PC Games - Name your weapon! (What hardware you use?)

[Tracker]

Just curious as to what sort of hardware people use when they're out fending off zombie hordes, winning Le mans 24hours, showing tactical superiority as a commander in the C&C universe, solving crimes in L.A or duking it out against hordes of orcs with sword and shield?

Mice, Keyboards, Headsets, any kit that you think really makes your setup? or any experience ruined by a bad bit of kit?

Mice i've used just about everything, from my first Microsoft notebook mouse, through deathadders and a menagerie of Razer mice, Sidewinder X5, Sharkoon laser glide, two different WoW themed MMO mice.. my favourite has to be my Deathadder, it suits my hand perfectly and i can't fault the one i got ( 5 years on, it's retired from gaming but happily sits on my desk at work!) an d i've just ordered a new one to go with my new rig

Mouse surfaces? I've used a few, but i'm happy with steelseries soft-glide mousemats or my razer Dual sided aluminium mat.

Keyboards i've used a few, mostly your standard office boards, but i've grown fond of the Z board for when playing FPS games and i've also had some success with a microsoft Reclusa and a Microsoft Sidewinder X5. Currently typing this on my newly acquired Razer Blackwidow Ultimate, first mechanical keyboard i've ever owned and it's taking some getting used to especially when typing, but i cannot fault how responsive it is!

Headsets, I've owned Plantronics headsets (3 of them), used turtle beaches, generic headsets, and skull candies, but they all pale in com parison to my two favourites, my Steel series Siberia headsets, and my beloved Sennheiser PC350's, they lack bass if you can't crank it up ( laptop integrated soundcards being the bane of this) but the sound quality otherwise is great, and the microphone is absolutely crystal clear for barking orders at teammates or having a skype chat with my S/O.

what about you guys? anything that stands out? anything to avoid? what're your experiences !

 

[Flucky]

Glad you like your Deathadder, ordered one recently for my new lappy

Not a headset but bought a pair of Sennheiser HD 380 pros a few months ago and absolutely love em. Can't play CSS without headphones (or any FPS really but CSS especially) and these fair well.

 

[LinearHD]

Well, this'll be my first gaming computer, and I thought I'd get a Razer Deathadder because of it's amazing reviews, and when I first got to hold one in PC World I couldn't resist haha

I was undecided on the keyboard, but I found out about mechanical keyboards and thought I'd give them a whirl as I'm always open to new experiences, and I've fallen in love with my Razer Blackwidow. I didn't think it was worth paying the extra £30 for backlit keys though.

Finally, my desk is fairly small, so I decided on getting a Razer Goliathus mouse mat (the small, speed version) so that I wouldn't have to use my free one from Barclays xD

I'm still in the market for a headset, can't really find a good one that's worth it's price (open to recommendations, max budget £40, don't really want to spend too much).

 

[Teaz]

for keyboards, i think im only content with my g15 lol as when i first tried out proper gaming keyboards, i didnt like them until i had a proper few hours feel of them in a gaming cafe near me lol. its when i got locked to the g15 which i dont know why. so i cant say much but i prefer my g15 if i didnt, i would of still prefered my typical desktop keyboard haha. same goes for the mouse. i was pretty comfortable with te standard keyboards and mouse.

im currently using 2 mouses, logitech g9x and a razer mamba. both for different situations at times or when one gets too uncomfortable.

as for my mouse mat, i dont really feel much of a difference at times, so im content at the moment with my razer kabuto mouse mat. its really slim and isnt the traditional thicker ones

For headphones or sound or speakers, i dont have a proper gaming headset, my music Dr.Dre SoloHD headphones does a real good job at the moment filling in that role haha tbh i aint seen a proper gaming headset that i've liked so far.

 

[NilSatis]

Keyboard: Microsoft Sidewinder X6 (Great responsiveness and quiet; nice red backlit display and detachable numberpad; with macro heaven; S key is already starting to wear and is becoming the colour of the backlight/batphone!)
Mouse: Microsoft Sidewinder X8 (I got these cheap; not usually a microsoft fanboi; but they are both excellent!)
Mousemat: Steel Series 4HD; as the sidewinder mouse doesnt like cloth mats apparently and i had one of these anyway.....(excellent hard mouse mat which doesnt slip anywhere).
Joystick: Thrustmaster t16000m or something lol. Only good for flight sims etc. (Bit cheap feeling on the buttons but joystick itself is one of the best and most precise i have used).
Gamepad: Microsoft 360 pad and a Madcatz 360 pad as it was only £5.99 (and worth about that much I might add.....although it works just fine!)
Headset: Roccat Kave; brilliant headset in every way; albeit a bit on the heavy side. Sound quality wise nearly up there will my old Sennheisers. Bass excellent; with rumble/vibration. True non converted 5.1 speakers are amazing. Microphone is brilliant. Marked down a little as the headset is slightly uncomfortable on the top of my head, but it could be the sharp end of my peanut brain being poked. Solid build quality; and excellent volume control.

 

[Wozza63]

Turtle Beach PX5, love it

 

[Rakk]

Well, I'm obviously going to be the odd one out at this

Keyboard: Bog-standard Logitech wired thing that will only cost about a tenner to replace when I spill coke/food all over it.
Mouse: some wired mouse with two buttons and a mouse wheel (again dirt cheap to replace if I break it)
Mousemat: one I got free from Maplins some years ago
Speakers: well they may have been not to bad when new, now a bit old and the wires on the volume controller are a bit iffy, so when you change the volume it kinda goes up and down a bit til it settles No idea on the make, got them from a friend who didn't need them anymore

And yes, I do spend most of my time on the PC gaming - an MMO mostly but a bit of Supreme Commander 2 as well.

 

[Tracker]

what mmo do you play? i don't think i could manage playing WoW without using the extra 6-7 odd buttons a mouse and the 4210912 function buttons / macro buttons on the specific Z board -wow keyset!

I've heard good things about the logitech G15 and subsequent boards, but have always avoided them as one fo the main selling points, the little lcd screen, would've been useless as my laptop has one of those screens built in, great as a media display when playing games or for quick reference of wow character stats.

I find that i end up having several sets of things for what i do.. all the stuff i buy is top end so i find that rather than it breaking and throwing it away, i have an "armoury" of different bits of kit to use depending on what i'm doing.

I think the only two pieces of kit that i've not really used much where a razer lacheris, as it just didn't fit my hand right ( so i gave it away to my little brother who uses it all the time) and a recently acquired sharkoon Laserglider.. i found it for £8 new on ebay, and whilst it works, it just feels cheap in the hand and feels tacky, hence why i've gone for another deathadder.

 

[Rakk]

what mmo do you play? i don't think i could manage playing WoW without using the extra 6-7 odd buttons a mouse and the 4210912 function buttons / macro buttons on the specific Z board -wow keyset!

Everquest 2 - played it for years.
Have numerous hotkeys set up, have my 47 most used things on easy to get to keyboard shortcuts (1 to =, alt1 to alt=, ctrl1 to ctrl=, targetting commands to the F keys and the tab button), another 20 or so I have to use the mouse to click, but I really dont use them that often, I'm mostly a keyboard player, find it much quicker to do stuff on the keyboard, as well as that half the time I've lost my mouse cursor in the graphics somewhere anyway

 

[petrow]

I use a Saitek Cyborg keyboard. I've always liked the feel of them and every time I'm due an upgrade I get Saitek.

I also use a Razor Lachesis mouse. However I can't get their software to woek. It always says that there is no mouse connected...

 

[PC Fanatic]

Cyborg V5 Gaming Keyboard and Logitech G9x Laser Gaming Mouse.

Although, I use a wired 360 pad for any game that supports it.

 

[Drunken Monkey]

 

[petrow]

I've always preferred wired stuff over wireless. And I finally managed to get my Razor software working lol.

 

[BAD SANTA]

My gear is in my sig, since I've had my rat 9 I can't even use a normal mouse it's that good I'm going to have to buy one for work :-0.
I have been looking at the cyborg keyboards but I don't know if I will get on with it and to be honest my wave is pretty good.

 

[Theunderdog]

I got a Turtle Beach X11 Headset (use for 360 and PC)
A Razer Naga MMO gaming mouse (Just got today and loving it)
A nice contrast for a keyboard. A Packard Bell keyboard that came with my Dads 5 year old computer Best... Set up... Eva!

 

[jayjay]

im still waitin on my pc ive ordered g510 (update g15) and g9x with it so with all the thumbs up here im happy with my choice, i have recieved my corsair sp 2500 speakers i love these babies get them now, also ive got sennhieser rs 170 wireless headphones http://www.trustedreviews.com/Sennheiser-RS-170-Wireless-Headphones_Headphones_review these are the business im just checking out all different types of stuff just to see how it sounds out of each speakers and headphones, and you can wander all over the house wit the phones on no interference

 

[petrow]

My gear is in my sig, since I've had my rat 9 I can't even use a normal mouse it's that good I'm going to have to buy one for work :-0.
I have been looking at the cyborg keyboards but I don't know if I will get on with it and to be honest my wave is pretty good.

I started off with the Saitek Eclipse, then the Eclipse II now I'm onto the Cyborg. I like the keyboards because they still feel like proper keyboards, a lot of gaming boards these days have a laptop keyboard feel, too flat and it can be a pain to find the right keys. The Cyborg has up to 12 programmable buttons too which is cool. I don't even have one set up yet as I really don't have a game installed on the new system which needs it, but when Guild Wars 2 is out I'll have it set up properly.

My only real complaint about the Cyborg is it can be a pain to get used to to do general typing on (although I am more than happy with it now).

Also, another great feature is that there is a "Windows off key" which prevents the age old way of closing a game when your busy by accidentally tapping the Windows key. It also has a USB port to plug stuff in easily and also a way to plug your headset directly through the keyboard too if you wish to.

 

[petgag]

I used to race driving games / sims a lot. I was actually part of the original UK GPL (Grand Prix Legends) racing league set up in about 2000 or 2001? I got so serious (even though I was never that good) that I bought the best wheel and pedal setups money could buy (apart from an arcade machine) which was the F1 Sim wheel and pedals, all steel construction, F1 style gear levers, etc, a quality bit of kit and cost me over £200 (bearing in mind this was 10 years ago!) Made by BRD (Ballracing Developments who made arcade simulators for exhibitions, etc and worked with a few F1 teams, rally teams, etc, so they knew their stuff...

Got my moneys worth though as I evenetually sold it last year, so I got about 9 years of use out of it.

See picture of F1 Sim here:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/petergagg/27gamhw2.htm#BRD

So then I thought, hmmm these BRD guys make good gear, I'll get a cockpit to go with it, so I did... This had a full racing seat, fully adjustable frame, I added 5.1 surround sound, speakers to rear, speakers to front, whoofer under seat, it rocked. That lots set me nbcak about £400 for the cockpit and seat but it was awesome to race in (much better than sitting at a desk with a keyboard and mouse).

See cockpit here (not me in the picture btw....)

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/petergagg/28gamhw3.htm#BRD

So then, Logitech bring out the G25, proper working force feedback, (not the cheap platsticky rubbish that came before it) and it had a clutch and proper (gated) gear levers, so I got one of those too (another £150). So I was all set up, racing and loving it.

See G25 pic here:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/petergagg/27gamhw2.htm#G25

Theres a very short youtube clip of this kit in action here...

http://youtu.be/LdTf0UjYT5s

Then....about four years ago I fell down the stairs, injured my lower back (Coccyx), not badly, but just bad enough to make it painful whenever I sat down for more than about 20 minutes.... so the racing was out.

Eventually I sold the cockpit and seat, and the G25, moved on to flight sims at my desk (comfier chair) and bought the excellent Saitek X45 joystick and throttle unit (about £100), which was also a lot of fun.

Now, I don't play games anywhere near as much as I used to, but its mainly limited to the PS3 in the living room (Call of Duty rocks!) Happy days.....