Skip to content
Image: Rob Schultz / IDG
Welcome to The Full Nerd Awards Show! Here, we recognize the best PC hardware and software of 2023. Join Gordon Ung, Brad Chacos, Alaina Yee, and Adam Patrick Murray as they passionately debate over what gear moved the needle for the PC in 2023. Performance? Value? Both of these were hot topics as they all wrestled to find the best of the best. Graphics cards have been a massive bummer and they discuss how this has affected the value of these cards in 2023.
Each participant brought their picks for the best PC hardware and software of 2023 before coming to a single winner in each category. The debate over the best CPU of 2023 was so intense that it took them nearly an hour to come to a conclusion. And remember, a lot of hard work goes into coming up with the winners, I can only imagine what Oscars voters go through! The list is separate from PCWorld’s wider best PC hardware and software of 2023 and best work from home tech of 2023; this list is the opinion of our Full Nerd crew only. Peep the categories below, the full episode below that, and a brief description of winners afterwards if you want the results without all of The Full Nerd gang’s screaming and hand-wringing.
- Best CPU
- Best GPU
- Best PC accessory
- Best innovation
- Worst trend
…avert your eyes if you don’t want the spoilers (and winners!) lurking below!
Best CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D
This was a hotly contested battle between a trio of primary contenders: AMD’s ferocious 16-core, V-Cache-infused Ryzen 9 7950X3D, its smaller (yet still wonderful) Ryzen 7 7800X3D sibling, and the AMD Z1 Extreme chip powering a wave of handhelds like the Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go.
It took nearly an hour of passionate debate before we settled on a victor, and even then, there was still plenty of grumbling. But in the end, the Ryzen 9 7950X3D’s combination of a dual-chip, 16-core design and 3D V-Cache on one of those dies enables a true no-compromises work-and-play experience unlike any other. The Ryzen 7 7800X3D is a better value for most people, sure, but no other chip pulls off what the Ryzen 9 7950X3D accomplishes.
Best GPU: AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT
For chips, it’s a clean sweep for AMD! AMD emerged as a standout in a weird year and a weird generation for graphics cards. The only true worthwhile 1440p graphics card of this generation after Nvidia fumbled the RTX 4060-series design and RTX 4070’s price. The Radeon RX 7800 XT is much faster than its similarly priced RTX 4060 Ti rivals and even manages to often outpunch the RTX 4070,