad. For the money there is nothing that can touch them.
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awesome sound
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Long duration battery
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Fast charge
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Comfortable
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Good microphone
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Intel Core i5 13400F
Under $200 for a ten-core CPU that’s really good for gaming? Yes, and although you can’t overclock it and it doesn’t have an integrated graphics chip, this is a fantastic little processor. However, it can consume quite a bit of power when running at full speed.
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Higher power consumption than the 12th generation model
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No secret overclocking 🙁
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AMD’s cheapest Zen 4 CPUs are best for content creation
ASRock Z790 Riptide WiFi
In recent years, ASRock has changed its reputation. Their latest motherboards are like this: Great value for money, without skimping on features. It’s not the best option if you like heavy overclocking, but the storage and networking options are close to perfect.
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LG OLED Flex 42
How wild is this? With the touch of a button, the panel switches between being curved or completely flat. Choose the first one for games and the second one for movies and media. Add sumptuous OLED colors and it’s an incredible experience. Of course, you will pay a high price for such luxuries.
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so damn expensive
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Without DisplayPort
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Do you want the best CPU just for gaming? Then you get the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, no ifs ands or buts. There are better options if you want to be more versatile, but this will find its way into any game you have.
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Maximum gaming performance
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Super efficient
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run great
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Goal mission 3
Comfortable, affordable, and easy to use, the Quest 3 is the perfect headset for you if you’re looking to take those first steps into the world of virtual reality gaming. You’ll want something more powerful if you’re already a serious virtual gamer.
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AMD Framework 13 (2023) motherboard
Looking for a laptop that suits both office work and gaming? What about customization? Framework 13 offers all this and more. It’s not a truly modular laptop, but you’ll be able to keep upgrading it for many years to come.
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Genuine 1080p performance
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Stellar Productivity Chops
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Cheaper than the best from Intel
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And it also surpasses it
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Better battery life
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Logitech Choir
Logitech’s Chorus is a fairly niche product: it’s a companion speaker system for virtual reality headsets. But if you have Meta Quest 2, Chorus will completely transform your audio abilities. It’s a little expensive, but it’s much more comfortable than using a pair of headphones instead of a virtual reality headset.
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Asus ROG Azoth
Sometimes hardware reviews pose difficult decisions to make. The ROG Azoth is the best gaming keyboard Asus has ever made and one of the best enthusiast keebs you can buy. But for $250, you really need a solid reason to get one. Fortunately, what it offers makes up for the price.
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How much does it cost?!
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Damn armory box
Nextorage NEM-PA 2TB
Nextorage may be a brand you’ve never heard of and yes, it’s just an SSD, but it’s made by former Sony engineers and features the latest hardware on the market. Despite this, the price is very competitive, as is the performance. And just look at that thick heatsink!
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The five lowest-scoring products of 2023
It wasn’t all sweetness and beauty in the world of PC hardware. These are the five lowest-scoring products we reviewed in 2023. And as you’ll soon see, there was a common theme to our lowest-scoring products.
MSI Titan GT77 HX
This is what happens when you fill an ugly chassis with the most expensive, powerful, and most power-hungry hardware. Hot and loud, with little refinement to justify its excessively high price.
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Laptop roars when pushed
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the chassis is ugly
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The mini LED screen is a bit disappointing
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$5,300 is a ridiculous price.
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so much software
MSI MEG Trident X2
Another MSI product and another model that shows the same defects as the Titan GT77 HX. Some of the internal hardware is the best you can get, but not all; the entire package is well below its starting price of $5,999.
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MSI Cyborg 15
Yes, 2023 has not been the best year for MSI. This Cyborg laptop looks very stylish and is very quiet to use, but the performance is well below the level of the internal hardware. Add in software issues and poor storage options and you have a pretty disappointing affair.
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Silent operation
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It’s not too hot
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Asus ROG Raikiri Pro
For something that costs more than twice the standard Xbox controller, you’d expect magic touches and special features everywhere. Asus managed to do some things right, but if the buttons on a controller aren’t correct, what’s the point of even trying?
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MG-1 main gear | Arc A750
Looks like a stylish and well-built gaming PC, right? That’s because it is, but beyond its appearance, there is only disappointment. The budget parts struggle with a recalcitrant Intel Arc GPU, all at a price that suggests it should be much better than it actually is.
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It’s too expensive for the GPU.
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Intel Arc Driver Issues
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Many games are not optimized for Arc
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Lacks the quality control of a genuine LEGO product
