I’m going to buy a new prebuilt PC next week. I’m almost certain I’ll buy a Windows PC and making a PC is not my thing. I haven’t been a gamer since the late 1970s so I’m a bit behind the curve.
What peripherals should I buy?
I know that’s vague but I sincerely don’t know what kind of games I’ll end up liking.
How much should I budget for it?
~$300? I have no idea. For the short term - I want the basic core stuff I need and maybe a bell and whistle or two.
I want to avoid going crazy and buying specialized stuff like a wheel and pedals set. If I decide that driving games are my thing - I can always buy that later.
Should I buy a headset right off the bat?
Do you use a headset? My mental image is that I don’t want to talk to anybody or listen to anybody because there are a lot of trolls out there. But am I wrong? Are there games where a headset is worth it? I’ll let you define “worth it”.
Also - how much does a good headset cost?
-–
Edit
I thought I needed to budget more for peripherals. It seems I don’t. And - I don’t need to buy everything next week anyway. There’s no rush and my gaming needs might turn out to be (very) modest anyway. Current plan
- Keyboard. My current keyboard is beyond crap anyway.
- Gaming mouse?
- Microphone headset?
- Speakers? Maybe not. For reasons I don’t want to explain - no speakers might be better.
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Fuck a headset. Mic quality is typically dog shit compared to a stand alone mic.
I recommend you buy a nice pair of quality headphones instead. You’re gonna either want those or a nice set of speakers, but typically the headphones are going to be cheaper.
If you decide you want to do some online gaming or voice calls in the future, you can always buy a standalone desktop mic for like $50-100 and the sound quality will be immaculate.
I mean you can definitely get a headset combo for cheaper so it’s not necessarily worth it unless you really like crisp audio quality. I listen to a lot of music too so it was worth it to me to save up and get a nice pair of headphones for like $120. Been using them for like 10 years.
Regardless I would say buy something with a replaceable cable. Those cables tend to go bad before anything else and it’s a lot cheaper to buy a new one for $10 than replace an entire device.
You only need a mouse and a keyboard. A game controller is nice to have for many games. And then I would reccomend.a headset if you like coop multiplayer games. I’m a social butterfly and i like talking to people I play with. And from a gameplay syandpoint being able to communicate, ie “there’s a dragon on our left!” Or “the healer just exploded try to stay alive while I rez them” can make games much more fun and smoother to play.
If you’re just starting out the biggest thing with a “gaming mouse” is comfort. Find a mouse that feels good in your hand. I think almost all mice are 5-button these days - left click, right click, middle click, and forward/backward and that’s more buttons than most games need
Same with keyboards, whatever feels comfortable
If you decide to get a controller there are lots of options and I’d say either go to a physical store and hold some to get a feel for what suits you, or order then return them on amazon until you find one you like.
Re: headsets - the cost, features, and comfort of headsets are all over the place. I’d suggest checking reviews on reddit then doing the amazon order - return thing until you find something that fits comfortably. Wired vs wireless is a personal choice. Wired is usually a bit lighter while wireless gives you more freedom to move. I much prefer headsets to speakers as many modern games make very good use of 3d positional audio and you can hear where things are around you in a detailed way.
Re: trolls; it really depends on what games you end up playing and some social stuff: if you’ve got a deep masc voice it’s much less lilely anyone will give you shit, for instance.
Niche games and low stakes coop games tend to have more chill players whereas competitive ranked multiplayer is full of horrid shitgibbons.
Really big games, Call of Duty for instance, have started using automated voice recognition systems that listen for slurs and auto-ban people that use gamer words, which is nice.
Some modern games have a one-button mute option. Press the mute button and it’ll mute the person who is currently talking.
And many people like to join a friendly discord community and chat with folks even if they’re not playing the same game together.
Not sure anyone mentioned a monitor. I dont know what sort of rig you’re looking at, but you should make sure you’ve got a monitor with g-sync (or the amd equivalent, can’t remember what its called). 1080 144Hz is solid on the lower end. I’ve got a Dell, 27 inch 1440 165Hz that was like $200 and I love it.
i mean, what do you already own? you really don’t need special equipment to enjoy video games. just a mouse (and mousepad), keyboard, and some speakers or headphones. the only thing really worth shelling out for if you find yourself playing team games online a lot is a decent microphone or headset. peripherals branded “for gamers” are usually overpriced and underbuilt, so unless you really want the removed LEDs don’t feel pressured.
if you really want fancy stuff, there’s a whole mechanical keyboard hobby that you could spend months and hundreds on chasing a particular experience, but if you just want A Mechanical Keyboard, other than finding a model M at your local thrift store, I’d say go to your local electronics store and see if they’re stocking any of Redragon’s budget offerings. They’re almost as good as Razer at half the price.
If you want to, you can get 2,000 dollar custom mech keyboards, hand made with custom circuit boards by artisan craftspeople. They work pretty much exactly like any other mech keyboard.
I have an honest to god analog mech keyboard that uses optical switches to measure the depth of key presses in .01 mm increments. In theory this lets you do all kinds of things like get analog steering in driving games or control brush sizes on the fly in graphics programs. In practice i have never found a use for it in the six years I’ve had it. But it is very cool and groovy and one time the sun came in the window at just the right angle to hit all of the optical sensors at once and my pc went totally bonkers and it took me days to figure out that *solar radiation was intefering with my keyboard.
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I’m not a gamer either, only games I’ve enjoyed are the American/Euro Truck simulators, and Civilazation games and I play these with my keyboard and mouse. I also enjoyed The Last of US pt1, and Red Dead Redemption 2, for me, these two are better played with controller and mouse. Try some games out and see which ones you enjoy.
Mouse, keyboard, external drives, and maybe a mic.
Budget depends on what you get, a mechanical keyboard will cost more than a membrane and a namebrand gamer one will cost even more. It is not necessary however.
I like mice with extra buttons and cannot imagine using one with only 2 extra. The last time I checked the current fad for mice is lightweight and excessively high DPI options, neither of which I would pay attention to or consider. In general most mice seem to develop some issue after a while but I would avoid logitech at all costs, never heard anything good about them online or offline. Razer supposedly had a massive quality drop after 2014 and still has subpar software. The Evga mouse I had developed an issue with disconnecting that apparently everyone gets at some point.
https://www.rtings.com/mouse/tools/3d-model-shape-compare/3d/razer-naga-x is good for comparing shapes if you already own a mouse that’s listed.
There are smaller keyboards than the standard if you are concerned about desk space. Most will get rid of the numpad and the keys in the arrow key block, some will let you access those with the fn key. I don’t have a mechanical but everyone says they’re better while costing more.
I have never used a headset, I just used a mic. Games like Squad and Dayz pretty much need a mic, talking is a focal point of those games. I don’t think it’s really necessary in anything else and I think most people use discord anyways. The first mic I used was ~$15 from amazon. No one ever told me it sounded excessively bad or was horrible to listen to.
I don’t know anymore, I just play off my laptop.
But please play Disco Elysium.
I use a headset to be polite to the other person in the house and neighbors to not be disturbed by the loud explosions and epic music.
I have one of the wired OG 7.1 surround sound HyperX headphones. They’ve lasted a long time. Durable. Have a detachable adjustable mic. Comfortable.
Cloud 2 is on sale for $60 on their site. Amazon might have some lower prices just off the sponsored search pictures, but fuck
and who knows whos selling them.Here’s a review site comparing different models and some differences between the competitors.
What peripherals should I buy?
Mouse, Keyboard, and maybe a microphone headset for voice if you want talk to people on calls or whatever. Anything else is gamer decadence
Should I buy a headset right off the bat?
Sure if you like headsets. Headsets with a microphone are nice, most of them are pretty good and lets you listen and speak comfortably.
I’d add a controller to the maybe list. If you like driving or flying games they can be better played on a controller. Xbox controllers and a USB cable will just work when you plug it in.
