Zak Storey

Zak Storey

After graduating from the University of Derby in 2014, Zak ed the PC Format and Maximum PC team as its resident staff writer. Specializing in PC building, and all forms of hardware and componentry, he soon worked his way up to editor-in-chief, leading the publication through the covid dark times. Since then, he’s dabbled in PR, working for Corsair for a while as its UK PR specialist, before returning to the fold as a tech journalist once again. 

He now operates as a freelance tech editor, writing for all manner of publications, including PC Gamer, Maximum PC, Techradar, Gamesradar, PCGamesN, and Trusted Reviews as well. If there’s something happening in the tech industry it’s highly likely Zak has a strong opinion on it.

Outside of the world of silicon transistors, Zak also moonlights as first barista and head of coffee, at a local independent cafe in the Forest of Dean. In his spare time, you can find him training calisthenics, or out in the Wye Valley shooting longbows with his field archery club.

Latest articles by Zak Storey

NZXT H3 Flow

NZXT H3 Flow case review

By Zak Storey published

Bigger, bolder, and surprisingly versatile.

 PC Cases
NZXT H9 Flow RGB+ PC case

NZXT H9 Flow RGB+ case review

By Zak Storey published

Flowing Revamped and redesigned; it's big, pricey, and seriously good.

 Flowing
WD Black SN8100 and Lexar NM790 SSDs on a blue background with PC Gamer recommended logo on top

Best M.2 SSDs for gaming in 2025: my top picks for blazing fast storage

By Jeremy Laird last updated

High speed Our choices for the best NVMe M.2 SSDs give you blisteringly fast load times.

 High speed
A WD Black SN8100 solid-state drive on a desk and ready to be installed.

WD Black SN8100 2 TB NVMe SSD review

By Zak Storey published

Wicked drive The fastest drive on the planet, right now.

 Wicked drive
A Crucial P310 SSD installed inside a gaming PC.

Crucial P310 1 TB (2280) review

By Zak Storey published

Plucky Little to big, this budget QLC drive certainly delivers.

 Plucky
A WD Black SN7100 SSD installed inside a gaming PC.

WD Black SN7100 1 TB review

By Zak Storey published

Top quality Top-quality drive with a confusing price tag.

 Top quality
Crucial T705 NVMe SSD on a desk.

Crucial T705 1 TB review

By Zak Storey published

Speed machine Once the world's fastest sequential SSD, this plucky stick still holds its own.

 Speed machine
Phanteks Evolv X2 PC case

Phanteks Evolv X2 PC case review

By Zak Storey published

Original Monolithic, monstrous and beautiful, but at a cost.

 Original
Two PC cases on a grey background with the PC Gamer recommends badge in the upper right corner.

The best PC cases in 2025: These are the chassis I'd use for my next gaming build

By Jacob Ridley last updated

Best Case You'll want the best PC case if you're building your perfect gaming PC.

 Best Case
Lian Li O11 Vision Compact PC case

Lian Li O11 Vision Compact PC case review

By Zak Storey published

Glassy Exceptional versatility and style meets affordability.

 Glassy
A Samsung 9100 Pro SSD in both 2 TB and 4 TB sizes.

Samsung 9100 Pro 2 TB review

By Zak Storey published

Too late? Nearly two years on, and Samsung's first PCIe 5.0 drive is, well, average.

 Too late?
A gaming PC with RGB lighting enabled on a desk.

This gaming PC build smashes together the very latest components but if I did it again, I'd do it differently

By Zak Storey published

OTT The H9 Elite looks glorious, but with an RTX 5090 plus AMD's 9950X, it makes for a toasty little number.

 OTT
NZXT H7 Flow PC case being built into

NZXT H7 Flow PC case review

By Zak Storey published

Super-cool Pseudo full-tower with some insane cooling.

 Super-cool
Philips GamePix 900 gaming projector

Philips GamePix 900 projector review

By Zak Storey published

Big deal An exceptional beamer on pre-order, but a bit average outside of that.

 Big deal
Fractal Design Era 2 PC case from different angles and different stages of the build process

Fractal Design Era 2 PC case review

By Zak Storey published

Beauty & beast Beautiful design meets the ITX challenge.

 Beauty & beast
Hyte Y40 PC case in various states of the PC building process.

Hyte Y40 PC case review

By Zak Storey published

Almost flawless budget-bashing brilliance.

 PC Cases
The WD Black SN850X 8 TB out of the packaging.

WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

By Zak Storey published

Huge lad Pushing PCIe storage to the limit.

 Huge lad
Corsair MP700 Elite SSD with its packaging on a desk.

Corsair MP700 Elite 2 TB NVMe SSD review

By Zak Storey published

Controlled Impressively chilled, with top-tier random 4K stats.

 Controlled
A WD SN5000 SSD out of its box and installed in a PC's NVMe slot.

WD Blue SN5000 4TB NVMe SSD review

By Zak Storey published

Big, not bold Big ticket capacity held back by poor pricing.

 Big, not bold
Samsung 990 Evo Plus installed inside a gaming PC's NVMe M.2 slot.

Samsung 990 Evo Plus 1 TB NVMe SSD review

By Zak Storey published

Sammy Powerful sequentials on the cheap.

 Sammy
The Crucial P310 SSD on a box and installed in a motherboard.

Crucial P310 2230 2 TB NVMe SSD review

By Zak Storey published

Handheld upgrade A solid all-rounder, but it offers little over capacity.

 Handheld upgrade
A WD Black SN770M SSD installed inside a PC and on a box.

WD Black SN770M 1 TB NVMe SSD review

By Zak Storey published

Micro drive Aggressively priced and impressively potent.

 Micro drive
Roccat Kova AIMO gaming mouse review

Roccat Kova AIMO gaming mouse review

By Zak Storey published

Review

 Review
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How to build a gaming PC

By Jarred Walton, Wes Fenlon, Bo Moore, Zak Storey published

Elbow grease This is our easy walkthrough to building a PC for the first time, with a video showing each step of the process.

 Elbow grease
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Build It: A Phanteks-powered RGB PC

By Zak Storey published

Core design Churning away inside this month’s machine is Intel’s Core i3-8350K—is it worth the money?

 Core design
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