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Nov 02, 2024

16 Best Gifts for PC Gamers (2024): Headsets, Desks, Monitors | WIRED

If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. Learn more. Shopping for a PC gamer is a perilous endeavor. What might look like a great sale on a GPU or gaming keyboard can

If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. Learn more.

Shopping for a PC gamer is a perilous endeavor. What might look like a great sale on a GPU or gaming keyboard can turn out to be a bad deal because of some arcane spec that only the most die-hard forum-dwellers understand. If you're shopping for the gamer in your life who lives that nerd life, we have a simple, accessible guide to what they might like.

Be sure to check out our many other gaming guides, including Best Gaming Laptops, Best Gaming Headsets, Best Keyboards, Best Gaming Mice, and Best Game Controller. If your giftee is more of a console gamer, read our Best PS5 Accessories and Best Switch Accessories guides.

Updated October 2024: We've added the LG Ultragear Gaming Monitor, Corsair Scimitar Elite Wireless, Elgato Stream Deck+, Steam Deck OLED, and HyperX Quadcast 2 S.

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Shopping Tips

The best advice I can give when shopping for a PC gaming enthusiast is simple: If you're unsure, just ask. Ask if they have a favorite mouse, keyboard, or headset brand they've been eyeing. Ask if there's anything else they've been thinking about picking up for themselves. If you're still not sure, and you don't want to get them the wrong thing, there's another one-size-fits-all gift that no PC gamer will dislike: a Steam gift card. With this, the PC gamer in your life will be able to pick out a game from a vast online store. Most popular titles are around $60, so use that as a baseline for how much to add to the card.

Some games are better with a controller, but they can come with disadvantages versus a keyboard and mouse. That's where highly customizable controllers like the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 can help. It lets you tweak the resistance of its control sticks, swap out paddles and D-pads, and even add extra rear buttons to customize your game. This is not the same controller that comes with the Xbox but an upgraded version.

For more recommendations, read our Best Game Controllers guide.

This headset earned the incredibly rare 10 out of 10 in our review thanks to its unreal 300-hour battery life. We put it to the test and found that after two straight weeks of continuous use, it still hadn't died. If that wasn't enough, it has excellent sound, great wireless range, and is comfortable to wear for hours. We seriously can't find anything to complain about here.

No one needs a gaming chair. I'd advise you to look at my Best Office Chairs guide to find a good seat. But some folks really want the gaming chair aesthetic, and if that's what your giftee is after, then Razer's Iskur V2 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) is the best option. It's comfy, has wide shoulders to accommodate people of varying sizes, and it's quite adjustable with solid lumbar support. The usual issues with gaming chairs are here, like how it doesn't manage body heat all that well and the seat depth isn't adjustable. Still, this is the chair I'd pick if your giftee wants to emulate the aesthetic of their favorite Twitch streamer. —Julian Chokkattu

When I say this gaming monitor is curved, I mean it. At 800R, the bend on this LG Ultragear monitor is more stark than most other ultrawide monitors, and I feel the difference. The OLED panel provides rich colors and up to a 240-Hz refresh rate for super smooth gameplay, but the extensive curvature makes the far sides of the monitor envelop my peripheral vision a lot better. If your giftee spends a lot of time at their desk, immersed in their games, this might be enough to make them go full Tron.

Valve's initial attempt at a portable handheld had some major bugs when it first launched, but at this point, the Steam Deck OLED (7/10, WIRED Review) is my go-to. It has a better screen, longer battery life, and all the benefits of nearly two years of bug fixes. The vast majority of games on the Steam Deck work well. Even when the interface can be wonky, there are plenty of tools to deal with it easily—especially compared to other gaming handhelds.

It's such a seamless experience that I have played almost 200 hours of Hades II on it, and that's a game that's technically only in early access. At this point, I might play it even more than my Switch. The new model also means the original is cheaper and it's incredibly easy to upgrade, so you can get one for your giftee for cheaper than ever.

I have been using BenQ's ScreenBar lights for years and they are fantastic. It essentially hangs off the top of a monitor, illuminating the keyboard and desktop. You can angle it just right so it doesn't cast light onto your monitor screen. The ScreenBar Pro is the company's latest version and it has a motion sensor, so your giftee can have their setup automatically light up when they sit down. There are touch controls to adjust the color temperature and brightness, with a toggle for auto brightness. BenQ also has a mount to affix a webcam on top so the camera won't have to sit off to the side. This is a must-have desk accessory for any gamer. —Julian Chokkattu

Hall Effect keyboards are sort of the new frontier in the world of keyboards. These have magnetic switches as opposed to mechanical switches, and that means gamers have more control over when the switch actuates. They're also more reliable and responsive. We reviewed Keychron's first HE keyboard, the Keychron Q1 HE, earlier this year and liked it a lot (9/10, WIRED Recommends) but the newer Keychron K2 HE is even nicer with its wood accents. It's been working perfectly for me the past few months, feels great to type on, and the wireless connectivity has been reliable (it can be connected via Bluetooth or a 2.4-GHz dongle). —Julian Chokkattu

SteelSeries makes some of our favorite gaming headsets, and the company's desktop speakers have lived up to the company's reputation. The Arena 7 speakers (8/10, WIRED Recommends) provide rich, full sound and thunderous bass thanks to its massive subwoofer. The two main speakers also come with RGB LEDs that integrate with the rest of SteelSeries' peripherals to sync up with your giftee's battle station's lighting scheme.

Read our Best Computer Speakers guide for other options.

Xbox’s Game Pass is still one of the best deals in gaming. For $10 to $20 a month, you can play a rotating roster of hundreds of actually good PC games—no Xbox required. That includes titles like Halo Infinite, Deathloop, and Starfield. Not all tiers come with every game anymore though. The cheapest tier, Game Pass Core for consoles has a small collection of around 25 games, while Game Pass Standard ($15/mo) and Game Pass PC ($12/mo) have a wider collection of games for their respective platforms.

Notably, it used to be the case that any first-party games like Starfield would arrive on Game Pass day one, but now this only applies to Game Pass PC and Game Pass Ultimate. If your giftee isn't on one of those tiers, they'll have to wait about a year to access new AAA titles. Game Pass Ultimate also gives you access to Xbox Cloud Gaming which lets you stream games from the cloud, so you don't even need to install them locally to try them out.

The HyperX Quadcast 2 S improves on its predecessor, the USB mic almost every Twitch streamer seemed to own, in every way. It has even more of its trademark vibrant LEDs, allowing for complex patterns and designs that look great if you stream online. Audio recording has been upgraded to 32-bit and 192 KHz which is handy if you plan to edit your audio later, and its new shock mount design makes it easy to pull it from its stand and use it elsewhere. If your gift recipient plans to be on camera while playing games for an audience (or just likes accessories that glow), this is one of the best USB mics you can get.

I waited for, quite literally, over a decade for Logitech to make a wireless version of the G600 MMO mouse I love so much. But Corsair beat Logitech to it. The Scimitar Elite Wireless (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is a comfortable, powerful wireless mouse that packs an array of 12 buttons on the side for easy thumb access. It's designed for massively multiplayer online games (MMO) or fast-paced shooters, where having quick and easy access to certain abilities can be life-saving, but I'm also a big believer in using them for work too.

This isn't a mouse! It's a keypad. It's also one of those “ask before you buy” gifts, but for people who play MMOs like World of Warcraft or other games that have a lot of spells and abilities, a keypad like the Razer Tartarus V2 can be a godsend. This device gives you an array of 19 programmable keys, plus thumb buttons, a directional stick, and a scroll wheel—all customizable—so you can perfectly tailor your game to your hand's comfort.

The Elgato Stream Deck+ feels a bit like having a piece of a space shuttle on your desk. It packs eight full-color LCD buttons that can be customized with macros and shortcuts to easily launch apps, mute a mic, or run scripts with a single press. A second, wider color touchscreen provides a heads-up display for different system stats and, paired with the four prominent dials along the bottom, it's a handy tool for anything from running sound to video editing. It's designed to be useful for streamers, who need to do a lot of complicated technical tasks while broadcasting, but it's helpful for anyone who wants to record gameplay, adjust music or chats while they're playing, or tweak their setup to their exact preferences.

Hot trend: Trading out one key in a mechanical keyboard for a super cute keycap. Switch out the escape button for a tiny Poké Ball or the F3 for a pawprint. They can fill the number bar with ducks, because honestly, why not? Or they can make each of their arrow keys a different dessert. Get something that will make your loved one hungry every time they look down. Seriously, these things look so delicious you'll just want to pop them in your mouth. Don't, though. WIRED's expert testers have confirmed, they are not food.

Note: You'll need to know what kind of switches their keyboard uses (like MX switches) and make sure the keycap supports it.

Cable organization is the bane of any PC gamer. It's so hard to organize those pesky wires! These metal desks from Secretlab are the answer. They have a trench at the back where your giftee can route all their wires and even store a surge protector, keeping the mess hidden. Secretlab also has tons of magnetic accessories you can buy separately like cable sheaths to hide wires on the underside of the desk, cable clips to hold charging cords in place, and even a headphone holder to suspend them without taking up desk space.

The Magnus is a standard desk and the Magnus Pro is a standing desk that will let your giftee stretch their legs once in a while after long hours of raids.

Few things are more important to a PC gamer than a good graphics card. Nvidia's RTX 4000 series has a strong lineup, but the RTX 4060 is on the less expensive end while still providing a solid amount of power for most games. But if you're willing to spend more than $500 on a GPU, I recommend holding off. Based on previous life cycles, the RTX 5000 series update is on the horizon (and some leaks are already trickling out).

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