It's a little silly seeing my generic Logitech mouse and Logitech Office Pro PS/2 keyboard sitting here when i'm about to put a new PC on my desk. It'll look hilarious with a NZXT Phantom 820 right by it. Was looking into some replacements. I've had my eye on the Cyborg RAT 5 mouse for years, now. They made a RAT 7, but i don't like the colour scheme of the lettering. That typical cheesy black on red. It's hideous. And the only difference seems to be the price, really. The RAT 5 is cheaper. And both have the same functionality. I'm not sure why Mad Catz changed their name... or, is it just their product line known as Cyborg? Anyway, if there's really something wrong and these mice actually happen to suck ass, please let me know, then i won't buy they altogether. But the asymmetric design looks shmexy as fuck, especially in matte black.
I hate keyboards and mice with cheesy-ass LED lights. They tend to look tacky, and look like they're going to give me a seizure. On to keyboards, now.
Who makes good gaming keyboards, nowadays? The typing on my Office Pro is quite loud, hehe... I'd consider something more quiet. Coloured WASD keys look nice, and are indicative of a gaming keyboard. I find that to be a neat design feature.
Well looking at your choice in mice, I unfortunately cannot give you any ideas since I have no experience with those. However, when it comes to who makes good "gaming" keyboards it really depends on taste and how many features you are looking for. I am assuming you would rather go for a mechanical keyboard so avoid blue and green switches to keep teammates from complaining about the clacking lol. Are you looking for macro functionality? Full sized keyboards? LED back lighting? Generally Corsair makes fantastic gaming style keyboards, and I am pretty sure most of their models come with an included set of WASD keys in a different color/texture.
If you are looking to snag a deal and aren't in an immediate hurry to replace your keyboard then check out massdrop but just be sure you include the shipping cost to the overall price so you can determine if it's even a deal (getting something 20 dollars off retail but spending an extra 18 dollars on shipping and waiting several weeks is a deal breaker for me). Also check out /r/buildapcsales on reddit for some generally incredible deals as well.
If you want non-cheesy mice, try Zowie. Well, they are $60, but they all have best sensor currently available and solid build quality. May not worth it for you, but certainly a better investment than a RAT.
When it comes to gaming keyboards, any mechanical keyboard will be way better than rubber dome in games where it actually matters (typically timing-sensitive games), however, they tend to be louder, or nearly same if you pick non-clicky switches and install dampening rings.
You should specify your budget when asking for recommendations though.
Zowie, is that a division of Benq? Those colour schemes look whoopty as hell, i have to say... Checked out the G502. Didn't like the blue lighting. Saw that they had an RGB one. Not far off from a RAT. But doesn't have the design of the RAT still.
I'm a Canadian customer. So it's good to keep in mind. I don't even know if massdrop is a thing in Canada at all. All prices in CDN$.
I have no idea, to be honest, when it comes to price. I've seen mechanical keyboards go from $35 to over $200. Huge difference. I thought mechanical keyboards tend to be more high end, or more pricey in general than membrane keyboards.
RAT mice have a poor reputation for build quality. My 2 favorite brands to recommend are Logitech and Mionix. With mionix, the Avior 7000, Naos 7000, or the castor. With Logitech the g602, g502, g402, or g303.
with keyboards, i'd just get something not gaming branded. I use a Happy Hacking Pro 2 keyboard using topre switches, which is probably above your budget, but like, Das makes good keyboards...
yeah, i DID notice Logitech has a very very good roster of Mice. Anything in the G series seems to be solid. And i've been eyeing the K70 at first, but now the 910 Orion Spark has got my attention. And plus, i really don't like Corsair... They've been making lower grade products at a 'premium price'. Whatever that means. Though they can still make great things. Anyway, i've got an NZXT case, so a Corsair keyboard would be really out of place.
I just can't find out whether or not brightness can be adjusted on the G910. And if you can only set certain keys to glow.
My only gripe with the G series Mice is the fact that they all look too similar. And that damn LED always seems to be blue.
A friend had the RAT 5 and the sensor freaked out after a few months, apparently a common complaint. The naming? Originally they were Saitec possibly tek but MadCatz bought them. No idea why the new name change, maybe to get away from the bad press.
I have a Mionix Naos 3200. Great mice and the newerones can configure the LED so you can set it his you like. Not sure if off is an option, I will ask my brother has has the Avior 7000 so he can check. I would replace it with another if anything went wrong. Probably the castor.
Keyboards... Oh boy. Non flashy? Mechanical? KUL 87, Filco anything, CM Storm make good plain ones. Those are top of my list. I have a Filco ninja and it is plain and rock solid, MX switches so you can have any caps you like. The others I mentioned are the same.
ive had a rat5 for years and its been working fine.
to give you an idea i bought an ssd quite a while after and its powered on time is 190 days so i have used it quite a bit.
i tried it at a game show, i liked the fact you could change the physical weight of it and make it longer/shorter and well as thumb grips etcso its not rubbing on your mat (the sniper button is good and works)
the dpi change button comes in very handy in games instead of having to hunt throught settings to find the option
Zowie started as an independent company mainly out of former steelseries engineers that actually wanted to make good mice instead of LED-ridden laser crap.
Their partnership with Benq is a fairly recent thing. The only thing that changed from before is the color scheme.
Not sure about $35, typically cheapest mechanical keyboards are around $60, and they often have lower-end switches. An average mechanical keyboard with cherry switches is around $90-100, around $150 gets you higher quality stuff (or more pointless gimmicks), $200 and above is typically for topre capacitive switches.
I have a WASD code with mx clears and absolutely love it. Mechanical keyboards can be a bit pricey but a good keyboard will stay with you for years so keep that in mind. I like the code for it's simple and minimalistic design, it's backlight (the white backplate actually helps) and the fact that it's so sturdy you can smash someones face in with it.