The Best Esports Gear to Give this Holiday

If you (or someone on your holiday shopping list) are a competitive gamer, you’ll know that every millisecond counts. No matter the game, be it Overwatch, CS2, League of Legends, DotA 2, Fortnite, PubG, or a range of other PVP-first games, whoever reacts first usually wins. While most of that comes down to physical reaction time, there are some things you can do to improve your odds.

Enabling AMD’s Anti-Lag, or NVIDIA’s Reflex + Boost is a great first step, and, while there’s no substitute for training, upgrading accessories and peripherals to gaming gear that’s designed with competitive play in mind can be a big help. From faster monitors to low-latency gaming mice, here’s the best Esports gaming gear to help make you -- or the gamer in your life -- a more competitive player.

Monitor

The biggest and most notable impact for reducing input lag and improving reaction time is a fast gaming monitor. Playing on display with a slow response time and a 60Hz refresh rate is a serious detriment for any competitive gamer, as the screen sets the upper limit for reaction times.

A 60Hz monitor has a minimum input lag of 17ms but can be far higher. Upgrading to a 120Hz monitor reduces that lag to a minimum of 8ms, while a 240Hz display cuts it down to just over 4ms. Monitors can go even higher, with some of the latest monitors offering 360Hz, 540Hz, and TCL even showed off a prototype 1,000Hz display earlier in 2024.

Photo: Micro Center. The Asus PG27AQDP isn’t just high refresh rate, it has OLED speed too.

While anything over 240Hz can be hard to notice even for high-level gamers (especially if your computer can’t hit 240FPS), there is a big advantage in using a fast refresh rate monitor over a slower one. Along with reducing input lag, high-refresh rate monitors give access to more up-to-date information. Gaming on a 240Hz monitor cuts the update time for frame refreshes down to just milliseconds. So, not only are actions faster, with reduced input lag, but the screen is being updated quicker, too, helping gamers react to what’s going on just a bit faster.

It’s not just about refresh rates, either. Fast response times reduce ghosting, where pixels are slow to respond to fast moving objects, leaving afterimages which can throw anyone’s accuracy off. Although most gaming LCD monitors, whether they’re IPS, VA, or TN, have a fast response time, OLED monitors are much, much faster, leading to a much clearer image. That in turn can help reduce input lag, too, providing an even greater advantage.

Here are some of the best gaming monitors available today.

Mouse

The ability to quickly aim and fire at opponents in competitive shooters is massively impacted by the mouse. Heavier mice require more effort to move, less accurate sensors can mean it’s easier to miss shots, and non-gaming mice have poor polling rates, introducing additional input lag that can mean the difference between a win and a loss.

While traditionally, wired gaming mice were much faster than their wireless counterparts, that’s no longer really the case. There are wireless gaming mice that have a click latency that is under 2ms, meaning there’s barely any lag between the mouse and the game. That’s with a wireless receiver though – don’t try playing over Bluetooth if it can be helped. It’s far slower.

Photo: Micro Center. The Razer DeathAdder V3 Hyperspeed is an ultrafast, lightweight gaming mouse.

For the speediest of mice, look out for an ultralight model. These can weigh as little as 50-60g, cutting the weight of even traditionally lightweight mice in half. Any reduction in weight can increase the speed of your reaction time. Their lightweight design also means less fatigue on wrists, hands, and arms, too, helping players game for longer.

Most gaming mice have a polling rate – the number of times per second that the USB connection checks to see if a button has been pressed – of 1,000 Hz. That’s plenty for most gamers, and means there’s at most a millisecond of lag between a click and its detection. There are gaming mice that go up to 8,000 Hz, which drops that to just 0.125ms. That is an advantage, but it’s not one most are likely to notice.

Here are the best gaming mice you can buy in 2024.

Keyboard

Although specialized gaming keyboards have been a thing for just as long as gaming mice have, they haven’t typically been given the same consideration for their impact on in-game competitiveness. However, modern research suggests that the input lag even among gaming keyboards can vary quite considerably, and non-gaming keyboards can be woefully slow in comparison.

The best gaming keyboards have single key press latency of between 1-2ms, thanks to a combination of fast and responsive mechanical, optical, or magnetic switches, a fast onboard processor, and a high polling rate. Slower gaming keyboards tend to operate between 5 and 10ms for single key press latency, while non-gaming keyboards can take as long as 25ms or even longer before responding to an input.

Photo: Micro Center. The SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL is one of the fastest gaming keyboards out there.

There isn’t going to bea massively noticeable difference in performance between the very top gaming keyboards that cost hundreds of dollars, and the merely very good ones that cost $50, but there is an advantage to be had. More expensive keyboards are more durable, comfortable, and come with extra features, like additional keys, that can be used as an advantage.

Gaming keyboards often let users remap keys for a customized setup, include easy-to-reach media controls, and have that fancy RGB lighting that everyone loves – which is actually useful for gaming in the dark.

Like with wired and wireless gaming mice, there isn’t a huge difference between wired and wireless gaming keyboards, but make sure to avoid playing on Bluetooth, as the lag there can be extreme.

Here are some of the best gaming keyboards you can buy in 2024.

Gaming PC

NVIDIA’s “Frames win games,” tagline might be mostly marketing, but there is a kernel of truth there. To take full advantage of a high refresh rate monitor, and for mouse clicks and keyboard taps to be translated into the game as quickly as possible, a fast PC is a must-have. 

A fast processor will ensure that all inputs are registered in-game faster than a slower CPU, and a faster graphics card will deliver the higher frame rates needed for high-refresh rate monitors. Like a high refresh rate monitor, a higher frame rate shows more up-to-date information than a lower frame rate because there’s less time between frames.

A more powerful PC also means games can run better at higher resolutions and detail settings, for increased visibility and an overall prettier and more immersive gaming experience, without sacrificing frame rates.

Here are some excellent gaming desktops that will give any gaming a real boost. Not quite ready for a full upgrade? Here are the best processors and best graphics cards to upgrade your current PC.

Headset

Like any team sport, communication is key. Gaming on a bad headset can cause dropped call outs, garbled communication, and just a poor-quality gaming experience. A quality pair of headphones will help you hear opponents coming and teammates more clearly, and a great attached microphone will ensure that everyone can hear you better, too. If there is lots of ambient noise, like kids, animals, or other LAN-goers, then a gaming headset can help block that background sound out with a unidirectional microphone and even AI noise cancellation.

Photo: Micro Center. The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro is one of the most comfortable and capable gaming headsets you can buy.

There’s less of a performance advantage here, but a comfortable headset that is low latency and delivers clear audio can make a real difference to how effective communication is and how immersive the games feel. 

Here are some of the best gaming headsets available in 2024.

Mouse mat

For the final piece to any gaming setup, a quality mouse mat is a great cherry on the top. It helps high-end gaming mouse read movements more clearly, ensuring that it never skips because of a strange pattern on a desk’s surface. Plus, it’s more comfortable than resting your wrist on a hard surface all day. 

Just as important is the size of the mat. Most professional gamers use large mouse mats and a low mouse sensitivity, utilizing sweeping arm movements to improve their accuracy. If that sounds like the way to play, grab one of these massive gaming mouse mats for a more comfortable and accurate gaming experience.

Whether you’re buying for yourself or someone on your list this season, there are a ton of ways to give the gift of better gaming performance. If you’re not sure which accessories are right for your holiday shopping, stop by one of our 28 stores and learn why we’re PC Mag’s #1 Ranked Tech Retailer; our associates will be more than happy to help you find the perfect gift!