https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_magazines

I subscribed to many of these magazines back in the day, but I don't remember which might've reviewed hardware in the early 90s. PC Gamer? They started in 93, so if they reviewed hardware in that first year, that might fit your bill. I do know PC Gamer had quite a few full versions of classic DOS games on their various included CDs. 😀

My favourite back in the day early-mid 90s was PC Format, I had a friend with a PC Review sub which also seemed decent.

NL: PCM and a gaming magazine but I do not recall the title.

There are already 7 scanned issues of boot magazine from 1996-1997, all of them here. Looks like this is the kind of publication I'm looking for (power users/gamers), but it only started around the time Pentium MMX was out.

Wow, those 7 issues were an awesome read for me. In short:

- the first issue of byte came in September'96: Pentium Classic was reaching 200 MHz while Pentium Pro was already out and even reaching some high-end home machines, and Pentium MMX was announced;
- byte editors were hyping MMX pretty hard (and it actually was an important release);
- people were confused by the fact that Pentium model line diverged in two different CPU families, each having something the other doesn't. The CPU that would have the best of both world would be Klamath (eventually became Pentium II).
- byte basically said "who knows when Klamath will be available, better grab MMX as soon as it hits the market";
- MMX hits the market in January 1997;
- Pentium II is unveiled merely four months later. To add insult to an injury it needs a whole new motherboard.

Can't imagine the frustration of those who got MMX. I mean, it's not just the frequency — both MMX and PPro were hyped as game-changing technologies, so I imagine Pentium II should have been something else. Here's the boot's editor-in-chief's intro column from May'97:

For late 90s stuff, there are quite a few issues of Maximum PC on Google Books:

https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=maximum+pc#

I used to read c't Magazin für Computertechnik.

c't was / is awesome!

But for me it was mostly PowerPlay and later PC Player (PC Player Benchmark). There was also Gamestar.

At the time these magazines were my only source of information. The gave good advise IMO. Got myself a Sound Blaster and later when the era of PCI was upon us they recommend a S3 Trio 64 V+, both really good purchases.