Most people don’t pay attention to their gaming hardware. Stock computers come with stock monitors and operate through stock peripherals. It’s the so-called “hardcore” gaming community that’s constantly in the market for high-end gaming equipment. Their hobby depends on their toolset, much the same as tennis players rely on their rackets. Professional StarCraft players value their keyboards more than life, and the First-Person-Shooter crowd debates endlessly about which mice offer optimal DPI. Regardless, many gamers with “hardcore” sensibilities still utilize stock peripherals. There are plenty of compelling reasons why they may consider upgrading: more comfort, increased competitiveness, or even as a form of expression. Here are a few simple, though not always inexpensive, upgrades to boost the gaming-edge.
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Keyboard
Gaming keyboards offer precision and versatility beyond a stock model’s capabilities. Foremost is the ability to disable the god-awful windows key. Its proximity to control and alt has rightfully made it a gamers’ worst enemy. These keyboards also come with programmable macros that permit increased control in certain titles, although this is against some developer’s terms of service so use with discretion. Advanced keyboards usually offer customizable backlighting and LCD screens. The backlighting is wonderful for those with custom-built desktops who desire a uniform color scheme throughout their hardware, while the LCDs can be configured to display some very useful data.
Popular Brands: Logitech, Mad Catz, Razer.
Gaming Mouse
The demand for gaming mice revolves around DPI, dots per inch. More equates to higher responsiveness, less to lower. Low DPI is preferred for titles requiring precision aiming, such as Mechwarrior Online, whereas higher is optimal for “twitch” shooters such as Call of Duty. Gaming mice often come with more buttons than standard models, increasing reflex times by allowing keyboard commands to be mapped to more than control.
Popular Brands: Logitech, E-3LUE, Razer.
High Resolution Monitor and Multiple Displays
A larger monitor offers increased resolution over smaller displays, considerably augmenting graphical fidelity and detail. 1920×1080 remains the gold-standard resolution, but higher levels are achievable with sufficient hardware. For the ultimate in monitor upgrades consider purchasing just one additional display for your setup. Two monitors are immeasurably better than one. They grant the user much more flexibility for everyday tasks, even those outside the scope of gaming. Truthfully, three is the magic number if there’s enough desk space. Crysis in particular is known for brilliantly accommodating triple display setups.
Popular Brands: Acer, Viewsonic, Samsung, Asus.
Headset
Bullets are loud. Magnificent orchestral soundtracks are loud. Gamers love to play it loud, but wives and children don’t appreciate that much while they’re sleeping. For that reason headsets are the cure for the common “aggro”. Better audio quality equates to hearing the footsteps coming around the corner in Counter-Strike, the difference between a victory screen and game-over.
Popular Brands: Tritton, Turtle Beach, Astro.
Gaming Chair
It doesn’t need electricity to be a hardware upgrade, gamers need a good chair for the same reasons everyone else does. Ergonomic comfort is often neglected, yet a sore back is nothing to be ignored. Comfortable chairs encourage proper posture, providing support where the body needs it most.
Popular Brands: Ace Bayou, Cohesion, Steelcase.
While stock hardware is perfectly serviceable, those wishing to up their game can’t go wrong with any of the above.