We don’t give a score of 90% or more to just any old thing—we’re real hardware sickos with standards to match. And, as real hardware sickos, many a shiny bobbin has received a thorough humbling at our hands. Yes, we love RGB lighting as much as the next person, but it’ll take far more than a sparkly light show to impress us.
All of that said, a whopping 34 bits of kit earned a review score of either 90% or higher—that’s 4 more than last year. But what was simply the best?
It’s interesting to note that only one bit of hardware among the highest-rated six costs less than $100. Spoiler alert, it’s the Arctic Freezer 36, going for a seriously impressive price tag that rests comfortably under $50. Still though, it’s hard to ignore just how expensive PC gaming continues to be.
With the memory pricing apocalypse upon us, not to mention how it’s set to carry on into 2026 and beyond, a bit of kit’s value proposition is never far from our minds. That said, the WD Black SN8100 2 TB NVMe SSD is still sitting pretty among our top six hardware review scores.
There’s a healthy mix of kit in our top six, but once again, no graphics cards feature among the heaviest hitters—if you’ve seen how much more than MSRP some GPUs have been going for throughout 2025, that probably comes as no surprise. However, the same cannot be said for the opposite end of the scoring spectrum.
Carrying on Nick’s grinch-esque tradition from 2023, I’m also going to include six dishonorable mentions that were absolutely hardware misses. Almost nothing enjoyed the infamy of a score less than 40% this year, which I think generally speaks to the quality of kit that tends to pique the hardware team’s interest. Still, that doesn’t mean I’m going to go easy on 2025’s four hardware flops. Anyway, before all of that, let’s take a look at the six highest review scores we gave in 2025.
The top 6 best products of 2025
An exceptionally quiet air cooler at an exceptional price at comfortably under $50. Sure, you can spend a bit more for the all-black version or a little closer to $60 for the model that comes with RGB, but either way this remains a decidedly affordable bit of kit. For that price, you get a contact frame included in the box plus a thoroughly frosty performance that belies this cooler’s budget origin.
Pros
- Oh so affordable
- Quiet
- Excellent performance-per-dollar
- Comes in black
- Contact frame included
Cons
- Installation on Intel PCs is more involved than most
Thermal Grizzly
Der8enchtable
From hardware hits that offer something to everyone, to something decidedly niche, Thermal Grizzly’s Der8enchtable was all but made for our resident motherboard testers. Essentially an open-platform circuit board with centralised storage and fan control, it’s the perfect bit of kit for the most inside-baseball use cases. If you do happen to be a motherboard nerd interested in testing a whole bunch of boards, or overclocking the twangers off them, be forewarned that this benchtable comes at a premium.
Pros
- Sublime build quality
- Big array of headers and ports
- Easy to set up and use
- Makes mobo testing a joy
WD Black
SN8100 2 TB NVMe SSD
Zak was calling this one of the best SSDs of 2025 all the way back in May, and today it holds firm as our top pick for the best PCIe 5.0 drive. The simple reason why is that, during Zak’s testing, this drive turned in a sequential read speed of 14,710 MB/s, and a write speed of 13,926 MB/s, alongside exceedingly strong random 4k performance. And throughout all of that, this SSD’s temps only topped out at about 74 degrees—the nerve!
Pros
- Outstanding synthetic performance
- Stupidly quick load-times
- Competitive pricing
Cons
- No 4 TB option until later
Razer
Wolverine V3 Pro 8K PC
PC controllers simply don’t get more premium than this. Alongside the robust build quality you’d expect for that wince-worthy price tag, you’re also getting an 8,000 Hz polling rate, plus TMR thumbsticks and Hall effect triggers. Understated in look, but definitely not features, reprogrammable buttons, or indeed its asking price, there’s no doubt this gamepad is going for pro in every sense.
Pros
- 8,000Hz polling rate
- TMR thumbsticks and Hall effect HyperTriggers
- Durable build and understated looks
- Customizable functions and thumbsticks
- Plenty of remappable buttons
Cons
- Cost’s a king’s ransom
- No more haptic feedback
Be Quiet!
Light Mount gaming keyboard
I’m going to be real with you—this is the keyboard I personally use every single day. Boasting beautiful build quality, vibrant RGB lighting, and genuinely the quietest typing experience anyone at PCG towers has enjoyed, it’s hard to find a single thing that dulls the Light Mount’s shine.
Pros
- Actually quiet
- Vibrant RGB lighting
- Straightforward software
- A Mountain Everest 60 successor
Cons
- Game mode options look a little slim
- Not as affordable as the Mountain Everest 60
It always feels a bit weird to be recommending earbuds to a PC gaming crowd—surely the whole-head embrace of a gaming headset is where it’s at, right? Well, these wee bad boys just go to show how much earbuds can offer, boasting crisp gaming mode audio, weeks of battery life, a wealth of customisable features, and plenty of Active Noise Cancellation settings for gaming at home or on the go.
Pros
- Nudge-proof touch sensors
- Superb physical and digital customisation
- Wearing detection is great
- Weeks of battery life
- Super fast charging
Cons
- White version scuffs easily
- Better earbuds are only slightly more expensive
The highest rated PC gaming gear of 2025
So, that was the six highest-rated hardware this year—what about the rest? For anyone that loves a good statistic, I can reveal that about 12% of the 289 hardware reviews we published in 2025 earned a score of 90% or more. By a strange twist of fate, 11 of those hardware hits earned a review score of exactly 92% this year. Though that’s not quite high enough to feature at the tippy-top of this list, that’s still worth shouting about. You’ve already perused the very best—now get ready for hardware that’s still better than the rest.
I think it best I let Jacob’s incredible opening paragraph from his review do at least some of the talking here: “Smaller than a reasonably sized dachshund but accessible as a two-sided bread bin: the Fractal Design Terra is a dream to build with.” Granted, your cooling options are a little limited for any builds calling this PC case home, but it’s hard to say no to a desktop tower featuring real wood.
Pros
- Tiny
- Plenty of access
- Real wood!
- Good GPU support
Cons
- Easily marked
- Limited cooling options
If all you care about is responsiveness, this low-profile, Hall effect gaming keyboard is for you. What earned its place as our pick for the best low-profile gaming keyboard though is its wealth of customisation features, including the truly diabolical option of a 0.01 mm actuation reset point, all accessible through a web-based app rather than yet another bit of bloating software. Add to that Rapid Trigger and an 8,000 Hz polling rate, and it’s not hard to see why we’re impressed—well, blink and you’ll miss it but it’s definitely there.
Pros
- Funky design is, well, funky
- Ridiculously brisk low-profile HE switches
- Seemingly endless software customisation
Cons
- Purely wired connectivity may not be enough for power users
And here comes the best PCIe 4.0 SSD, which, to the surprise of no one, is another stellar effort from SanDisk. This Gen 4.0 drive demonstrates some of the best in class random 4k read performance, turning in a top speed of 101 MB/s. The sequential speeds are far from half bad either, offering up a sustained read of 7,250 MB/s and a sustained write of 6,900 MB/s too, all with hardly breaking a sweat under load. Make no mistake, this is still a great gaming drive if you can get it at a decent price.
Pros
- Best in class 4K read performance
- Decent pricing for a 1TB drive
- Low temps and single-sided
Cons
- Not exactly ground-breaking
- Slower load times relatively
- Product stack confusion
AVerMedia
Elite Go GC313Pro
This bit of kit is essentially a capture card stuffed up inside a charging brick—talk about a weird roommate situation. Still, with how easy it is to record or even stream gameplay without a capture card, perhaps this 2-in-1 device design makes sense. Hope certainly seemed to think so, praising its stealthy design and its “full capture setup complete with HDMI passthrough” offering. Alas, there’s only HDMI 1.4 on offer here, but that means you’re still getting 4K footage at 30 fps.
Pros
- Multiple device charging
- Charge and record
- Reliably simple
- Stealthy
Lian Li
O11 Vision Compact PC case
Take a look at this beauty! A fishtank style PC case at a downright affordable price point, it’s hard to say ‘no’ to the Lian Li O11 Vision Compact—though our Zak would wish for a fan or two to be included in this otherwise very reasonable package.
Pros
- Stupidly low price point
- Wildly versatile interior layout
- Strong aesthetic chops
Cons
- GPU sag bracket could be lower
- Cable management could be slightly better
- Could use a fan controller… and a fan or two.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “A review score of 92%? But it’s got holes in it!” Well, you see, those are ‘speed holes’–they make the mouse go faster. Joking and dated Simpsons reference aside, this is an exceedingly lightweight, wired gaming mouse with an asking price that won’t slow you down either.
Pros
- Lightweight, comfortable frame
- Solid potency for most people
- Decent software
Cons
- Lacks advanced features of more expensive mice
- Cable can feel a little cheap
SanDisk
Extreme Pro 2 TB external SSD
You wouldn’t necessarily think to use an external SSD as your primary game drive, but the SanDisk Extreme Pro makes a strong case in its defence. This chunky lad offers some of the best random 4k performance we’ve seen from any external drive, and also manages to sustain those tasty USB4 speeds while staying relatively cool too.
Pros
- Actually sustains USB4 speed
- Keeps cool
- Best gaming performance we’ve seen
- Looks and feels great
Cons
- A little wide
- Requires write caching for sustain
- Premium price tag
ASRock
B860 Steel Legend Wi-Fi
Even without overclocking support (owing to this board’s B860 chipset), this mobo is still seriously impressive. Besides support for Thunderbolt 4 and PCIe 5.0 SSDs, you’re also looking at a price tag that should offer change for 200 bucks. Add to that the fact it won’t make your PCIe 5.0 SSD sweat under load unnecessarily, and this motherboard is one seriously cool customer.
Pros
- Excellent value
- Loads of USB ports and fan headers
- Cool VRMs and chipset
- Handled a PCIe 5.0 SSD
Cons
- No Wi-Fi 7
- Mediocre EFI
- Silver design maybe not perfect for white cases
- Can’t overclock
Light in the hand, and light for your desktop too, as there’s absolutely no software to drag this speedy little mouse down. That does mean there’s not a whole load to customise, offering up only one onboard profile to play with, but also under the hood is an up to 8,000 Hz polling rate, Corsair custom tactile mechanical switches, and the Corsair Marksman S optical sensor (rated for up to 33,000 DPI and 750 IPS).
Pros
- Incredibly light
- No app to install
- Great sensor
- Sturdy
Cons
- Only one onboard profile
- UPE skates
TP-Link
Deco BE68 BE14000
Though costing a very pretty penny, this mesh Wi-Fi setup makes a solid case for its price tag with its strong feature set. For a start, the Deco can pump out speedy Wi-Fi 7 connections across your home. The physical device also offers 10 Gbps LAN ports for rapid data transfers too, plus the triple pack claims to offer coverage to the tune of a whopping 8,100 square feet.
Pros
- Full Wi-Fi 7 spec
- 10 Gbps LAN port
- High data transfer speeds
- Separate guest, MLO, IoT networks
Cons
- Phone app required to set up and configure
- Poor availability outside of the US
Kinesis
Gaming Freestyle Edge RGB Plus
If you’re not yet an ergonomic keyboard convert, this split Kinesis board is well up for holding your hand through the process. Though not really geared towards the upper echelons of competitive, esports gaming, the Freestyle remains one of the most comfortable gaming keyboards to use.
Pros
- Super comfortable to use
- Eight macro keys
- Hot-swappable switches
- Lift kit now included
Cons
- USB cables are quite stiff
- Wrist pad material isn’t great for sweaty hands
- No snap tap or rapid trigger for pro gamers
The six lowest scoring products of 2025
While many misfires aiming for the moon still land among the stars, you can bet there’s a subset that ends up in much less sparkly company. At long last, it’s time to take a gander at the four lowest rated bits of hardware we reviewed this year. Now, none of these flops scored lower than 40%—but there are still plenty of better options for the money.
The 2025 theme of screens on everything reached its nadir with the Xeneon Edge, an incredibly expensive, though admittedly decent-looking screen, that you can kinda stick on anything. It’s a second screen, but one with such limited utility, and some weird tearing that makes it incredibly hard to recommend to anyone.
Pros
- Myriad ways to mount
- iFrame widget is handy
Cons
- Not particularly vibrant
- Limited widget selection or customisation
- Strange tearing on Thunderbolt
- A lot of money for a very niche screen
Razer
Joro & Basilisk Mobile
A middle of the road misfire from Razer—and worst of all, it’s got a decidedly premium Razer asking price. Though the Joro keyboard is slim and lightweight for portable gaming, the Basilisk mouse commits two pretty unforgivable acts: offering an AI button, and placing that AI button where it can be too easily activated during frantic gaming sessions. The keyboard also offers an AI button, and its scissor switches feel surprisingly sluggish for a gaming-focussed board. All in all, this is a two-for-one package that seems determined to hold you back.
Pros
- Razer Joro is slim and lightweight
- Razer Basilisk Mobile performs well in games
Cons
- Joro has too many compromises for portability
- Basilisk Mobile struggles to stand out against rivals
- High price for what you get
Colorful
iGame RTX 5070 Ti Vulcan OC
It’s hardly news that RTX 50-series graphics cards too often ask for silly money, but this one really takes the biscuit. Make no mistake, the Vulcan OC is a real try-hard, offering a one-key Overclocking button that makes the GPU huff and puff at 2,835 MHz with a single click—some of the time, anyway. For such a pricey card, that sort of inconsistency is unforgivable.
Pros
- All that RTX Blackwell DLSS 4/MFG good stuff
- Detachable LCD screen
Cons
- One-key OC button goes too hard
- Stock performance is relatively weak
- Pricing remains ludicrous for overclocked RTX 5070 Ti cards
- Hard to find in retail anyway
- A reference-price RX 9070 XT is an easy, cheaper recommendation
Trying to be all things to all people rarely ends well. A device that tries to do everything often ends up doing nothing well, and so it comes to pass with the X1 Air, a thick tablet that’s trying to also be a laptop and a gaming handheld, too. While the components inside are excellent (here’s to Lunar Lake) and the screen is a stunner, the device is too flaky and too awkward to justify its price tag.
Pros
- Lunar Lake performance is sweet
- Bright, crisp 11-inch display
- Quiet
Cons
- Flaky
- Doesn’t excel in any of its three forms
We’ve dipped past simply mediocre hardware and distinctly into the realm of the underachievers—and this diva is here to greet us. Though this microphone offers good vocal capture close up, it’s kind of a pain to set up and adjust. Its price and sizable footprint hurts it too. Alas, this stage simply isn’t big enough for both of us, darling.
Pros
- Good vocal capture close up
- Impressive sampling rate
- Bluetooth monitoring
Cons
- Fiddly and fussy to adjust
- Too quiet, yet background noise prone in a desktop position
- Zero software
- Too pricey for what you end up receiving
Logitech G
PowerPlay 2 mouse pad
I’m definitely all ears for a mousepad that also acts as a charging station for my wireless mouse. Unfortunately, the Logitech G PowerPlay 2 is a disappointing execution of the concept; this is very much the ill-advised sequel to an interesting first installment. While the limited mouse compatibility may be understandable, the pad itself is thin, flimsy, and kind of on the small side. Here’s hoping the three-quel improves on what came before.
Pros
- Smooth cloth pad
- You never have to plug your (compatible) mouse in again
Cons
- Expensive
- No built-in wireless receiver
- Pretty small
- Thin and flimsy mouse pad
- Only one mouse pad included
