2022 is shaping up to be another exciting year of tech but, before we get too stuck in, let's take advantage of that 20/20 hindsight to nominate the best consumer PC tech of 2021 – because most of these products are current, and there's no better buying guide than a list of the very best of the best.
It’s the annual Australian PC Awards, and it’s underway right now.
The experts at TechRadar, APC, TechLife, PC Gamer, PC PowerPlay and T3 have combined forces to concentrate a huge year of innovation into a short and sweet list of the top tech.
Below is the shortlist of ripper finalists – PC companies, products and technologies that are really pushing the boundaries of what computers can do. That includes everything from the best processors to the most fanciful custom cases – if you can put it in a computer or plug it into one, it was considered for an award.
For anyone more interested in the meta than wading into the nitty gritty of PC components, look no further than our top two extra-special awards:
Excellence Award: Presented to the person, product or technology that advanced the PC more than any other in 2021.
Gold Award: For the best overall company operating in the PC space for 2021. This list includes every one of the finalists across all the other categories – and has been carefully considered by our expert panel of judges.
While many will be keen to put NFTs and component shortages in the rear view mirror, there were some pretty impressive technological achievements in 2021, and this shortlist of finalists is the perfect cheat sheet for skimming off the cream of the 2021 crop.
I want to know who won!
And you will, quite soon in fact!
We'll be announcing all the winners right here on TechRadar on Friday, March 11, 2022, or you can head straight to the official Australian PC Awards site (opens in new tab).
See you on the 11th!
Finalists: Best motherboard maker
- Asus (opens in new tab)
- Asrock (opens in new tab)
- Gigabyte Aorus (opens in new tab)
- MSI (opens in new tab)
Finalists: Best value motherboard
- Nzxt N7 B550 (opens in new tab)
- MSI MPG B560i Gaming Edge Wi-Fi (opens in new tab)
- Asus ROG Strix B560-F Gaming Wi-Fi (opens in new tab)
- MSI MEG B550 Unify (opens in new tab)
- Gigabyte B560M Aorus Elite (opens in new tab)
- Asrock B560 Steel Legend (opens in new tab)
- Asus TUF Gaming B560-Plus WIFI (opens in new tab)
Finalists: Best premium motherboard
- Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Pro (opens in new tab)
- MSI MEG Z690 Unify (opens in new tab)
- Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master (opens in new tab)
- Asus ROG Strix Z690-I Gaming Wifi (opens in new tab)
- Asrock Z690 Taichi (opens in new tab)
- MSI MPG X570S Carbon Max WIFI (opens in new tab)
- MSI MPG Z590 Gaming Carbon WIFI (opens in new tab)
- Asus TUF Gaming Z590-Plus WIFI (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab)
- Gigabyte Z590 Aorus Master (opens in new tab)
- Asrock Z590 PG Velocita (opens in new tab)
Finalists: Best video card maker
- Asus (opens in new tab)
- Gigabyte Aorus (opens in new tab)
- Inno3D (opens in new tab)
- MSI (opens in new tab)
- Nvidia (opens in new tab)
- Sapphire Technology (opens in new tab)
Finalists: Best value video card
- Nvidia RTX 3060 12GB (opens in new tab)
- PowerColor Radeon RX 6600 Fighter
- Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3060 Eagle OC
- Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3060 OC (opens in new tab)
- MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Gaming X
- AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
Finalists: Best premium video card
- Nvidia 3080Ti Founders Edition (opens in new tab)
- Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 Ti AMP Holo
- Gigabyte Aorus GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Master
- Aorus GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Xtreme
- MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G
Finalists: Best value CPU
- AMD Ryzen 5 5600G (opens in new tab)
- Intel Core i5-11400 (opens in new tab)
- Intel Core i3-10105F (opens in new tab)
- Intel i5-11500 (opens in new tab)
Finalists: Best premium CPU
- Intel i9-12900K (opens in new tab)
- Intel i5-12600K (opens in new tab)
- Intel i9-11900K (opens in new tab)
- Intel i5-11600K (opens in new tab)
- AMD Ryzen 7 5700G (opens in new tab)
Finalists: Best internal storage maker
- Adata (opens in new tab)
- Kingston (opens in new tab)
- Crucial by Micron (opens in new tab)
- Samsung (opens in new tab)
- Seagate (opens in new tab)
- MSI (opens in new tab)
- Western Digital (opens in new tab)
Finalists: Best external storage maker
- Adata (opens in new tab)
- Crucial by Micron (opens in new tab)
- Samsung (opens in new tab)
- SanDisk (opens in new tab)
- Seagate (opens in new tab)
- Western Digital (opens in new tab)
Finalists: Best SOHO or home NAS
- QNAP TS-130 NAS (opens in new tab)
- QNAP TVS-675 (opens in new tab)
- Asustor AS3302T 2-Bay (opens in new tab)
- Terramaster F5-221 (opens in new tab)
Finalists: Best value laptop or 2-in-1
- Lenovo Chromebook Duet (opens in new tab)
- Acer Chromebook Spin 311 (opens in new tab)
- Asus Vivobook Pro 15 OLED (opens in new tab)
- Acer Swift 3X i7 (opens in new tab)
- Microsoft Surface Laptop Go (opens in new tab)
Finalists: Best premium laptop or 2-in-1
- Apple MacBook Pro 14- & 16-inch (opens in new tab)
- LG Gram 17 (2021) (opens in new tab)
- Asus ZenBook Duo 14 (opens in new tab)
- HP Spectre x360 14 (opens in new tab)
- Microsoft Surface Pro 8 (opens in new tab)
- MSI Creator Z16 (opens in new tab)
- Dell XPS 15 (opens in new tab)
- Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Pro 14-inch (AMD) (opens in new tab)
- Razer Blade 14 (opens in new tab)
- Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 (opens in new tab)
- Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Carbon (opens in new tab)
Finalists: Best gaming laptop
- MSI GE76 Raider (opens in new tab)
- Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 (GA503) (opens in new tab)
- Asus TUF Gaming A15 (FA506) (opens in new tab)
- Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition (G513) (opens in new tab)
- Aorus 15P YD (opens in new tab)
- Acer Nitro 5 (opens in new tab)
- Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR YC (opens in new tab)
Finalists: Best desktop PC builder
- Apple (opens in new tab)
- Thermaltake (opens in new tab)
- Dell (opens in new tab)
- Corsair (opens in new tab)
- MSI (opens in new tab)
- Aftershock PC (opens in new tab)
- Scorptec (opens in new tab)
- Nzxt (opens in new tab)
Finalists: Best memory maker
- Adata (opens in new tab)
- Corsair (opens in new tab)
- Crucial by Micron (opens in new tab)
- Geil (opens in new tab)
- G.Skill (opens in new tab)
- Kingston (opens in new tab)
- Team Group (opens in new tab)
Finalists: Best cooling product
- Cooler Master Air MA624 (opens in new tab)
- Asus ROG Ryujin II 360 (opens in new tab)
- TT ToughLiquid Ultra 360 AIO (opens in new tab)
- MSI CoreLiquid K240 (opens in new tab)
- Corsair H170i Elite Capellix (opens in new tab)
- be quiet! Shadow Rock Slim 2 (opens in new tab)
- Zalman CNPS10x Performa Black (opens in new tab)
- DeepCool AK620 (opens in new tab)
Finalists: Best monitor
- MSI Optix MPG321UR-QD (opens in new tab)
- Samsung Odyssey G7 (opens in new tab)
- Philips Brilliance 329P1H (opens in new tab)
- BenQ EW3880R ultrawide monitor (opens in new tab)
- Asus ProArt Display 14 (opens in new tab)
- Aorus FI32U (opens in new tab)
- Aorus FO48U (opens in new tab)
- Dahua DHI-LM28-F420 (opens in new tab)
- Acer Predator X25 (opens in new tab)
- Aorus FV43U (opens in new tab)
- Asus ROG Swift PG32UQX (opens in new tab)
- AOC U34G3X (opens in new tab)
- BenQ Zowie XL-K (opens in new tab)
- Dell 4K S3221QS (opens in new tab)
- Samsung Odyssey G9 (opens in new tab)
- MSI MPG Artymis 343CQR (opens in new tab)
Finalists: Best keyboard
- Akko 3098B (opens in new tab)
- Logitech MX Keys Mini (opens in new tab)
- HyperX Alloy Origins 60 Percent (opens in new tab)
- Asus ROG Falchion 65 percent (opens in new tab)
- Corsair K65 Mini Keyboard (opens in new tab)
- Roccat Magma (opens in new tab)
- SteelSeries Apex 3 TKL (opens in new tab)
- Razer Huntsman V2 (opens in new tab)
- Corsair K70 RGB TKL (opens in new tab)
- Asus ROG Strix Scope RX (opens in new tab)
Finalists: Best mouse
- Razer Basilisk V3 (opens in new tab)
- Logitech G305 Lightspeed Wireless (opens in new tab)
- HP Omen Vector Wireless Mouse (opens in new tab)
- Steelseries Rival 5 (opens in new tab)
- Razer Viper 8K (opens in new tab)
- Logitech G Pro X Superlight (opens in new tab)
- Steelseries Aerox 3 wireless (opens in new tab)
- Cooler Master MM720 (opens in new tab)
- MSI Clutch GM41 Lightweight Wireless (opens in new tab)
- Thermaltake Argent M5 RGB (opens in new tab)
Finalists: Best gaming headset
- Creative SXFI Air Gamer (opens in new tab)
- SteelSeries Arctis 7P/7X (opens in new tab)
- HyperX Cloud II Wireless (opens in new tab)
- Corsair Virtuoso RGB Wireless XT (opens in new tab)
- Corsair HS75 XB Wireless (opens in new tab)
- Corsair HS80 RGB Wireless (opens in new tab)
- Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2 (opens in new tab)
- Epos H3 Hybrid (opens in new tab)
- Razer Kraken V3 X (opens in new tab)
- Asus ROG Delta S (opens in new tab)
Finalists: Best PC case
- Lian Li PC-O11 Air Mini (opens in new tab)
- Nzxt H510 Flow (opens in new tab)
- Corsair Airflow 7000D (opens in new tab)
- MSI Sekira 100R (opens in new tab)
- Lian Li Q58 (opens in new tab)
- Cooler Master NR200P Max (opens in new tab)
- Antec P82 Silent (opens in new tab)
- Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact (opens in new tab)
- Thermaltake The Tower 100 Mini Case (opens in new tab)
Finalists: Best router
- TP Link GX90 (opens in new tab)
- DrayTek VigorAP 1060C (opens in new tab)
- D-Link DIR-X3260 AX3200 (opens in new tab)
- TP Link Deco X20 DSL (opens in new tab)
- Asus Zen WifI XD6 (opens in new tab)
- Mercusys MR70X (opens in new tab)
- DrayTek Vigor2927ac (opens in new tab)
- D-Link Covr-X1873 AX1800 (opens in new tab)
- Netgear Nighthawk XR1000 (opens in new tab)
- TP Link Deco X90 (opens in new tab)
- Tenda MW3 AC1200 (opens in new tab)
- Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 (opens in new tab)
- Netgear Nighthawk MR5200 (opens in new tab)
- QNAP QMiro-201W (opens in new tab)
Finalists: Best reseller
- Aftershock PC (opens in new tab)
- Computer Alliance (opens in new tab)
- JW Computers (opens in new tab)
- Mwave (opens in new tab)
- PC Case Gear (opens in new tab)
- PLE (opens in new tab)
- Scorptec (opens in new tab)
- Umart (opens in new tab)
Finalists: Excellence Award
For the person, product or technology that advanced the PC more than any other in 2020.
- Intel Alder Lake architecture (opens in new tab)
- DDR5 (opens in new tab)
- OLED laptop screens (opens in new tab)
- Apple M1 Pro / Max (2021) (opens in new tab)
- Windows 11 (opens in new tab)
- AMD FidelityFX (opens in new tab)
- AMD Smart Access Memory (opens in new tab)
Finalists: Gold Award
The company that impressed us the most, overall, in 2021.
This list comprises all of the companies that made the finalist lists, plus more that the editorial team felt deserved to be included.
- Acer (opens in new tab)
- Aftershock (opens in new tab)
- Akko (opens in new tab)
- AMD (opens in new tab)
- Apple (opens in new tab)
- Asus (opens in new tab)
- Corsair (opens in new tab)
- Creative (opens in new tab)
- Crucial by Micron (opens in new tab)
- Dahua (opens in new tab)
- Dell (opens in new tab)
- D-Link (opens in new tab)
- G.Skill (opens in new tab)
- Gigabyte (opens in new tab)
- Hyper X (opens in new tab)
- Intel (opens in new tab)
- Kingston (opens in new tab)
- Lenovo (opens in new tab)
- Lian Li (opens in new tab)
- Logitech (opens in new tab)
- Microsoft (opens in new tab)
- MSI (opens in new tab)
- Mwave (opens in new tab)
- Nvidia (opens in new tab)
- Nzxt (opens in new tab)
- PC Case Gear (opens in new tab)
- PLE (opens in new tab)
- QNAP (opens in new tab)
- Razer (opens in new tab)
- Samsung (opens in new tab)
- SanDisk (opens in new tab)
- Seagate (opens in new tab)
- Team Group (opens in new tab)
- Thermaltake (opens in new tab)
- TP-Link (opens in new tab)
- WD (opens in new tab)
Last year's winners
See who won last year right here!