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?

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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.
  • HumanBehaviorByBjork [any, undecided]
    ·
    2 months ago

    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.

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]
      ·
      2 months ago

      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.