PC Gaming requires a pretty beefy build—an excellent graphics card is a must—with a solid internet connection, but the tower, it’s contents and your internet speed is only part of the PC gaming experience. The accompanying peripherals are also very important to the overall quality of your PC gaming rig. You can have a gigantic $2,000 beast of a rig, but if you don’t have a decent monitor, capable router, or comfortable seating environment, all that effort goes to waste.
There’s plenty of peripherals available to enhance your PC gaming experience. For the first installment of a series on this topic, we’re going to focus on the basic three peripherals often overlooked: monitors, routers, and chairs.
Monitors
How are you going to see what games you’re playing, or even the operating system you’ve installed? This is the most obvious piece of hardware that accompanies any PC build, because without it, you would literally be blind. The common PC user doesn’t necessarily put a great deal of thought into what monitor they buy so long as it’s gets the job done and doesn’t break the bank. However, for gaming there is so much more to consider when buy a monitor or monitors. For starters, size matters a great deal less than the screen resolution. For example: a 36 inch display with a max of resolution of 1080p is less desirable than a 32 inch display with a max resolution of 4K. The 32 inch monitor may be smaller, but the level of detail will be much greater due to it’s higher resolution.
Additionally, the refresh rate is also very important for gaming displays; at least 60Hz is necessary for playing modern games smoothly, with 100Hz or higher being ideal for competitive FPS gameplay. Check out our article on the top 5 4K monitors for more information.
When looking for a gaming monitor, make sure that it has a resolution, refresh rate, and input cable that are compatible with your graphics card. Try to buy from a reputable manufacturer and get the extended warranty if available.
Routers
There are many terrific single-player PC games and a few games still support local multiplayer and couch co-op, but the majority of modern games feature an online multi-player universe that will have you gaming for hours. In addition to the primarily digital method of distributing products through online retailers such as Steam or GOG, the internet is an integral component of the modern gaming atmosphere. If you experience problems with lag or frequent disconnections when playing games online, you may want to look into a new router.
There’s plenty of manufacturers making routers specifically for gaming. We’ve made a list of some of the Ideal Routers for Gaming to help you narrow down your choices. These gaming routers focus on smooth, uninterrupted connections between your local machines and your network as well as your network and the rest of the world wide web. What differentiates these machines from standard routers are additional wireless bands for local communication and faster upload/download speeds.
When looking for a replacement router, figure out exactly what the problem is you’re trying to solve. Are you having trouble connecting to your friend’s games online? If so, choosing a router with a faster bitrate will ensure a more stable connection. Are you getting interference and disconnects when trying to connect many local machines for a LAN party? Consider buying a router with 4 or even 6 wireless bands, ensuring all your devices can connect without siphoning bandwidth. Keep in mind that many connection problems can be cheaply solved with either a wireless extender or a decent LAN cable.
Chairs
This is often the most overlooked aspect of PC gaming, but it just might be the most important. Gamers are accustomed to long playing sessions, especially MMORPG players who may take hours to queue up for a successful raid. While many gamers anticipate and take preventative action against wrist strain and eye damage, they sit in inferior chairs with poor posture without a second thought.
The scary truth is that sitting can be very bad for your health, with many medical professionals likening the dangers of sitting to the dangers of smoking. These health issues are compounded by poor sitting posture, and long-term effects include back pain, poor standing posture, and possible arthritis in the future. To prevent this, it’s very important to have a chair at the proper height and distance from your PC, as well as providing neck and lumbar support.
Many companies have risen to meet the demand for high-quality furniture for the purpose of comfortable productivity for extended use in an office environment. PC gamers can also benefit from these products if they use a traditional desk workstation for their PC. However, there are also many different styles and shapes of furniture designed specifically for gamers, with extra features like surround sound and trays for holding controllers and snacks. For a list of the best ones, check out our article on the Best Ergonomic Gaming Chairs.
Conclusion
If you’re reading this article right now, you likely already have a monitor, a router, and a chair. You may even be satisfied with all these things as they are now, but you may not have been aware of all the possibilities available to you. You may have a great gaming setup now, but if you want it to be better, these are some terrific places to start.
Additionally, if you find that you are having issues with your gaming experience and you weren’t sure of their origin, hopefully this article will serve as a reference for you. Later additions to this series of articles will focus on more specific gaming peripherals, such as the different types of game controllers and VR headsets.