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 PC Gamer, TechRadar, APC, TechLife, 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 PC Gamer on Friday, March 11, 2022, or you can head straight to the official Australian PC Awards site.

See you on the 11th!

Finalists: Best motherboard maker

• Asus
• Asrock
• Gigabyte Aorus
• MSI

Finalists: Best value motherboard

• Nzxt N7 B550 
• MSI MPG B560i Gaming Edge Wi-Fi 
• Asus ROG Strix B560-F Gaming Wi-Fi  
• MSI MEG B550 Unify
• Gigabyte B560M Aorus Elite 
• Asrock B560 Steel Legend 
• Asus TUF Gaming B560-Plus WIFI 

Finalists: Best premium motherboard

•  Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Pro
•  MSI MEG Z690 Unify 
•  Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master 
•  Asus ROG Strix Z690-I Gaming Wifi 
•  Asrock Z690 Taichi 
•  MSI MPG X570S Carbon Max WIFI
•  MSI MPG Z590 Gaming Carbon WIFI 
•  Asus TUF Gaming Z590-Plus WIFI  
•  Gigabyte Z590 Aorus Master 
•  Asrock Z590 PG Velocita 

Finalists: Best video card maker

•  Asus 
•  Gigabyte Aorus 
•  Inno3D 
•  MSI 
•  Nvidia 
•  Sapphire Technology 

Finalists: Best value video card

•  Nvidia RTX 3060 12GB 
•  PowerColor Radeon RX 6600 Fighter 
•  Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3060 Eagle OC 
•  Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3060 OC  
•  MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Gaming X  
•  AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT 

Finalists: Best premium video card

•  Nvidia 3080Ti Founders Edition 
•  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 
•  Intel Core i5-11400 
•  Intel Core i3-10105F 
•  Intel i5-11500 

Finalists: Best premium CPU

•  Intel i9-12900K 
•  Intel i5-12600K 
•  Intel i9-11900K 
•  Intel i5-11600K 
•  AMD Ryzen 7 5700G 

Finalists: Best internal storage maker

•  Adata 
•  Kingston  
•  Crucial by Micron 
•  Samsung 
•  Seagate 
•  MSI 

Finalists: Best external storage maker

•  Adata 
•  Crucial by Micron 
•  Samsung 
•  SanDisk 
•  Seagate 
•  Western Digital 

Finalists: Best SOHO or home NAS

•  QNAP TS-130 NAS 
•  QNAP TVS-675 
•  Asustor AS3302T 2-Bay 
•  Terramaster F5-221 

Finalists: Best value laptop or 2-in-1

•  Lenovo Chromebook Duet 
•  Acer Chromebook Spin 311 
•  Asus Vivobook Pro 15 OLED 
•  Acer Swift 3X i7  
•  Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 

Finalists: Best premium laptop or 2-in-1

•  Apple MacBook Pro 14- & 16-inch 
•  LG Gram 17 (2021) 
•  Asus ZenBook Duo 14 
•  HP Spectre x360 14 
•  Microsoft Surface Pro 8 
•  MSI Creator Z16 
•  Dell XPS 15 
•  Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Pro 14-inch (AMD) 
•  Razer Blade 14 
•  Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 
•  Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Carbon 

Finalists: Best gaming laptop

• MSI GE76 Raider 
• Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 (GA503) 
• Asus TUF Gaming A15 (FA506) 
• Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition (G513) 
• Aorus 15P YD 
• Acer Nitro 5 
• Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR YC

Finalists: Best desktop PC builder

•  Apple 
•  Thermaltake 
•  Dell 
•  Corsair 
•  MSI 
•  Aftershock PC 
•  Scorptec 
•  Nzxt 

Finalists: Best memory maker

•  Adata 
•  Corsair 
•  Crucial by Micron 
•  Geil 
•  G.Skill 
•  Kingston 
•  Team Group 

Finalists: Best cooling product

•  Cooler Master Air MA624 
•  Asus ROG Ryujin II 360 
•  TT ToughLiquid Ultra 360 AIO 
•  MSI CoreLiquid K240 
•  Corsair H170i Elite Capellix 
•  be quiet! Shadow Rock Slim 2 
•  Zalman CNPS10x Performa Black 
•  DeepCool AK620 

Finalists: Best monitor

•  MSI Optix MPG321UR-QD 
•  Samsung Odyssey G7 
•  Philips Brilliance 329P1H 
•  BenQ EW3880R ultrawide monitor 
•  Asus ProArt Display 14 
•  Aorus FI32U 
•  Aorus FO48U 
•  Dahua DHI-LM28-F420 
•  Acer Predator X25 
•  Aorus FV43U 
•  Asus ROG Swift PG32UQX 
•  AOC U34G3X 
•  BenQ Zowie XL-K  
•  Dell 4K S3221QS 
•  Samsung Odyssey G9 
•  MSI MPG Artymis 343CQR 

Finalists: Best keyboard

•  Akko 3098B 
•  Logitech MX Keys Mini 
•  HyperX Alloy Origins 60 Percent 
•  Asus ROG Falchion 65 percent 
•  Corsair K65 Mini Keyboard 
•  Roccat Magma 
•  SteelSeries Apex 3 TKL 
•  Razer Huntsman V2 
•  Corsair K70 RGB TKL 
•  Asus ROG Strix Scope RX  

Finalists: Best mouse

•  Razer Basilisk V3 
•  Logitech G305 Lightspeed Wireless 
•  HP Omen Vector Wireless Mouse 
•  Steelseries Rival 5 
•  Razer Viper 8K 
•  Logitech G Pro X Superlight 
•  Steelseries Aerox 3 wireless 
•  Cooler Master MM720 
•  MSI Clutch GM41 Lightweight Wireless 
•  Thermaltake Argent M5 RGB 

Finalists: Best gaming headset

•  Creative SXFI Air Gamer 
•  SteelSeries Arctis 7P/7X 
•  HyperX Cloud II Wireless 
•  Corsair Virtuoso RGB Wireless XT 
•  Corsair HS75 XB Wireless  
•  Corsair HS80 RGB Wireless 
•  Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Gen 2  
•  Epos H3 Hybrid  
•  Razer Kraken V3 X 
•  Asus ROG Delta S 

Finalists: Best PC case

•  Lian Li PC-O11 Air Mini 
•  Nzxt H510 Flow 
•  Corsair Airflow 7000D 
•  MSI Sekira 100R 
•  Lian Li Q58 
•  Cooler Master NR200P Max 
•  Antec P82 Silent 
•  Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact 
•  Thermaltake The Tower 100 Mini Case 

Finalists: Best router

•  TP Link GX90 
•  DrayTek VigorAP 1060C 
•  D-Link DIR-X3260 AX3200 
•  TP Link Deco X20 DSL 
•  Asus Zen WifI XD6 
•  Mercusys MR70X 
•  DrayTek Vigor2927ac 
•  D-Link Covr-X1873 AX1800 
•  Netgear Nighthawk XR1000 
•  TP Link Deco X90 
•  Tenda MW3 AC1200 
•  Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX11000  
•  Netgear Nighthawk MR5200 
•  QNAP QMiro-201W 

Finalists: Best reseller

•  Aftershock PC 
•  Computer Alliance 
•  JW Computers 
•  Mwave 
•  PC Case Gear 
•  PLE 
•  Scorptec 
•  Umart 

Finalists: Excellence Award

For the person, product or technology that advanced the PC more than any other in 2020.

•  Intel Alder Lake architecture  
•  DDR5 
•  OLED laptop screens 
•  Apple M1 Pro / Max (2021) 
•  Windows 11 
•  AMD FidelityFX 
•  AMD Smart Access Memory 

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 
•  Aftershock 
•  Akko 
•  AMD 
•  Apple 
•  Asus 
•  Corsair 
•  Creative 
•  Crucial by Micron 
•  Dahua 
•  Dell 
•  G.Skill 
•  Gigabyte  
•  Hyper X 
•  Intel 
•  Kingston 
•  Lenovo 
•  Lian Li 
•  Logitech 
•  Microsoft 
•  MSI 
•  Mwave 
•  Nvidia 
•  Nzxt 
•  PC Case Gear 
•  PLE 
•  QNAP 
•  Razer 
•  Samsung 
•  SanDisk 
•  Seagate 
•  Team Group 
•  Thermaltake 
•  TP-Link 
•  WD 

Last year's winners

See who won last year right here!