GamesRadar's Best of CES: our 9 favorite announcements of 2025's show

CES 2025 has brought us a wealth of new tech to get to grips with in the coming months, from brand new next-gen graphics cards to eyebrow-raising Xbox controllers, super efficient AI processors to gaming chairs that regulate your temperature. This is an annual celebration of the weird and wonderful, hosted in the befitting city of Las Vegas, but there are nine new announcements that have us particularly excited this year.

There's been big news in the PC gaming space this January. Nvidia announced its RTX 5070, RTX 5070 Ti, RTX 5080, and RTX 5090 GPUs, while AMD followed up with a handful of new processors to boot. All these components have been making their way to gaming laptop and PC brands for this year's roster of configurations, which means there's a lot of new kit heading our way.

It's not all about what's under the hood, though. You'll need a screen to run all that graphics power - LG swooped in with its own OLED panels ready to bend to your will, whether you're after a high refresh rate 1080p experience or something a little slower and more detailed.

In short, every brand had something to say this January - and we've rounded up all the best of CES 2025 right here.

1. Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070

Yes, the RTX 5090 is the top dog, but the RTX 5070 actually shouts a far more compelling argument for Team Green this generation. The mid-range GPU was touted as offering RTX 4090 levels of power during Nvidia's keynote, and it comes in cheaper than the previous generation did at launch. That's a recipe for some serious success, and with specs that look ready for much smoother 4K gameplay (especially in the RTX 5070 Ti model), this is certainly one of the best graphics cards to watch this year. Pre-orders are set to open in February, so if you're upgrading in 2025, be sure to check out our full guide to where to buy RTX 5070.

2. Razer Iskur V2 X

Razer has updated its Iskur line with a budget X entry this year, and that $299.99 / £299.99 price tag means it's actually affordable for the average player. Let's face it, the Razer tax is real - and when it comes to the brand's best gaming chairs those numbers can climb particularly fast. The chair does pare back on features to keep that cost low, with reduced lumbar customization and no 4D armrests, but the wider seat base and 152 degrees of recline make for particularly comfy specs.

The Razer Iskur V2 X is now available for $299.99 at Amazon.

3. Hyperkin Competitor

Hyperkin is well known for bringing the Duke Xbox controller back to the masses, but nobody thought the Xbox-approved brand would be taking aim at Sony in 2025. The Hyperkin Competitor was announced at CES this year, in full fake-DualSense glory. You have to hand it to them, this is bold.

Still, if you're on the hunt for one of the best Xbox Series X controllers and don't want to miss out on the shape and feel of the PS5's gamepad this could well be a sleeper hit in 2025. We joked earlier in the week that it looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen, but there's actually a lot going for the Competitor. After all, if you're after an Xbox gamepad with symmetrical thumbsticks (with anti-drift measures) and back paddles, there's very little else on the market.

4. Razer Blade 16

Honey, I shrunk the Razer Blade 16... is what CEO Min-Liang Tan should have exclaimed when the brand announced its latest iteration of the 16-inch powerhouse. Configurable with up to an RTX 5090 GPU this could be one of the most powerful slimline machines on the market in 2025, and considering its predecessor was already one of the best gaming laptops available there's plenty going for the new model.

Perhaps the biggest revelation, though, was the fact that Razer is dropping Intel for this generation. Instead, it's opted for the fantastic AMD Ryzen 9 AI HX 370 - a CPU that we argued could well overshadow the new GPU overall. At just 0.59 inches thick, the Blade 16 needs to be as efficient as powerful, and it's fully primed to nail the brief.

5. Asus ROG Flow Z13

A gaming laptop with no dedicated GPU might be an odd revelation in 2025, but the Asus ROG Flow Z13 isn't an everyday laptop. In fact, it's one of the best gaming tablets on the market - and it just got a whole lot smarter. The 2025 ROG Flow Z13 comes packed with an AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chiplet processor that takes advantage of Radeon 8060S integrated graphics. It's that processor that's making the difference here, with 40 RDNA 3.5 graphics cores.

Yes, it's pairable with a ROG XG Mobile for the full RTX 50-Series experience, but it should hold its own on the battlefield as well. A 2.5K resolution Nebula touchscreen display runs at 180Hz with 500 nits of brightness, and the whole thing comes in at just 12mm thick, maximizing portability with an intriguing amount of power.

6. Lenovo Legion Go S - Powered by SteamOS

The first and (currently) only handheld to run SteamOS other than Valve's own Steam Deck, the Lenovo Legion Go S was announced and launched over CES 2025. Available with both Windows and Steam operating systems, and the choice between the older AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme and the new Ryzen Z2 Go, there are a lot of price points floating around. It's a rejection of a lot of the fancier features of the previous Legion Go - a slightly overpriced gaming handheld with detachable controllers. Rather than reaching for those lofty MSRP heights, though, the Go actually takes on the more well-rounded Asus ROG Ally with prices starting at $499.

7. Shure MV7i

What's so special about the Shure MV7i? It's more than an XLR mic, there's a full built-in audio interface in here as well. Rather than relying on a separate streaming mixer to actually get your mic up and running on a PC, the MV7i can do everything straight from the get-go. That's a big win for value - one of our highest-held priorities when choosing new tech. It's apparently packing the audio quality of the Shure MV7+ - a podcast mic that's earned its own spot among the best microphones for streaming overall. On top of that, SmartGate tech can fix your gain automatically, and the mic comes decked out with a Real-Time Denoiser and Digital Popper Stopper.

The Shure MV7i is now available at Amazon for $349 / £329.

8. LG UltraGear OLED Gaming Monitor (45GX950A)

Yes, LG unveiled its bendable OLED gaming monitors this year, but we're more interested in the tech that will make its way to most players' setups. That's where the LG UltraGear OLED GX950A comes in. It shares the same 5K2K dual-resolution mode as the flexi panel, with that LG turbo-charged OLED display up top, 125 PPI, and support for DisplayPort 2.1 and HDMI 2.1. Refresh rates will run at 165Hz when in full 5120 x 2160 resolution, bumping all the way up to 330Hz in 2560 x 1080. It's not the first dual-resolution display, but it's certainly the prettiest so far. Considering this is a technology we're expecting to see a lot more of among the best gaming monitors on the market in coming years, it's an excellent next step.

9. AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D

AMD launched its top Ryzen 9000-Series CPUs at CES this year, with two models making their way to the show floor. It's the AMD Ryzen 9-9950X3D that caught our attention, though, with its 16 Zen 5 processing cores running at a max 5.7GHz. AMD touts an 8% increase in performance over the 7950X3D model in 1080p gaming, with a 13% boost in performance across creative processes like Photoshop. That makes it one of the best CPUs for gaming we've heard about - but with the edge to also run high-end content creation workflows without a hitch.

We're also rounding up all the gaming laptops announced at CES 2025, as well as the best gaming PCs and the best gaming phones for more.