All the PC Gamer hardware reviews from 2022
It’s been an interesting year for PC gaming hardware. After a supply shortage that spiked both demand and pricing we’ve had a slew of new goodies hitting our test labs, and maybe even your desktops. Though maybe it’s not been the most exciting year.
We’ve had both the new graphics card architectures from AMD and Nvidia, as well as the first flush of Intel’s Arc GPUs, too. There have also been new processor generations from both Intel and AMD as well, with the red team finally launching a whole new socket with its AM5 Zen 4 chips. But somehow they still feel entirely predictable, rather iterative and/or infeasibly expensive, and rather risk-free.
But we have, of course, had the Steam Deck.
Outside of that we’ve had a host of stunning SSDs, great peripherals, new, ultra speedy memory, and a finally OLED gaming monitors. Of course, there have been some kit that hasn’t quite made the grade, however, and for some reason it always seems to have been me dishing out the absolute lowest scores of the year. Am I a bad person?
With scores ranging from 43% all the way up to a heady 98% (for a power supply no less) this has been a fascinating year of PC gaming hardware. December was the worst month for review scores, marking a rather inauspicious end to the year, with an average of just 74%. Though much of that is going to be down to me giving the faux-LEGO gaming keyboard our worst score of the year, dragging everything else down.
Our best month, by contrast, was April with an average review score of 83%. There were no less than four separate products netting a score above 90% in April, and a lot of high 80s in there, too. February, the month of the Steam Deck, also averaged 83%, but over just 11 reviews. For us, that means April’s score spread over 18 reviews wins.
In total, we’ve reviewed 209 different products over the year, so let’s look back, month-by-month at every single one of them from 2022.
January 2022
For
- Great stock performance
- Low power
- Stays cool
- Holy hell, does it overclock
Against
- BCLK OC may get patched out
- Requires a whole new motherboard
February 2022
For
- Great price
- Incredibly versatile
- Well built
- Can change the way you game
Against
- Bulky
- Battery life takes work
March 2022
Alienware 34 QD-OLED (AW3423DW)
For
- Fabulous contrast and colours
- Stupendous pixel response
- Genuine HDR capability
Against
- Not a great all-purpose panel
- Latency isn’t a strong point
- No HDMI 2.1
April 2022
For
- Great typing feel
- Reassuringly robust
- Responsive
- Optional modular numpad is great
Against
- Base Camp software remains a minor weak point
- Overall package gets expensive
May 2022
SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro
The Arctis Nova Pro Wireless headset delivers smashing sound quality that sits above many of its peers in the wireless gaming space. With impressive connectivity, fast charging, hot-swappable batteries, and great adjustability, it’s supremely versatile. It comes at a steep price, but I’m ok with that.
For
- Smashing bass and audio quality
- Intuitive and informative new Sonar parametric EQ
- Comfortable, light, and highly adjustable
- DAC is an amp and fast charging spare battery dock
- Noise cancellation for mic and ear cups
Against
- Can only skip or pause music with headset buttons over Bluetooth
- Frightfully loud glitch noises when going out of range
- AI noise cancelling is a bit weak at the moment
June 2022
For
- Beautiful
- Built to a very high standard
- Will outlive most PC builds
- Colour-matched cable
- PBT keycaps
Against
- No Play/Pause/Skip keys
- DIP switches don’t work on mine
- Look elsewhere for RGB backlighting
July 2022
For
- Powerful with top performance in all sections
- High build quality
- Silent operation
- Software control
Against
- Super expensive
- Small distance between peripheral connectors
August 2022
For
- Leading analogue features
- Genuinely beneficial in-game
- The best application around…
- …which can even run in your browser
- Vibrant RGB effects
- Excellent quality
- Highly customisable
- Spare switches included
Against
- No adjustable feet
- 60% size isn’t for everyone
- PBT keycaps currently US only
- F1 games don’t play nice with analogue functions
September 2022
For
- Outperforms the 5800X3D in gaming
- Hits 5.15GHz under full all-core loads
- Eco Mode is ace
Against
- Struggles against Intel’s latest
October 2022
Nvidia RTX 4090 Founders Edition
For
- Excellent gen-on-gen performance
- DLSS Frame Generation is magic
- Super-high clock speeds
Against
- Massive
- Ultra-enthusiast pricing
- Non-4K performance is constrained
- High power demands
November 2022
NZXT Streaming Plus BLD Kit
For
- Good components for the money
- Genuinely fun to put together
- Clear building guide…
Against
- Some parts of the guide are generic
- And it takes time
December 2022
For
- Much faster than an RX 6950 XT at 4K
- Less power hungry too
- $999 price tag
- Much improved ray tracing capabilities
- Frickin’ chiplets!
Against
- Not a consistent RTX 4080 competitor
- Runs real hot
- Consumes a lot of power
- Low average clock speed
It’s been an interesting year for PC gaming hardware. After a supply shortage that spiked both demand and pricing we’ve had a slew of new goodies hitting our test labs, and maybe even your desktops. Though maybe it’s not been the most exciting year.
We’ve had both the new graphics card architectures from AMD and Nvidia, as well as the first flush of Intel’s Arc GPUs, too. There have also been new processor generations from both Intel and AMD as well, with the red team finally launching a whole new socket with its AM5 Zen 4 chips. But somehow they still feel entirely predictable, rather iterative and/or infeasibly expensive, and rather risk-free.
But we have, of course, had the Steam Deck.
Outside of that we’ve had a host of stunning SSDs, great peripherals, new, ultra speedy memory, and a finally OLED gaming monitors. Of course, there have been some kit that hasn’t quite made the grade, however, and for some reason it always seems to have been me dishing out the absolute lowest scores of the year. Am I a bad person?
With scores ranging from 43% all the way up to a heady 98% (for a power supply no less) this has been a fascinating year of PC gaming hardware. December was the worst month for review scores, marking a rather inauspicious end to the year, with an average of just 74%. Though much of that is going to be down to me giving the faux-LEGO gaming keyboard our worst score of the year, dragging everything else down.
Our best month, by contrast, was April with an average review score of 83%. There were no less than four separate products netting a score above 90% in April, and a lot of high 80s in there, too. February, the month of the Steam Deck, also averaged 83%, but over just 11 reviews. For us, that means April’s score spread over 18 reviews wins.
In total, we’ve reviewed 209 different products over the year, so let’s look back, month-by-month at every single one of them from 2022.
January 2022
For
- Great stock performance
- Low power
- Stays cool
- Holy hell, does it overclock
Against
- BCLK OC may get patched out
- Requires a whole new motherboard
February 2022
For
- Great price
- Incredibly versatile
- Well built
- Can change the way you game
Against
- Bulky
- Battery life takes work
March 2022
Alienware 34 QD-OLED (AW3423DW)
For
- Fabulous contrast and colours
- Stupendous pixel response
- Genuine HDR capability
Against
- Not a great all-purpose panel
- Latency isn’t a strong point
- No HDMI 2.1
April 2022
For
- Great typing feel
- Reassuringly robust
- Responsive
- Optional modular numpad is great
Against
- Base Camp software remains a minor weak point
- Overall package gets expensive
May 2022
SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro
The Arctis Nova Pro Wireless headset delivers smashing sound quality that sits above many of its peers in the wireless gaming space. With impressive connectivity, fast charging, hot-swappable batteries, and great adjustability, it’s supremely versatile. It comes at a steep price, but I’m ok with that.
For
- Smashing bass and audio quality
- Intuitive and informative new Sonar parametric EQ
- Comfortable, light, and highly adjustable
- DAC is an amp and fast charging spare battery dock
- Noise cancellation for mic and ear cups
Against
- Can only skip or pause music with headset buttons over Bluetooth
- Frightfully loud glitch noises when going out of range
- AI noise cancelling is a bit weak at the moment
June 2022
For
- Beautiful
- Built to a very high standard
- Will outlive most PC builds
- Colour-matched cable
- PBT keycaps
Against
- No Play/Pause/Skip keys
- DIP switches don’t work on mine
- Look elsewhere for RGB backlighting
July 2022
For
- Powerful with top performance in all sections
- High build quality
- Silent operation
- Software control
Against
- Super expensive
- Small distance between peripheral connectors
August 2022
For
- Leading analogue features
- Genuinely beneficial in-game
- The best application around…
- …which can even run in your browser
- Vibrant RGB effects
- Excellent quality
- Highly customisable
- Spare switches included
Against
- No adjustable feet
- 60% size isn’t for everyone
- PBT keycaps currently US only
- F1 games don’t play nice with analogue functions
September 2022
For
- Outperforms the 5800X3D in gaming
- Hits 5.15GHz under full all-core loads
- Eco Mode is ace
Against
- Struggles against Intel’s latest
October 2022
Nvidia RTX 4090 Founders Edition
For
- Excellent gen-on-gen performance
- DLSS Frame Generation is magic
- Super-high clock speeds
Against
- Massive
- Ultra-enthusiast pricing
- Non-4K performance is constrained
- High power demands
November 2022
NZXT Streaming Plus BLD Kit
For
- Good components for the money
- Genuinely fun to put together
- Clear building guide…
Against
- Some parts of the guide are generic
- And it takes time
December 2022
For
- Much faster than an RX 6950 XT at 4K
- Less power hungry too
- $999 price tag
- Much improved ray tracing capabilities
- Frickin’ chiplets!
Against
- Not a consistent RTX 4080 competitor
- Runs real hot
- Consumes a lot of power
- Low average clock speed
