I'm looking at an expensive keyboard, the Unicomp Buckling Spring Keyboard. 7 pounds of mechanical beauty. Of course, it looks like it was made 20 years ago because it's based on the Model M.

I'm using an expensive mouse, the Kensington Expert Mouse, but I'd also be just fine with the Orbit. Mainly as I'm not using the two other buttons on this mouse.

As for "gaming" stuff, most of it is garish tat.

I don't see the extra value in them. I have to have a wired mouse though with some side buttons. Next keyboard and mouse I will buy have to be silent ones though for my youtube channel, so you don't hear the button presses...

Nooo, horrible mouse wheel. The MX Performance was the ultimate one. Sadly, they stopped producing that one as well in favor of the MX Master (which I have now). It's a good mouse, but they added a useless thumb wheel, which fucked up the placement of the shoulder buttons.

Same here. I have seen absolutely no reason for specific "gamer mouse/keyboard", normal ones do fine and I constantly dominate others if TeamFortress 2, bwahahahaha!

The only thing might be that... maybe the mouse having more buttons would be useful, but as said I am doing fine with a basic mouse. I used to have one old mouse that had extra buttons you could press with your thumb.

Indeed, playing Doom with a wheel makes hell of a difference compared to keyboard and mouse. Not necessarily a good one. :-P

Hmm... they're still selling the Performance Mouse MX on the US and Canadian sites, but seemingly nowhere else. Also curiously, in Asia it seems to be called M950t rather than MX.

Its all about what features you are looking for. And cheaper stuff for most part will work just the same.

I personally use A4Tech stuff (x7 series) since its both cheap and durable so far. Keyboard is X7 G300 ( bought a new recently in case current one breaks for 15 euros) and the mouse is x7 f7(20 euros).

So, keyboards arent essential(still good to check their features) but when comes to mouse you need to dig well to see what you are looking for: dpi ( depends on what available space you have: the less space to move, the higher dpi), extra buttons( I just cant game anymore without 2 thumb buttons) and grip.

Edit: All in all, all this "gaming" hardware is paying for the brand.

Well, at least you can always run over the baddies carmageddon-style, in case you run out of ammo! ;)

I have a G15 Refresh and a G402 Hyperion Fury. Does it make a difference?

For the keyboard, that's a clear no. So why did I get it? Easy: I'm working 4-10 hours a day at my PC (actual work, not gaming) and I love the programmable makro keys! When I'm in my browser, I have stuff like ctrl+TAB, ctrl+shift+TAB, ctrl+F4 and ctrl+shift+t on those keys. ctrl+shift+TAB alone is worth the 20 or 30 Euro I paid extra (I can't remember anymore, because I got this keyboard more than five years ago already). When I switch to another program, the keys automatically switch the profile and I get shortcuts like ctrl+f, ctrl+n,ctrl+o or ctrl+s.

I don't use the makro keys for gaming. In 90% of keyboard+mouse games you have your fingers on WASD, shift and space and every other function is on adjacent keys. No need for makro keys. I can't say much about the "feel" of the keys. They go down when I press them and they come back when I release them. The keys on my old keyboard felt a bit more loose/shaky. But that keyboard was a lot older than my current one, so let's talk about this in five more years ;)

The mouse on the other hand, does make a difference in games. Not because of it's precise and fast sensor (I can't notice any difference at all), but, again, because of the makro keys. In a shooter, you can finally land a melee attack (f) or throw a grenade (g) while strafing right (d). Just put f and g on the two buttons next to your left mouse button ;) Awesome! And sniping is great too. You can put a lower DPI setting (mouse moves a lot slower) on one of the extra buttons, so aiming when zoomed in is a lot smoother and more precise.

Another ... "funny" example where it makes a very signifant "difference", would be Diablo 3. It's a very, VERY grindy game and there are basically only 5 keys on the keyboard that you need to be able to hit fast: the 4 hotkeys for your skills and the hotkey for the potion (you don't really need the potion, bt when you need it, you need it fast). So, if you have 5 programmable buttons on your mouse... you don't need the keyboard anymore! One hand on the mouse, the other hand in a bag of chips or at a bottle of beer :D That's perfect for games like Diablo 3! I wouldn't want to play it two-handed ever again.

The G402 is a great mouse. And it's not even THAT expensive. I got it for 35 Euro on Amazon (it's on sale all the time - currently for 36.99 on amazon.de) which is quite affordable.

They can be a good investment, as long as you don't go for the completely over-the-top stuff, that is completely overpriced. A mechanical keyboard probably won't make you better gamer, but it just feels a lot nicer (especially for typing as well). But even than I wouldn't go for something like Razer or Logitech, which have nice marketing and buzzwords, but rather bad quality. I own a Corsair Vengeance K70 with brown switches, because I wanted media keys and it has a nice build quality - aluminium board and volume control (very sturdy), very comfortable, rubberized wrist rest and backlit keys, which can be useful when gaming in a dark room.
If you don't want to pay 130$ for a keyboard (which I can totally understand), and you want something more basic, you can still get a very, very decent mechanical keyboard with the Cherr MX Board 3.0, which costs around 60€, I think. Bit more expensive than your run of the mill rubberdome, but also quite nice.

For mice, I would advise against a lot of the so-called "gaming mice", because they are just too heavy a lot of times, Still, there are quite a few decent options available in Logitechs gaming lineup. The G203 is probably the best value for money. One of the best sensors on the market, good switches and cable, very light - and doesn't cost that much more than a decent office-mouse.

I guess my keyboard is a 'gaming' keyboard (Logitech G11). Got it way back in 2009 when I built my previous rig. Is it necessary? No, but I love it. It's wider than regular non-gaming keyboards, which I find far more comfortable to type on, and the extra features on it such as volume control and macro keys are a real nice bonus.

Still using my old Logitech MX518 mouse that I bought at the same time and have to say I've found nothing before or since that I find more comfortable. I have two of these (one for a backup) and I absolutely love it.

I can't say much about the keyboards.

As for gaming mice, don't expect them to last. It is very sad. Yes, some mice have nice sensors, good shape, right weight, and useful extra buttons. But then they break. Mfg advertises magic MORON microswitches that supposedly last fifteen billion clicks and yet your buttons start malfunctioning in a year or three.. you still find mice with stupid mushy scroll wheels that accidentally switch weapons (or scroll webpages) in the middle of a match. Coatings wear off, rubber layer on scroll wheel comes off, cable or something makes poor contact and causes the cursor to start jumping wildly at random..

I've churned through some logitech, razer, and stool series mice. They all break, but old logitech were the most reliable in my experience. Don't take this as an endorsement. These companies just want to make toys for overgrown kids, full of BLING leds and adverts about how it makes you PRO. (You can find mice without excessive leds but chances are they still suck. Actually, I have a malfunctioning stoolseries kana v2 on my desk right here, and I've replaced it once already. Meanwhile my dad is frustrated with the stoolseries sensei that I gave him when it didn't work on my PC; it's starting to show all the usual signs of switch bounce and scrollwheel behaving erratically)

I'm not aware of any company making gaming gear with focus on pure QUALITY and a long warranty to back it up.

But if you have too much money and don't bother replacing these things all the time and buying a dozen in hopes of finding one that sucks less, why even ask here. :-)

(I still have a very old dirt cheap logitech OEM mouse from back when optical mice just were starting to get popular; it's probably over 15 years old, and has been used way more than all my gaming mice combined.. still works, but the sensor isn't up to the task, and the scrollwheel is a bit too mushy)

Xarmor U9WL and loving it!

I am fond of my MERC Stealth keyboard. The keys have LED lights for reading in the dark, and there is a gaming-oriented section to the left with butterfly WASD keys, numbers, and so forth. You can easily switch between regular typing and games pretty easily. There is software for further customization, but I always found it to be a bit troublesome.

My penny's worth of opinion about keyboards is to get a lit keyboard if you do anything at night. I find it invaluable on my laptop when I can't be bothered to switch on the light.