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A great way to weather the pandemic at home is to pick up a new hobby or activity—and what better way to get by than by putting up a new and simple gaming setup of your own!

A cheap gaming setup for beginners is really quite attainable. You don’t have to think that putting up a gaming setup of your own at home will occupy all your time and empty your pockets while you’re at it. All it takes to put such a setup together is a little research. That’s what this article is for. We’ve got your back!

We’ll also drop a few hints in this handy guide regarding how to make a gaming setup by offering a little advice regarding the components of such a setup, and focusing on gaming setup accessories and peripherals instead of the actual PC or even components like the PC case, since even the most new-to-the-game gamer would most likely prefer to set his or her PC up themselves.

The first thing we recommend that you invest in is a good gaming chair. Some might think that this isn’t a worthy investment especially if one is on a budget, but we beg to differ. Not all chairs are equal; some are definitely superior to others, most especially in the realm of gaming. Play a particularly engrossing game and you’ll be in that chair for hours on end, and might even forget to shower or eat on time. You want, no, need, a chair that’s comfortable and supportive enough to allow you to use it for quite a while—with a comfortable but not too soft headrest, backrest, armrests to keep you supported. (Something that’s too soft won’t provide you enough support and may lead to injury.) And you want it built tough especially if you’re the kind of gamer who moves around a lot. We feel that a Fantech GC 185 gaming chair would be worthy of consideration.Now for what some people might refer to as the peripherals proper. Start with the monitor. Not just any monitor will do for gaming; you want one that’s decently sized and has relatively high resolution and/or refresh rates. Size, because playing a PC game on a little screen is the epitome of frustration; resolution and refresh rates since you need to make sureyour monitor’s neither not sharp enough nor not quick enough to let you respond to rapid-fire action. Consider something like the Ipason 24-inch Gaming Monitor, which is a full HD IPS affair with 1080p. In short, it’s big, bright, beautiful, and fast.The next items you’ll need to invest in are the keyboard and the mouse. Not just any old keyboard and mouse will do. We suggest gaming-specific ones because those are specifically geared to help you stave off repetitive strain injuries during gaming. Mind you, these are very common and quite debilitating; so you need to do all you can to prevent yourself from falling prey to one or more of these. It goes without saying that it would be more than a bummer to discover a new hobby but then have to give it up because of injuries. Gaming mice and keyboards can definitely help.

More specifics? The keyboard needs to be big—you don’t want to lose out thanks to little buttons—and we also recommend that it be mechanical instead of membrane keyboards, because the former are faster and more precise when you type. Additionally, nicely lit buttons whose color and brightness can be pre-set can definitely help when gaming in the dark (and look cool to boot). How about the EWA PK900, with its expansive frame and wide accurate backlit keys?As for the mouse there are plenty of kinds of ‘mice’ geared at gaming specialists, from the shooter mouse with its conventional left-right, wheel, and thumb-button setup; MMO mice that are perfect for online games and have special buttons you can setup and click during the game; and hybrid mice that combine different qualities of different kinds of mice, for those who don’t stick to just one genre of game. Up to you to pick. But we recommend that whatever you end up getting, it should be one that fits right in your hand—not too big or small—has an LED which makes it faster to react and track better. You can consider the Zeus M330, which is a high speed gaming mouse with buttons galore (and also comes with a special mouse pad to ensure good performance).

Last up are your sound options. Are you the kind of person who wants to keep his or her games to him- or herself, or would you be happier letting your family know exactly what you’re playing and what’s happening to you? (Can you stand wearing headphones for hours on end or would you rather use a sound system?)

If the former, opt for gaming headphones like the TYLEX X-G77, which are very comfortable and adjustable, come with a built-in mike so you can chat with other people you’re playing with, and even feature noise cancellation to reduce the chance of interruption. The X-G77 is made of synthetic materials and leather to boost comfort, and are wired but come with a long wire to stave off incidents. They even look good thanks to a colorful RGB LED. If you’re okay with your family listening in on your game and/or aren’t a headphone kind of person, consider a theater system like the Fukuda Home Theater, which showcases a powerful 500W of high-quality sound as well as 2.1 channel surround sound so you can immerse in your game even better (and which, by the way, is available as a bundle with a karaoke player, so once you’re done gaming you can sing karaoke or video instead).

So, there you have it—a simple gaming setup that won’t cost a mint or break the bank, but which can really help you elevate your new normal from boring to awesome. Put up that gaming setup today!

Check out some single-player video games you can play.

 

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