In this yearly penultimate episode of The Full Nerd, Gordon Ung, Brad Chacos, Alaina Yee, and Adam Patrick Murray slipped on their boxing gloves to verbally brawl over what gear moved the needle for the PC in 2023. Performance? Value? Raw availability? Everyone might solely agree on one level: The lack of worth in graphics playing cards continues to be an enormous bummer.

Everyone has their very own definition of what “best” means, however every participant introduced his or her personal picks for one of the best PC {hardware} and software program of 2023 earlier than all of us hashed out a single winner in every class. It’s not all the time simple; the controversy over one of the best CPU of 2023 took practically an hour all by itself. I can’t even think about what Oscars voters undergo!

We trimmed down the listing a bit this yr so Gordon might be part of us. Note that this listing is separate from PCWorld’s wider best PC hardware and software of 2023; this listing is the opinion of our Full Nerd crew solely. Peep the classes beneath, the complete episode beneath that, and a quick description of winners afterwards if you’d like the outcomes with out all of The Full Nerd gang’s screaming and hand-wringing.

• Best CPU
• Best GPU
• Best PC accent
• Best innovation
• Worst pattern

…avert your eyes if you happen to don’t need the spoilers (and winners!) lurking beneath!

Best CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D

This was a hotly contested battle between a trio of major contenders: AMD’s ferocious 16-core, V-Cache-infused Ryzen 9 7950X3D, its smaller (but nonetheless great) Ryzen 7 7800X3D sibling, and the AMD Z1 Extreme chip powering a wave of handhelds just like the Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go.

It took practically an hour of passionate debate earlier than we settled on a victor, and even then, there was nonetheless loads of grumbling. But ultimately, the Ryzen 9 7950X3D’s mixture of a dual-chip, 16-core design and 3D V-Cache on a kind of dies permits a real no-compromises work-and-play expertise not like some other. The Ryzen 7 7800X3D is a greater worth for most individuals, certain, however no different chip pulls off what the Ryzen 9 7950X3D accomplishes.

Best GPU: AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT

For chips, it’s a clear sweep for AMD! In a bizarre yr and a bizarre era for graphics playing cards — one so unorthodox that the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 was thought-about for this honor for an unprecedented second yr — solely the Radeon RX 7800 XT emerged as a standout. It’s the one true worthwhile 1440p graphics card of this era after Nvidia fumbled the RTX 4060-series design and RTX 4070’s worth. The Radeon RX 7800 XT is a lot sooner than its equally priced RTX 4060 Ti rivals and even manages to typically outpunch the RTX 4070, which prices $100 extra. Its ray tracing is fairly darn good too, rivaling the RTX 3080. It’s the clear winner.

Best accent: Corsair Xeneon Flex

Valve’s modest, but game-changing Steam Deck swept our Full Nerd awards final yr, so in 2023, we needed to crown an OLED monitor for the reason that ultra-luscious panel expertise has exploded in availability over the previous two years. The Xeneon Flex is just not the most affordable OLED round at $1,500-plus, however Corsair’ large, bendable, mind-blowing monitor was simply one of the best we’ve examined in 2023, incomes itself a victory right here. An excerpt from my Xeneon Flex evaluate:

The Corsair Xeneon Flex 45WQHD240 immerses you in ways in which tangibly elevate the PC gaming expertise. I’ve by no means performed on a monitor that made me really feel really inside recreation worlds the way in which this one does. Its delectable mixture of blisteringly-fast speeds, elite movement readability, sterling picture high quality, good blacks, and plush HDR will make your jaw drop, particularly enveloped inside the custom-tuned curvature of its uniquely bendable show. The connectivity is top-notch, too.

When it involves multimedia, this monitor oozes excellence. The Corsair Xeneon Flex is likely one of the best possible gaming displays we’ve ever seen, full cease.

Best innovation: Frore AirJet

We noticed one of the best innovation of 2023 proper because the yr started, witnessing Frore Systems’ radical solid-state AirJet PC cooling at CES in January. Adam noticed it essentially the most all year long, and right here’s how he summed AirJet up in our PCWorld Best Of 2023 Awards:

When we first noticed Frore Systems’ stable state energetic cooling module at CES, known as AirJet Mini and AirJet Pro, we knew that this had an opportunity to actually revolutionize cooling in electronics. Without getting too deep into the specifics of the way it works, know that the AirJet makes use of MEMS expertise, is way thinner than a conventional fan present in one thing like a laptop computer, however far outperforms it due to immense again strain that simply can’t be achieved with right now’s skinny followers.

In the months since that present we’ve seen plenty of demos with numerous product classes. The launch of the primary product that includes this method comes from Zotac within the firm’s ZBOX pico PI430AJ with AirJet. It’s going to take quite a bit to vary an business, however I’d love this expertise to be commonplace sooner or later and proceed to drive efficiency and cooling for our digital gadgets for years to return.

Fingers crossed we see extra programs (and laptops!) emerge with Frore’s AirJet inside in 2024.

Worst pattern: New GPU worth

It’s been one of the best of occasions and the worst of occasions for PC players in 2023. The excellent news: You can lastly decide up offers on last-gen graphics playing cards and get gaming with out promoting an arm and a leg. The downright terrible information: The new era of graphics playing cards is a snoozer. Not solely are the Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-series and AMD Radeon RX 7000-series each painfully excessive priced, particularly on Nvidia’s aspect, however a number of of those new GPUs really run no sooner (and generally slower) than their predecessors. Nvidia doesn’t even subject a real 1440p contender for underneath $700. It’s a disappointing mess.

Even if you happen to handle to save lots of up sufficient nickels to seize a brand new GPU, the gaming expertise hasn’t been all that nice both, as 2023 was stricken by technical mishaps in a slew of high-profile video games, like Last of Us and Hogwarts: Legacy, amongst many others.

Sigh. Why can we all the time finish this on a bummer? At least these OLED displays certain are good.