Celebrating the Best in PC Tech: The Australian PC Awards 2025
Keeping pace with the latest technology and trends in the PC world is not just our responsibility; it’s a passion. This devotion drives us to share valuable insights with you. The annual gathering of the TechRadar team, alongside our colleagues from APC, PC Gamer, and PC PowerPlay, serves as a highlight of our tech calendar. For two full days, we lock ourselves away, debating and discussing the finest gear and innovations that graced the previous year.
This year, we meticulously reviewed every piece of tech from 2024, culminating in the selection of 173 finalists across 25 distinct categories. Ultimately, this led us to identify 25 winners that we believe are the best of the best. Whether you’re a proud owner of one of the featured products or on the hunt for your next tech investment, we hope this list inspires and informs.
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Congratulations to all the teams and individuals behind the impressive innovations recognized in this year’s awards. Your hard work is truly appreciated—keep it up!
(Image credit: Future)
What are the Australian PC Awards?
The Australian PC Awards acknowledge various categories spanning the essential components of PC technology. This year’s awards included special recognitions such as:
Excellence Award: This award is presented to the individual, product, or technology that made the most significant advancement in the PC realm in 2024.
Gold Award: Recognizing the top overall company within the PC space for 2024, this category comprises all finalists across the board, meticulously evaluated by our expert judges.
This year also saw the introduction of the Epic Fail Award, celebrating the most notable misstep within our industry.
Australian PC Awards Winners 2025
The Year in Review: Motherboards
2024 has been a transformative year for motherboard manufacturers, who focused on enhancing their offerings for AMD’s Zen 5 and Intel’s 14th-gen CPUs. The launch of Intel’s much-anticipated Arrow Lake (Core Ultra Series 2) on October 24 introduced a new chipset—Z890—featuring enhanced RAM speed and additional PCIe 5.0 lanes.
While the introduction of the LGA 1851 socket may have raised compatibility concerns, many existing LGA 1700 coolers maintained compatibility. Notably, a variety of high-quality Z890 motherboards emerged at launch, addressing diverse consumer needs.
Best Motherboard Maker
Highly Commended
All Finalists
Best Value Motherboard
Highly Commended
All Finalists
Today’s best MSI Project Zero B650M deals.
Best Premium Motherboard
Highly Commended
All Finalists
Today’s best ASUS ROG Strix X870E-E Gaming WiFi deals.
The Year in Review: GPUs
Despite an otherwise quiet year in the graphics sector, Nvidia introduced the RTX 4000 Super series refresh, which provided some pricing relief though it offered only marginal performance improvements. Meanwhile, AMD’s RX 7600 XT and RX 7900 GRE made waves, particularly the latter due to its appealing price-to-performance ratio.
Amid this landscape, Intel’s launched its fresh Battlemage architecture with the Arc B580, heralded for its robust entry-level performance. Nonetheless, issues with driver overhead and availability added complications to its reception.
Best Graphics Card Maker
Highly Commended
All Finalists
Best Graphics Card
Highly Commended
All Finalists
Today’s best MSI RTX 4070 Ti Super Ventus 3X deals.
The Year in Review: CPUs
The CPU landscape in 2024 ushered in several high-profile launches, yet many fell flat. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite, while promising exceptional battery life, faced driver support issues. AMD’s Ryzen 9000 series failed to impress with only slight improvements over its predecessors, while Intel’s Core Ultra 200 series suffered performance regressions.
Although Intel’s Arrow Lake for laptops and AMD’s APUs showcased more promising results, notable gains were scarce this year overall.
Best Value CPU
Highly Commended
All Finalists
Today’s best AMD Ryzen 7 8700G deals.
Best Mid-Range CPU
Highly Commended
All Finalists
Today’s best AMD Ryzen 7 8700G deals.
Best Premium CPU
Highly Commended
All Finalists
Today’s best AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D deals.
The Year in Review: Storage
As data management continues to evolve, the PCIe 5.0 standard has struggled for mainstream adoption despite its availability. Most users still find PCIe 4.0 adequate for their needs, keeping prices competitive—exemplified by the thriving market for PlayStation 5 SSD upgrades.
On the other hand, traditional hard drives are slowly diminishing in relevance, evidenced by Seagate’s 24TB offering aimed at enterprise and NAS markets. The lack of new consumer NAS products indicates that older models suffice for average home users.
Best Internal Storage Maker
Highly Commended
All Finalists
Best External Storage Maker
Highly Commended
All Finalists
The Year in Review: Systems
The laptop market witnessed exciting developments in 2024, with a myriad of new CPUs and innovative designs. Although the Snapdragon X Elite’s performance impressed, sales remained stagnant, while AMD’s latest Ryzen 9 AI chips proved powerful but heat management was an issue.
130Hz OLED displays became standard in many budget options, with Intel’s Lunar Lake mobile CPUs earning acclaim in select laptops. Meanwhile, Microsoft introduced impressive laptops and 2-in-1s, though its aggressive push for the Copilot+ feature faced criticism.
The gaming laptop segment remained relatively unchanged in terms of hardware, yet manufacturers improved display quality and cooling systems. Desktop systems faced price fluctuations in GPU components, nudging users towards AMD alternatives, while mini desktops gained traction thanks to AMD’s offerings.
Best Value Laptop or 2-in-1
Highly Commended
All Finalists
Today’s best Asus Vivobook S 15 (S5507) Copilot+ PC deals.
Best Premium Laptop or 2-in-1
Highly Commended
All Finalists
Today’s best Apple MacBook Pro M4 deals.
Best Gaming Laptop
Highly Commended
All Finalists
Today’s best Lenovo Legion 5i (Gen 9) deals.
Best Desktop PC Maker & Reseller
Highly Commended
All Finalists
The Year in Review: Components and Peripherals
This category experienced significant growth as CPU air coolers surged in popularity, providing performance rivaling that of liquid AIO coolers, but at a fraction of the cost. Monitor technologies are blossoming as QD OLED panels lead the charge, with an increasing variety in screen sizes and aspect ratios, including ultrawide gaming displays.
High-end keyboards continue to evolve, while PC cases are leaning towards an ‘aquarium’ build aesthetic, recently popularized amongst manufacturers. Advances in Wi-Fi 7 routers highlight the push for connectivity, although high prices continue to limit accessibility for many consumers.
Best Memory Maker
Highly Commended
All Finalists
Best Cooling Product
Highly Commended
All Finalists
Today’s best Corsair A115 deals.
Best Monitor
Highly Commended
All Finalists
Today’s best Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDP deals.
Best Keyboard
Highly Commended
All Finalists
Today’s best Ducky Zero 6108 deals.
Best Mouse
All Finalists
Today’s best Logitech Pro X Superlight 2 Dex deals.
Best Gaming Headset
Highly Commended
All Finalists
Today’s best Asus ROG Delta II deals.
Best PC Case
Highly Commended
All Finalists
Best Router
Highly Commended
All Finalists
Today’s best TP-Link Deco BE85 deals.
Excellence Award
Acknowledging the individual, product, or technology that made a significant advancement in the PC landscape during 2024.
Highly Commended
All Finalists
Gold Award
This category recognizes the company that impressed us the most overall in 2024.
All Finalists
Epic Fail Award
Acknowledging the most notable misstep in 2024.
Highly Commended
All Finalists
Discover Last Year’s Winners
Curious about who triumphed in the previous year? Here.
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