The Greatest Desktops and PC Elements of CES 2025

This yr marks the 58th annual CES, and this version of the Huge Present nearly buried us in new silicon, and recent PCs and elements to check all of it with. Nvidia, in fact, unveiled consumer-grade “Blackwell”-architecture GPUs within the GeForce RTX 50 collection, with unique options poised to present it a giant edge in dozens of present video games, to not point out for transformative AI duties. AMD had a brand new 3D V-Cache chip on show, which it claims is the most effective desktop CPU for gaming thus far. And each AMD and Intel issued new, lower-end desktop chipsets for his or her present platforms.

We even noticed Qualcomm Snapdragon chips make their means into a number of desktop PCs. Leveraging new processing {hardware} from all the main gamers, numerous half makers and accent distributors had new wares to indicate off, and we went fingers on with as a lot of it as we may, from totally modular PC instances to self-charging keyboards.

The upside to this being one of many busiest PC-hardware instances at a CES, ever? We had numerous choices for every of our coveted awards, so solely the best possible rose to the highest. We went fingers on with, or bought an in-person first have a look at, every of those successful merchandise, so you possibly can belief these are sensible, deliberate picks. Listed below are our greatest desktops and PC parts of CES 2025. (See additionally our greatest laptops of the present, and our 21 prime general picks.)

Greatest Gaming Desktop PC

MSI MEG Imaginative and prescient X AI 2nd

Arms On With MSI’s MEG Imaginative and prescient X AI Desktop: Now, Your PC Tower’s a Monitor, Too

Whereas we technically first noticed this method’s panel know-how at Computex 2024, it’s again at CES 2025 as a completely purposeful PC. We don’t should inform you how uncommon it’s to have a full-length, vertically oriented contact display on the entrance of your desktop tower, which is each a dialog piece and a comfort. You should utilize the display as a second monitor, place app shortcuts, show {hardware} data, or in any other case customise it to your liking.

Since this can be a working desktop now, there’s extra happening than simply the display: It’s powered by Intel’s “Arrow Lake” 200S desktop chips, liquid-cooled, and the entire cables and connectors are hidden neatly behind the motherboard for super-clean internals (in line with MSI’s Challenge Zero philosophy). It’s going to value a reasonably penny for a completely loaded model—over $4,000—however we admire the ambition on show. —Matthew Buzzi

Greatest Productiveness Desktop PC

HP OmniDesk

(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)

There’s no scarcity of highly effective desktops at CES 2025, however we’ve picked HP’s OmniDesk as a result of of its extra modest goals. This tower is each compact and enticing, due to a faux-wood entrance panel, which is very interesting for its $529.99 beginning value. There’s substance, too: It’s accessible with Intel’s Core Extremely 5 and Extremely 7 200 Collection AI processors—or in non-AI-PC type—with thirteenth and 14th Gen Core or AMD Ryzen 8000-series G-class processors. To prime all of it off, in the event you want a much less highly effective and even smaller desktop, HP can also be providing the extra-compact HP OmniDesk Slim, beginning at $479.99. —MB

Greatest Content material Creator or Energy Person PC

Origin Arachnid

(Credit score: John Burek)

Arachnophobic? Not us, not less than so far as this impossible-to-ignore desktop is worried. Origin PC, part of Corsair, put out probably the most imposing PC of the present within the large Arachnid. This PC may simply as handily have taken our Greatest Gaming Desktop PC crown, however this mannequin has many, many extra customization sides than MSI’s successful providing may have. And it begins at a cool $7,000, making it just for the very power-hungry content-creation crowd or the very poshest of players. Certainly, Origin solely builds these fashions to order, to your precise configuration requirements. And it is available in fairly the case: This certifiably distinctive chassis is break up into left and proper zones for CPU and GPU, maintaining their warmth and separate liquid cooling loops remoted. And all of the cabling runs via the middle of the Arachnid’s “legs,” making for one significantly clear, polished look. —John Burek

Greatest Mini PC

ASRock DeskMini B860

(Credit score: John Burek)

This compact desktop packs extra to speak about per cubic inch than another PC we noticed on the present. The “B860” within the title signifies the most recent Intel funds chipset, and this mini PC helps full desktop Intel “Arrow Lake” processors on Socket 1851 on a 5-inch-square motherboard. A part of the explanation that is doable is that the little motherboard helps solely laptop-style SO-DIMM reminiscence modules, however to compensate, the case helps particular high-bandwidth CSO-DIMMs for additional pep in memory-intensive purposes. You additionally get two M.2 PCI Categorical NVMe slots for storage (one supporting high-speed PCIe 5.0), 2.5Gbps Ethernet, and Thunderbolt 4 assist. That is one super-connected compact PC. —JB

Greatest Graphics Card

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Household

(Credit score: John Burek)

The upcoming Nvidia GeForce RTX 50 collection of graphics playing cards appears to be like spectacular on a number of fronts. However Nvidia’s announcement that its $549 GeForce RTX 5070 would be capable of recreation on a degree with its $1,599 GeForce RTX 4090 shocked everybody watching the corporate’s keynote. There’s little doubt that this efficiency is largely due to the highly effective AI {hardware} constructed into the RTX 5070, and we doubt we’ll see the identical degree of efficiency from the RTX 5070 in video games that don’t assist the corporate’s DLSS 4 know-how. Nonetheless, even when it’s solely in choose video games, that is an unquestionably spectacular feat of engineering and may solely be good for players. —Michael Justin Allen Sexton

Greatest Processor

AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D

CES AMD Keynote: The whole lot Introduced in 7 Minutes

AMD’s upcoming Ryzen 9 9950X3D is ready to change into the corporate’s strongest shopper processor. Not solely does it have 16 high-performance Zen 5 CPU cores like the corporate’s present greatest processor, the Ryzen 9 9950X, nevertheless it additionally comes outfitted with AMD’s 3D V-Cache know-how. This provides the processor a 64MB pool of SRAM that capabilities like further L3 cache. That is useful in varied conditions to enhance CPU efficiency, however it’s significantly useful in video games. These traits ought to make it considered one of, if not the, greatest CPU for each gaming and content-creation work. —MJAS

Greatest Motherboard

Asus ROG Strix B850-I Gaming WiFi

(Credit score: John Burek)

Motherboards are all about performance per sq. inch, and the most effective ones shove probably the most options into the restricted area they should work with. That is what makes Asus’ ROG Strix B850-I Gaming WiFi stand out. It is an AMD AM5 Mini-ITX board that comes outfitted with a tiny secondary PCB that resides excessive of the principle motherboard, supplying you with yet one more M.2 slot for ultra-fast SSDs than you’d normally discover on a board this measurement. It additionally ships with Wi-Fi 7 assist, a plethora of high-speed USB ports, and a high-end Realtek ALC4080 audio codec. To not point out, given it’s based mostly on the spanking-new AMD B850 chipset (additionally launched at CES) and has a sturdy energy resolution, it’s properly suited to overclocking your AMD Zen 5 CPU even in a confined Mini-ITX PC case. —MJAS

Greatest Storage Product (Inside Element)

Essential P510

(Credit score: John Burek)

Laptops with PCI Categorical (PCIe) 5.0 M.2 slots have been unusual…till now. At CES, greater than a handful emerged, and we count on these ultra-high-speed storage slots to make extra inroads into the market over the approaching yr. That’s why we’re singling out the first-of-its-kind, laptop-friendly PCIe 5.0 inner SSD, the Essential P510. By considered use of energy conservation, in addition to staying beneath the utmost theoretical throughput speeds of PCIe 5.0, the P510 attenuates the prodigious warmth generated by its high-performance Gen 5 counterparts. That permits its use within the new breed of laptops with PCIe 5.0 M.2 slots, in addition to in desktop PCs that assist the usual. The SSD is obtainable in 1TB and 2TB capacities, with an built-in warmth spreader and the choice for a supplemental heatsink. The P510’s design additionally options only a single aspect lined with NAND modules, making it simple to put in. —Tom Brant

Greatest Storage Product (Exterior Drive)

ADATA SE940

(Credit score: John Burek)

This one was a no brainer. Billed by ADATA because the world’s smallest USB4 exterior SSD, that alone established the SE940’s bona fides. Given our good experiences with the SE collection in previous critiques, as wonderful value-for-money, semi-rugged exterior SSDs, we’re a fan of the SE940 from the get-go. This tiny drive, based mostly on an SMI controller, guarantees learn/write speeds as much as 4,000Mbps and is encased in a sexy gold-metal enclosure with a lanyard loop to maintain it from getting misplaced. Most compelling, maybe, of all? You’ll be able to count on it in sizes as much as 8TB. This USB-C-equipped drive appears to be like, certainly, like ADATA’s golden baby for good purpose. —JB

Greatest PC Case

Corsair Body 4000D Modular Case

DIY Dream Package: Corsair’s Body 4000D Modular Case Might Be Accent Heaven

The Corsair Body 4000D is an evolution of the corporate’s well-liked 4000D chassis with a number of customizable options to assist make the case uniquely your personal. Proper out of the field, the case has an eye catching punched-and-bent metallic entrance panel that improves airflow. In time, although, this entrance ought to be swappable with considered one of a number of elective entrance panels, with wooden, glass, and metallic finishes to suit your style. (Corsair confirmed a bunch of prototype prospects at CES.) The motherboard mounting tray can also be swappable, and the chassis can match something from commonplace 120mm case followers as much as giant 200mm followers. These elements of the case already make it uncommon, however much more particular is an elective side-panel-monitor accent Corsair presents, referred to as the Xeneon Edge ($249.99). It provides a contact show to the case’s exterior that may play customized animations, present {hardware} data, and way more. —MJAS

Greatest PC Energy Product

Thermaltake SFX 1200W

(Credit score: John Burek)

Actually, we’d like not write a lot right here for this award winner past the title of the product—you learn that proper, 1,200-watt SFX! (If , .) Thermaltake was already one of many few corporations pushing the restrict within the SFX compact-power-supply area with its earlier effort, which was an SFX-L (prolonged size) provide. This SFX 1200W mannequin ups the height wattage and reduces the shape issue to straight-up, shorter SFX. That is all the facility provide we are able to conceive of anybody needing in any small-form-factor PC that mandates SFX, even with a high-end CPU and one of many incoming GeForce RTX 5090 playing cards. Pricing and availability are nonetheless to return; this can be a sizzling merchandise, although. —JB

Greatest PC Cooling Product

Thermaltake TS120 and TS 140 EX RGB

(Credit score: John Burek)

These lock-together, cable-reducing PC case followers have one thermal superpower that units them aside from the legions of cooling-fan makers which have now adopted varied flavors of edge connectors. Thermaltake’s latest have built-in temperature sensors, which let you could have a dwell temperature probe at every fan location. Earlier than, this required operating and routing numerous effective wires and mounting discrete probes. Now, you should utilize these followers’ personal probes and monitor temperatures at case prime and backside, back and front. This may allow you to experiment along with your fan curves based mostly on extra granular knowledge than simply general case temp, adjusting for the least noise or the most effective efficiency. These followers are available in black or white variations and can value $89.99 (120mm) or $94.99 (140mm) for a three-pack once they ship later in Q1. —JB

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About John Burek

Government Editor and PC Labs Director

I’ve been a know-how journalist for 30-plus years and have lined nearly each sort of laptop gear—from the 386SX to 64-core processors—in my lengthy tenure as an editor, a author, and an recommendation columnist. For nearly a quarter-century, I labored on the seminal, gigantic Laptop Shopper journal (and later, its digital counterpart), aka the cellphone guide for PC consumers, and the nemesis of each postal supply individual. I used to be Laptop Shopper’s editor in chief for its closing 9 years, after which a lot of its digital content material was folded into PCMag.com. I additionally served, briefly, because the editor in chief of the well-known hard-core tech web site Tom’s {Hardware}.

Throughout that point, I’ve constructed and torn down sufficient desktop PCs to equip a metropolis block’s value of web cafes. Underneath race situations, I’ve constructed PCs from bare-board to bootup in beneath 5 minutes.

In my early profession, I labored as an editor of scholarly science books, and as an editor of “Dummies”-style laptop guidebooks for Brady Books (now, BradyGames). I am a lifetime New Yorker, a graduate of New York College’s journalism program, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

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About Michael Justin Allen Sexton

Analyst

For so long as I can bear in mind, I’ve had love of all issues tech, spurred on, partly, by a love of gaming. I started engaged on computer systems owned by fast members of the family and family after I was round 10 years outdated. I’ve at all times sought to study as a lot as doable about something PC, resulting in a well-rounded grasp on all issues tech at present. In my position at PCMag, I tremendously benefit from the alternative to share what I do know.

I wrote for the well-known tech web site Tom’s {Hardware} for 3 years earlier than I joined PCMag in 2018. In that point, I’ve reviewed desktops, PC instances, and motherboards as a freelancer, whereas additionally producing offers content material for the positioning and its sibling ExtremeTech. Now, as a full-time PCMag analyst, I am specializing in reviewing processors and graphics playing cards whereas dabbling in all different issues PC-related.

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