Technology is always moving forward and it improves our lives in many ways. Over the last 10 years there have been remarkable changes to medicine, communication, media and travel. There are always some big hitters that influence the entire market and this top 10 focuses on what’s most important for gamers.
1. Solid State Drives (SSDs)
SSDs: Solid state drives are arguably the most important shift in PC hardware in the last decade, and their ability to be lightning fast, silent and compact makes them a powerful upgrade over the HDD. Low power consumption also makes them excellent for improving battery life in laptops. The only downsides used to be high cost and small capacity but sizable price drops and improvements in storage technology mean they are easily obtainable for the mass market. Here are some good examples below:
Best Gen 4 Drive: Corsair Force MP600 Series
- Super fast read and write speeds
- 1TB for £248.99
- 5 Year warranty
Best SATA SSD: Kingston UV500
- 5 Year warranty
- 1920GB for £248.99
- Great value for money
Best M.2 NVMe drive:Samsung 970 Evo Plus
- Superfast and compatible with most modern motherboards
- 1TB for £239.99
- 5 Year Warranty
While an SSD provides a slight improvement for general computing, gaming is where an SSD will make a remarkable difference.Gamers can expect pretty much instant gameplay with less time spent in loading screens. Stuttering and hitching in large open-world games is also a thing of the past as data can be retrieved much more quickly.
Although PC’s are leading the way the next generations of consoles are expected to ship with this technology truly making SSDs a part of the Gaming mainstream.
2. Monitors and Displays
Visuals are a huge part of gaming and the quality of your display can make or break the experience. Afterall a powerful PC is pointless without a high tech monitor. Ten years ago 4K was just a dream and the Dell UltraSharp U2410 monitor with it’s IPS display and 1080p resolution was considered one of the best and cost nearly £500. However there has been a huge amount of innovation in the past decade and the same budget now gets you a beautiful monitor with a much higher resolution and refresh rate.
Best for around £500: LG27GL850-B
- 27 inch, 1440p display
- 1ms response time
- Freesync and G-sync compatible
Best for a tight budget: AOC Gaming 24G2U
- 24inch, 1080p display
- 144hz refresh rate
- IPS Panel with freesync
The monitor that has it all: LG 38GL950
- 4K resolution, 144hz
- 38 inch, Nano IPS
- G-Sync compatible
3. Streaming:
Since the release of Twitch in 2011 streaming has become a monumental part of the gaming community and there are now several different websites allowing people to share their life with the world. Twitch is still the most popular and the platform has 15 million active daily users ranking it as one of the World’s most popular websites. The rise of streaming has revolutionised the way people consume media today and the rollout of high-speed fibre optic allows the stable broadcast of gameplay. With around 2.2 Million monthly broadcasters there is quite the demand for high quality streaming equipment. Elgato for example provides lights, greenscreens, stream decks and capture cards all useful tools for streaming professionally. Some of the most popular products are listed below:
Lights: Elgato Keylight professional
- Colour adjustable LED panel with 2500 lumens
Capture: Elgato HD60 Pro game capture card
- Capture gameplay at 60fps,1080p
Action: Elgato stream deck
- 15 reprogrammable LCD keys
4. Laptops
Gaming laptops have changed dramatically over the years with a shift from thick and heavy with all the subtlety of a bright orange lamborghini to thin, portable and sophisticated. The laptop that led the way was the Razer Blade back in 2011 and there has been a noticeable desire for more powerful hardware in an even smaller compact chassis. Tech like SSDs & Nvidia Max-Q graphics has allowed manufacturers to implement desktop-worthy graphics and performance into one device that is both suitable for the hardworking professional and gaming enthusiast on the go.
No compromises: Razer Blade 15 Advanced
- Powerful desktop performance in a portable 15” chassis
- 240Hz IPS Display
- Beautiful aluminium body with advanced cooling
Professional: Gigabyte Aero 15S
- Sleek silver design
- 15.6” 4k OLED display
- Powerful yet thin and light
Budget friendly: ASUS ROG Zephyrus GA502DU
- Portable and light
- Ryzen 7 performance
- Thin bezel 120hz display
5. VR Gaming
VR has been around as a concept for a long time but since the Oculus rift made it a reality back in 2012 there has been a decent array of competing headsets released to the market. The innovation has been rapid with manufacturers like HTC increasing resolutions, fields of view and refresh rate to try and find an edge over rival brands. The latest HTC Vive Cosmos Elite features one of the highest resolution displays on the market, as well as flip-up goggles and a modular faceplate. Similarly the new Valve Index includes a 120Hz display; and wide field of view for smooth immersive gameplay.
Best for resolution: HTC Vive Cosmos Elite VR headset
- Advanced steam VR tracking to detect precise movements
- 2880 x 1700 combined pixel resolution for better visuals
- one-of-a-kind flip-up headset design
Best for field of view:Valve Index
- Half-Life: Alyx included for free
- Optimized for field of view
- Innovative off-ear audio solution
Best value for money: OCULUS RIFT S.
- Under £400
- No complicated set up
- Integrated audio
6. Cloud Gaming
We’re already used to on demand TV and Movies without the need to purchase DVDs or Blu Ray players and within the past few years there has been some exciting developments when it comes to subscription services for gamers. Cloud gaming means there is no need for expensive high end hardware or purchasing each game individually making it accessible for anyone provided you pay the monthly subscription and have fast enough internet. Here are some of the most popular options:
Google Stadia
- 4K 60FPS Gameplay
- £8.99 per month
Nvidia GeForce Now
- Connect to existing game libraries
- £4.99 per month
Playstation Now
- Access to up to 700 games
- £8.99 per month
7. Portable Gaming
The Nintendo switch is probably one of the greatest consoles ever made with its hybrid functionality and library of exclusive games. The ability for manufacturers to cram powerful tech into small devices is great for gaming on the go and we’ve seen a couple of gaming tech giants like ROG and Razer release their first and second gaming phones. Gaming phones need something to play and developers have been hard at work bringing big titles to mobile such as PUBG, Fortnite, COD, League of legends and controversially the next Diablo.
Nintendo Switch
- 3 gaming modes in 1 device
- Several multiplayer gaming options
- Exclusive games and franchises
Razer Phone 2 Gaming Phone
- 5.7”, 1440p, 120Hz display
- Vapour chamber cooling
- Razer Chroma lighting
Asus ROG II Gaming Phone
- 120hz Amoled 1ms Display
- Side charging design with front spacing speakers
- Aeroactive cooler
8. Aesthetics
Ten years ago PCs looked very different. Often your components wouldn’t match and your PC case was just something to hold everything and maintain good airflow. It’s not clear who started the trend but today it’s all about RGB,tempered glass and showing off your premium hardware. Braided cables, PSU Shrouds, fancy custom watercooling and mounting your GPU horizontally are now mainstream products all in the name of beauty. Gamers are more aware of materials and build quality and products no longer just have to perform well, they have to look good while doing it.
Not just braided cables but RGB braided cables:
- Lian-Li Strimer RGB
- Each wire can be individually controlled
- Premium sleeving
The perfect way to show off your hardware:
- Kolink Big Chungus showcase
- 5 Pre Installed aRGB fans
- Both side parts, front and lid made of tinted tempered glass
Performance,RGB and a clean white design:
- Glorious Model O gaming mouse
- Pixart PMW 3360 Optical Sensor
- Lightweight at 59g
9. Powerful Hardware
It’s a given that with time we see significant advancements in technology. The past 10 years have been no different with Ryzen reigniting the CPU market, Ray Tracing changing the way we see graphics, SSDs saving us from lengthy loading screens and consoles capable of 4K hitting the market. This wealth of new tech influences game design and constantly improves the user experience making gameplay smoother, helping us to play better and taking our breath away with outstanding graphics.
A monstrous Graphics card: The ASUS ROG Strix OC RTX 2080Ti
- Represents the cutting edge of graphics card technology
- Triple-fan cooler design with RGB-LED lighting
- High GPU base clock: 1.350 MHz
An Overkill Processor: The Ryzen 9 3950X CPU
- 16 cores with 32 threads
- 3 Year warranty
- 4.70GHz clock speed
4K gaming for the masses: Playstation 4 Pro
- Vibrant HDR Gaming
- Stream 4K videos, movies, and shows
- 4K-TV Gaming
10. Gaming Chairs
Gaming Chairs: Around the mid-2000s with the rise of esports and Twitch, gamers-turned-content creators demanded a chair that would keep them comfortable for long sessions while also matching the typical Gamer aesthetic of the time. The first iterations sported bright colours, cheap materials and left a lot to be desired in terms of ergonomics. However as demand increased and the gaming crowd became more conscious of build quality and materials brands such as noblechairs have produced a series of ergonomic and sophisticated chairs. These chairs maintain their sporty gaming heritage without looking out of place in the modern home.
It doesn’t get better than this: noblechairs Icon Napa Leather
- Premium Napa leather
- Exceptional durability due to high-strength material
- Superb ergonomics thanks to flexible adjustment options
Unique and attractive design: noblechairs epic mercedes-amg petronas motorsport edition
- PU leather in black with Petronas-green and silver accents
- Comfortable & breathable cold-foam upholstery
- Adjustable in 4 directions
More affordable: Nitro Concepts S300 Stealth Black
- Fabric upholstery in stealth black
- Comfortable cold foam upholstery
- Individually adjustable ergonomics
- 9 min read
Overclockers UK
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OcUK has been the home for PC gaming enthusiasts since 2012. The blog is chock full of hardware news, upcoming games, and handy guides. As such, the Overclockers UK Blog team is dedicated to bringing you top-quality content daily.
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