Hello world! I’m Ben Hardwidge and I was the Editor of the print edition of Custom PC Magazine, from 2012 to 2023. I worked on the magazine since the very first issue, and now I edit this new, dashingly handsome website.
We published the last issue of the magazine in March 2023. It started in 2003 during the Pentium 4 and GeForce FX era and ran into the era of ray tracing and 24-core CPUs. That’s a pretty good run for a PC print magazine in these times, but it’s now time for the next exciting chapter in the story of Custom PC, and it’s one of those chapters that completely changes the narrative with a big twist.
The brand has been acquired by media business Network N Media, which is putting a ton of investment into Custom PC to make it the definitive website for PC hardware enthusiasts all over the world.
We’ll be able to give you more up-to-date buying advice than was ever possible in print, and we’ll have reviews of the latest PC hardware on the day it’s launched, as well as the latest news, not to mention international pricing.
I’m joined by my Deputy Editor Edward Chester, who worked on the magazine for the last four years, and also as a freelancer for many years before that. You’ll be seeing lots of familiar faces from the magazine as well, including our Modding Editor Antony Leather, and some new ones too.
The biggest change magazine readers will notice is that where before we posted one reader setup every month, now we’ll do one every day! This is partly made possible by our Facebook group Custom PC and Gaming Setup – if you’ve built a PC or gaming setup that’s a bit out of the ordinary, then join that group and submit yours today.
Network N Media’s co-founders are very familiar with the print legacy of Custom PC. In their previous lives Executive Chairman James Binns edited PC Format magazine in the 1990s and CEO Tim Edwards edited PC Gamer magazine in the 2000s, and are best known for publishing PC games site PCGamesN. Network N Media is an independent publisher that has almost a dozen sites, with the resources to help Custom PC grow.
We’re excited about where we are going to take the brand over the next 20 years. Watch us build the favorite place on the web for performance PC builders and modders all over the world.