Are gaming keyboards, mice, and headsets worth the cost?

[The Salt Is REAL]

Are gaming peripherals worth the cost? I play in a 5.1 Home Theatre by the way. This is coming from someone who has never touched a mechanical keyboard or gaming mouse in their entire life.

[vanished]

I love being able to look under the mouse without being blinded (invisible laser), but that's just me

[Vercii]

Some are overpriced when it comes to their brand i.e Razer..but I wouldn't take peripherals too seriously. 

[byalexandr]

A mechanical keyboard is well worth the cost, I highly recommend one from Ducky or Corsair, etc. A gaming mouse, perhaps (just a comfortable mouse with a decent sensor is fine by me).

 

And for headsets, most 'gaming' headsets are garbage, the HyperX Cloud IIs are nice, other than that you'd want a real set of headphones and something like a ModMic.

[tcolecruz]

5 minutes ago, Riki the Legendary Heropon said:

Are gaming peripherals worth the cost? I play in a 5.1 Home Theatre by the way. This is coming from someone who has never touched a mechanical keyboard or gaming mouse in their entire life.

Gaming mice -- a necesity IMO

Gaming keyboards -- Amazing, but more of a luxury than a must have

Gaming headphones -- GTFO

[vanished]

Just now, tcolecruz said:

Gaming mice -- a necesity IMO

Gaming keyboards -- Amazing, but more of a luxury than a must have

Gaming headphones -- GTFO

That's a good point - some things that are made for gamers are higher quality than you'd find any other way (like mice and keyboards.  Well, there are very nice non-gaming mice too, but you know) and then there is stuff that's actually just complete crap, but they slap "for gamers" on it to make it sell because they think they can't tell the difference (headphones and speakers being big ones in this category).  You have to watch out

[Dark_Fuzzy]

I'd say so, a good mechanical keyboard is well worth the cost and will last a lifetime.

A good gaming mouse gives you things like macros and nice aesthetics.

For headsets most people will say get a good pair of headphones and a desk mic but there are good headsets out there.

[The Salt Is REAL]

Are the Corsair K95 RGB and G502 Spectrum any good? I was planning on getting those

[byalexandr]

4 minutes ago, Riki the Legendary Heropon said:

Are the Corsair K95 RGB and G502 Spectrum any good? I was planning on getting those

If RGB is your thing, go for it. I personally like Ducky, Filco, Majestouch, etc. as they are built like tanks and type like no other, but Corsair makes very beautiful and solid feeling keyboards as well. And the G502, one of the best mice you can buy. I love that mouse, I currently have a G300s but I plan on getting one.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Riki the Legendary Heropon said:

Are the Corsair K95 RGB and G502 Spectrum any good? I was planning on getting those

Yes!!! I love my G502 and my Corsair KB feels wonderful. The only thing with the K95 is that it has like 10 programmable keys that I doubt you'll ever use, only get it over the K70 RGB if you will use them.

[Gale]

5 minutes ago, Riki the Legendary Heropon said:

Are the Corsair K95 RGB and G502 Spectrum any good? I was planning on getting those

Yes, those are great.

[Yakamaru]

within the last week i have bought 

K70 keyboard - totally worth it
Corsair Scimitar mouse - fits my hand very nicely
Corsair Wireless Void headset - very comfortable and no wires to get in my way

in my opinion gaming peripherals are very very worth it! also corsair makes amazing products with 2 year warranty on each!

[Typho]

Well it really depends whether they are "worth" the cost or not.

Mechanical keyboards just make you to feel more comfortable when you type and usually they have gimmicky stuff. If you don't care for LED LIGHTS, ASDFG rgb lighting and other stuff that are unnecessary you should just buy a mechanical keyboard with no gimmicks.

Gaming mice are pretty worth to a some level because of the competition. ( 30 - 40€ mice) In my country I often see "normal" mice that cost like 24,95€ and they are super small wireless mice. If you are fine with your mouse and it doesn't lag or anything, a gaming mice isn't necessary. (When my Rival broke I noticed some lag on ~ 5 - 6 years old mouse that came with my old desktop computer which costed 400€ on sale).

Gaming headsets ?  = Nope, not worth. Usually microphones sound like sh*t and Zalman ZM Mic- 1 ( 10€) does a much better job. Modmic + headphones would be a better combo if it's within budget. ( I recall modmic is something like 45 USD and like 40 USD headphones > Gaming headsets.)

HyperX are clouds are one of the few exceptions.

 

[olbaze]

15 hours ago, Riki the Legendary Heropon said:

Are gaming peripherals worth the cost? I play in a 5.1 Home Theatre by the way. This is coming from someone who has never touched a mechanical keyboard or gaming mouse in their entire life.

Well, a gaming keyboard isn't going to do anything for you in games, unless we're talking about the macro keys. Most people who opt for mechanical keyboards do so because they spent a significant amount of time typing on their keyboards, whether that be writing memes in CSGO, posting about Linus on /r/PCMR or writing their thesis. And in those cases, a mechanical keyboard makes sense: They are quicker and more comfortable to type on for extended use.

A gaming mouse, on the other hand, is something that will only make sense for gaming. The best way to describe a good gaming mouse is a mouse that does not hinder you in any way. The sensor of the mouse should be flawless. The coating and shape of the mouse should be something that give you a fit and feel that doesn't bother you. The software customization should enable you where the games don't: You should never be forced to use a sensitivity that you're not comfortable with.

Gaming audio products are mostly a scam. The ones that are low priced are forced to make compromises, usually by having a shitty microphone, audio or materials. It's simply not possible for a company to make a 100$ headset that sounds like a 100$ headphone and has a good microphone, when those parts are separately sold for 150$. A lot of gaming audio products also come with snake oily things like "7.1 audio", which just doesn't work, regardless of how it is done. When buying audio products, if you're on a budget you always have to make a decision: Will you compromise the microphone or the headphone? There are also companies that come up with overpriced headsets in an attempt to sell them as more premium, but at that point they are competing with real audio products and there's just no reason to go for Razer or Logitech if you can pick up Sennheiser, AKG or Audio-Technica instead.

 

A lot of companies that make gaming peripherals are also guilty of marketing and useless gimmicks. They put LEDs into mice and then made that a standard feature. Then the consumers started complaining that their setups had 3 different colours, so they gave us RGB. But that didn't stop, they also put RGB into things where it has no business being, such as mousepads and headphones. They made all customization happen through a manufacturer specific piece of software, which is often neglected because they are making hardware, not software.

 

That being said, I am writing this on a Steelseries 6Gv2 while listening to music on my AKG K 273 Pros, with a Mionix Naos 7000 next to me, on top of a Razer Goliathus Speed Medium. I have been buying peripherals for over a decade now. I would say that a gaming mouse is absolutely essential, as I have seen my own performance and enjoyment of gaming drop due to uncomfortable gaming mice. I would say that having a mousepad for that mouse which not only protects your desk, but also gives you a consistent glide at a level that you want is just as important, as I have felt that certain mousepads were too fast and made me overshoot my turns. I would say that a comfortable pair of headphones is good to have, mostly because it allows you turn up the volume for things like details and mood in certain videogames. I wouldn't recommend anyone who is on a budget to even consider buying a mechanical keyboard, as they are more of a tool for people who do plenty of writing; I only got mine because I found myself doing plenty of programming and writing.

[dtaflorida]

Headphones - depends on the game. Do you need directional audio cues ie gunshots from left, right, ahead, behind?

 

I'd say some ppl should have both a set of gaming and a set of regular listening headphones.