I recently spent $900 building my own PC, but am using a 5 dollar keyboard, mouse, and crappy earbuds. Bad, right? I'm looking for a keyboard, headset, and mouse. My budget is around $100 on each peripheral. I want a headset that is 7.1 surround sound, which is good for directional audio in games. The keyboard and mouse I want to be good for FPS games. I've been considering the Razer Deathadder 2013, but have heard some horror stories about their products. Any experience with the Deathadder? Any good alternatives? Thanks for the input!
Buy a good stereo headphones and use virtual surround software, that's what most gaming headphones are anyway. I recommend Senheiser HD 558. I have deathadder 3.5G with no problems Any mechanical keyboard will be good, but contider CM quickfire, K70, K95, Filco, and some others that I can't rember atm.
If you like the Death Adder I would look at Mionix and also Zowie.
- Zowie Mouse: http://amzn.to/18wNj4p
- Mionix: http://amzn.to/18xwOD7
I actually prefer the lower DPI optical mice: http://amzn.to/18xwRyU I really don't think anyone really needs 8200 DPI, but some want it. The laser that Mionix uses is very good, so you can set it to whatever you want.
For keyboards... I prefer sleek. I have a large Model M now and it's so noisy (when Pistol is streaming) that I might go for some brown switches. They are softer buy still offer tactile feedback. So, anyway.. pick the type of switch that you want... and you really can't go wrong with these keyboards:
- Ducky: http://amzn.to/15AC4ZU
- Corsair: http://amzn.to/16R8CKg
- Cooler Master: http://amzn.to/15AC6B4
I'm not a huge fan of 7.1 headsets. Pistol uses this one: http://amzn.to/1ax6g6s
If you want a silent keyboard, that is still tactile, you may want to check out Topre switches.
I have a deathadder, and it's been pretty good. The deathadder is one of the few razer products I would actually recommend. In terms of keyboards, the ducky mechanical keyboards are top notch. Just pick the switches you like. I also have a pair of turtle beach x12s that sound surprisingly good and are pretty cheap.
For keyboard, I would recommend the logitech g510s. I know its not a nice mechanical, but I love having the display to monitor temps, in-game chat, and a few other functions of that. I also like being able to choose the backlit color. The keys are still good on this thing, but I admit not as nice as mechanical. I like the features on it though.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126323
For mouse.. There are so many to choose from and it depends on your grip style. I am not a fan of razer looks, but one of the new naga's has replaceable grips to fit which ever grip you like and it was very comfortable. I am currently using a logitech g9 and I really like it, but they are being phased out. A lot of the logitech mice have very nice functions and their software is very good and is the same software for their keyboards. It's nice that they work together. There are a lot of interesting new players to the mouse market these days. Zalman have some interesting mice as do corsair and Thermaltake (Tt)
- wireless + many buttons http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104914
- Many buttons http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104674
- Simple/high quality : steel series, corsair vengeance
- Unique, customizable grip: madcatz rat 5, razer naga
There really are so many good mice out there. You need to go to a store and feel them out if you can... even if you buy online.
headset
I like true surround sound headsets.. Virtual 7.1 doesnt work for me. It's pretty good, but it doesnt work for forward and back, even though the depth and left/right work well.. but is it in front or behind?
With true 5.1 headset speakers I always know instantaneously. I tested this with several headsets. Now audiophiles will warn about speaker quality not being as good, but I have excellent speakers for movies and music. My surround sound headset isn't bad at all and it gives me the important directional sound I am looking for. Here are a few I recommend.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826193069
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2DP0SY0459
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826436005
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826501005
and if you can find them.... (this is what I have, because I am living in south korea)
I want a headset that is 7.1 surround sound, which is good for directional audio in games.
7.1 headphones are marketing gimmicks. You only have two ears so you only need two speakers to have full surround with headphones (google: binaural audio). Everyone who is trying to sell you a pair of headphones with more than 2 speakers is full of shit and you should never buy anything from this manufacturer.
The keyboard and mouse I want to be good for FPS games.
You need to choose keyboard yourself because there can be different kind of switches and layouts. I generally recommend start looking somewhere around Quickfire Rapid. Only mechanical keyboard that I do not recommend is Blackwidow.
As for mouse, I recommend Zowie AM, FK or EC, Logitech G400(s) and CM Storm Spawn. Deathadder is also fine but I can't be sure about its reliability.
Do not buy:
Laser mice
Wireless mice
Also, get a good mousepad. With a good mouse you need a smooth surface with no static friction. I recommend Steelseries QcK (choose model according to size and thickness needed).
dude.. thanks for saying I am full of shit.. the truth is that surround does in fact work. It using timing and frequency algorithms to simulate distance and direction between two points... like a delay and frequency change tell our brains weather a noise is coming from around a corner, is muffled behind a door, or is even on one side of our head or the other.
Our ears sense direction by the frequency of something coming into our ear at the front, or hitting the back of our ear and changing the frequency that we hear.
I have a true 5.1 surround sound headset and have used 3 over the past 5 years. So long as the speakers are correctly positioned in the headset, they should work fine. You shouldn't purchase very thin or small multi-speaker headsets. There are a lot of bad ones out there, but they aren't all bad.
Also, as a person that has used headsets for the past 16 years of PC gaming, I can tell you for sure that it does make a big difference. 7.1 isn't a gimmick, but rather something that can be done with software rather than hardware. In the past, surround sound calculations were done with their own hardware processors, but companies like razer have recently moved it to the software side because computers are much more powerful than they used to be. There still isn't anything wrong with a hardware 7.1 surround sound headset if you are interested. I wouldn't personally get one though.
It is clear that you simply don't understand this, and I hope I shed a little light on how this works. You come off as an asshole saying people are full of shit and not even bothering to explain yourself.
If you still dont believe me, you can follow this link below and listen with stereo headphones. Its a great example of prerecorded 3d audio using multiple microphone recording.They put sound blocks between the head and behind the mics to act as your ears. This process is that virtual surround sound tries to emulate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IXm6SuUigI
it works best on a headset or if your head is between the speakers. Don't just put the speakers on your desk in front of you.
As I said previously, all 5.1 and 7.1 headphones are completely unnecessary because everything they can do can be achieved by software and they have inferior audio quality compared to 2.0.
Mhm keep talking. I was sceptical too, but virtual 7.1 DOES work. It really helps in several games I play, and doesn't degrade sound quality. It might sound a bit echoey at first, but it only took me an hour to not notice it anymore.
I reccomend the Plantronics Gamecom 780 w/7.1, they are really light and sturdy, and have a decent mic and sound. 10 months with no issues.
What are you talking about? Multi-speaker headphones that are made correctly do give you the best directional output. virtualized is good, but I found forward and back differentiation is not as good having actual speakers in front of or behind your ear.
You COULD argue that software renders HARDWARE virtualized headsets obsolete, but not true multi-speaker surround. Multi-speaker takes out the theories and math equations and relies on real world physics.
Now you are also WAY of on the quality. The sound quality only comes from audio processing hardware (which is separate from the surround processing) and speakers themselves. You can get the same speakers in the BEST stereo headset and make multi-speaker headsets with excellent directional audio and the best sound quality.
I really have to ask if you have any hands of experience with this or you are just basing this on theories or a few forum posts you read.
I will stress again that there are some really poorly designed multi-speaker headsets out there that won't function as they should because of bad speaker placement.The front and rear speakers need to be forward and back enough of your ear and many designers opt for a eye-candy design rather than a functional one.
My headset comes with software to turn the true 5.1 into virtualized 7.1, but leave it on 5.1 because it has the best directional for gaming.
If you are only using stereo for gaming then you have to turn your head right and left to figure out the direction, and even then you will be FAR less accurate not knowing if its left forward or straight left, or even right behind you and just a little to the left.