Hardware gamers do need

What do gamers need to game? Well if you listen to the marketing you need the next best thing, because it’s so much better than the previous best thing despite the fractional improvements and price increase. But ignoring the hype, there are some hardware components that separate gamers from every other Joe Soap behind a keyboard and mouse. Here are our choices:

The right peripherals for the job

Having the right tools for the job is essential if you want to do the job properly. Sure, you can game with a generic office keyboard and cheap optical mouse, but they’re not ideal. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating that you go buy some overpriced peripheral combo with enough extras to make an F35 look basic, but some gamer features such as programmable macro keys and a good sensor will improve your game beyond average.

The same thing is even more true for specialized games. Take the Nissan GT Academy currently underway; all of the top gamers on each track available are using a high-end racing wheel (Logitech G27 and the like) rather than the standard PlayStation 3 controller.

Razer Imperator front, a decent if slighty pricy gaming mouse

Enough PC power

A CPU/GPU/RAM combo with enough power to allow you to game without system lag is essential to every gamer. Once again I’m not pushing gamers to upgrade to high-end components that will break the bank, but a mixture of decent dedicated components and graphics settings adjustments will help much more than Intel integrated GMA graphics and 2GBs of the slowest RAM known to mankind.

AMD HD7770, a totally legit graphics card option

Good headphones

“Good headphones” doesn’t mean emulated 5.1 headphones. “Good headphones” doesn’t mean true 5.1 headphones. “Good headphones” doesn’t mean high-end stereo headphones.

“Good headphones” means good headphones; the kind that lets you use hearing in the way you use sight, to pinpoint the enemy and adjust your movement/aiming accordingly. Headphones that offer good soundstage, great dynamic range and enough details/clarity to allow you to discern whether that was a footstep or a throwing knife.

Don’t settle for anything less than these

Good internet

With multiplayer games these days demanding online play, a good internet connection is a must. Whether your poison is World of Warcraft or Call of Duty, a decent connection opens you to a wide world of endless gaming fun, complete with like-minded gamers who are there to enhance (or troll depending on who you game with) your gaming experience. Also, there is nothing more annoying than quick-scoping where the enemy was just a second ago.