The Best Hardware of 2016

September

Nvidia Titan X


Seemingly not content with the already unchallenged performance offered by its GTX 1080, Nvidia upped its game even further with the £1,100 Titan X Pascal in September. It looks like something Batman would use, perhaps appropriately given the awesome power it wields with its GP102 GPU and 12GB frame buffer. While already awesome as it comes, you really need to water-cool it to properly unleash it, as we showed when reviewing the Aqua Computer Kryographics Pascal water block.

PC Specialist Defiance III


Nvidia's Pascal architecture didn't only give it a leg up in the desktop market, it also cemented its leadership in the gaming notebook market, which is unsurprising given how important efficiency is. The Defiance III from UK-based PC Specialist weighs 2.5kg and is 25mm thick, which is decidedly portable relative to many gaming laptops out there, yet with its GTX 1060 GPU it was able to offer playable frame rates at resolutions beyond 1080p. With a decent chassis, keyboard, and touchpad, as well as numerous upgrade options in PC Specialist's online configurator, it went down as a real winner in our books.

NZXT S340 Elite


What do you get when you take an already excellent case design and add a tempered glass side panel? Well, an even more excellent case, of course. Building on the great foundations laid by the S340, the S340 Elite brought the case into line with what has quickly become the new trend in cases: tempered glass. It also gives you VR-friendly front-panel ports (including HDMI) and even a magnetic puck on which to hang a VR headset. Truly a case of 2016, if ever there was one. If £100 is your limit for a case, this is a brilliant option.