Stuck for inspiration for the PC gamer in your life? Our list of top picks will ensure a smile on the face of anyone lucky enough to score these PC gaming gifts.
PC gamer image courtesy Shutterstock
Oculus Rift DKII
What can we say about the Oculus Rift that hasn’t been said before? We could say that if you covered it in cheese and Neapolitan sauce it’d make a fine Oculus Parmigiana, but that would be a flat out lie, and a waste of a perfectly excellent VR headset to boot. What the Development Kit 2 version of the Oculus Rift does offer is a higher resolution display than the original kit, as well as inbuilt head tracking. It’s not perhaps the cheapest Christmas gift, but it’s one with a bright and shiny future.
Price: US$350 from Oculus
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Intel Core i5 4690K Processor
There’s a simple rule with PC gaming: You can never have too much power. Ever. Intel’s K-series Core i5 and Core i7 processors put the power question into the hands of whoever you gift it to, because they’re designed with gamers in mind, and engineered specifically for overclocking. All that power can make it a doddle to run multiple programs simultaneously, whether you’re building a dedicated racing rig with many screens, or plan to stream your PC gaming adventures out via Twitch. If you’re really keen — and can handle the heat — the 8-core Intel Core i7-5960X is also worth consideration.
Price: $276-$295 everywhere
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Logitech G27 Wheel
To make the most of your PC’s racing games, you need a solid wheel. Logitech’s G27 Racing Wheel combines two motors to provide accurate and realistic force feedback along with solid steel gear shifters to handle even the roughest of drivers. Plus, it’s a lot cheaper than buying an actual F1 car.
Price: $229-$499.95 From Logitech, Dick Smith, JB Hi-Fi, Kogan
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Intel 730 Series SSD
Solid state drives combine performance and power-efficient operation that should be at the top of any PC gamer’s wish list. Intel’s 730 series offer a range of storage capacities to suit most budgets, providing optimised performance — thanks to Intel’s enterprise skills being brought into the consumer space for maximum performance and the best possible reliability thanks to inbuilt power loss protection. If you want to give a gift that’ll make your PC-gaming recipient’s computer really fly, this is a good choice.
Available from PC specialists like Scorptec and PC Case Gear
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Razer Goliathus Mouse Pad Control Edition
Razer sells its Goliathus Control Edition pad in a variety of sizes to suit the hands of just about every gamer, but the core mission is the same no matter the size difference, and that’s improving accuracy in-game. In the control edition’s case, it’s done with a fabric surface that adds friction, and therefore pro-level control precision to your mousing action.
Price: $11-$24.95 from Razer, EB Games, PC Case Gear
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Logitech G502 Proteus Core Gaming Mouse
Every PC gamer is different, which means that there’s no such thing as the “perfect” gaming mouse, because everyone’s tastes will differ. That’s precisely where the Logitech G502 Proteus Core gaming mouse shines, however, as its adjustable weight and balance means that you can change it up until it’s as close to perfect as possible.
Price: From $77 at Logitech, EYO, JB Hi-Fi, EB Games
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Razer Blackwidow Chroma Gaming Keyboard
If you’d rather give a gift that can show how much the PC gamer in your life shines, consider the Razer Blackwide Chroma gaming keyboard, which combines Razer’s highly regarded mechanical switches for gaming precision along with a spectrum of visual effects to show off to your real world foes.
Price: From $218 at Razer, EB Games, PC Case Gear, Mighty Ape
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Logitech G910 Orion Spark Gaming Keyboard
Mechanical keyboards can by their nature be noisy critters. Logitech’s Orion Spark gaming keyboard combines quieter — but no less accurate — switches along with a range of 16.8 million colours to pick for each and every key on display. That makes for a bright Christmas gift, but one that won’t send you deaf when they get to heavy play on Boxing Day.
Price: $194-$249 at Logitech, JB Hi-Fi, Kogan, PC Case Gear
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Astro A50 Gaming Headset
Gone are the days when PC games sound was a bunch of 8-bit bleeps. Which is great if you’ve got space for a full surround sound setup, but if you share a small space with the PC gamer in your life, make them very happy indeed with Astro’s wireless, 7.1 surround sound headphones, which also offer adjustable equalisation so you can fine-tune the audio to your own preferences. There’s plenty of choices when it comes to PC headphones, but few that match up to the Astro A50. (http://www.kotaku.com.au/2012/07/review-the-astro-a50-wireless-gaming-headset/)
Price: From $369 at EB Games and JB Hi-Fi
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Plantronics RIG
Headphones are great for isolating game noise, but they’re also rather isolating, which might make them a less than stellar Christmas gift. Plantronics’ RIG offers a solution to this problem, with multiple inputs hooked to one headphone/microphone combo, so the PC gamer on your Christmas wish list can stay in the game, but have a smartphone hooked up so you can stay in touch with the outside workat the same time.
Price: $88-$129 at EB Games, JB Hi-Fi, Officeworks
Comments
25 responses to “Great Gift Ideas For Gaming And Powerful PC Enthusiasts”
Recommends $1000 i7 5960X as a Christmas present.
Wut?
Wut?
No idea why they chose this over the i7 4790K, which would benefit gamers MUCH more. Overclocks quite nicely to at least 4.6GHz with decent cooling.
The benefit of the 4790k over the 4690k for gaming is neglible, when you look at the price. Not to mention, these are gift ideas, so you’re buying it for someone else…
Some modern games (BF4 for example) are starting to take advantage of hyperthreading more, making a 4790K more viable. But overall you’re absolutely correct. The 4690K really is the current sweet spot for gaming processors.
A 5960X is just an utter waste for gaming. Unless you’re doing a heap of video editing simultaneously, a 4790K or even 4690K will actually perform better in a lot of cases due to better overclocking potential.
The 4790K and 4690K are almost the same CPU differing mainly in clock speed and hyperthreading. The 4790K will get better performance in gaming, especially with some games, the most mentioned being Battlefield 4, making use of hyperthreading.
Put simply, the 4790K will perform better (though probably not by a large amount) but the 4690K is cheaper.
For a purely gaming and simple task machine, the 4690K is the better choice, but for people gaming and content creating (Photoshop, PowerDirector/Premier etc) the 4790K is the better choice.
The 5960X is not worth mentioning for a gaming PC at all. It doesn’t overclock as well, it draws noticeably more power and doesn’t support DDR3 (though people who can afford a 5960X would probably be able to afford DDR4 anyway).
Do you have one of these? How far have you been able to push it so far? My old 2500K has been running at 4.8GHz for very close to three years now, would have expected faster clocks than that now (I know clock speed isn’t everything, but it’s fun!).
My PC has a 3770K but my girlfriend’s recently built PC has a 4790K. We didn’t do a proper overclock on it yet but from what I’ve seen online you should be able to get at least 4.6GHz
If your CPU is bottlenecking you you’re doing it wrong!
“The 8-core Intel Core i7-5960X is also worth consideration.” Not really a recommendation just a silly consideration. 🙂 $1200 dollars at most places.
Yeah, for gaming you’d just be throwing your money away if you went for the 5960X…
I’ve spent more than that on jewelery or designer clothes as a present before but yeah a keyboard worth that much seems a waste
I’d recommend it as a christmas present. To other people, so they can give it to me.
keep in mind: sponsored by Intel
this is paid advertising.
YMMV regarding the gaming headsets. If the person is an audio buff/audiophile, stay the fuck away from gaming headsets, as they are in general, much lower quality on the actual audio front.
On the contrary, the Sennheiser range of headsets are amazing on both ends for their price range
Sennheiser’s a proper audio electronics manufacturer though. Audio is their core business, as opposed to the peripheral manufacturers who branch out into making headsets.
They are still promoted and designed as gaming headsets
What Sennheiser headset would you suggest for gaming then? Around a $200 budget.
I have actually used the G4ME ONE/ZERO and own a pair of PC 363d, all 3 are great cans. You can probably track down a pair of G4ME ONEs for $200 other wise the 323D are always around $200 but i haven’t used them personally, but I would go the extra budget for the 363d if you can stretch it (it also comes with the dolby virtualiser, which is a nice little gimmick). They all use a dual plug for audio/mic but you can use an adapter to get them to work with consoles just fine.
For 200, you’re better off buying them a set of HD25-IIs.
I’d personally never recommend monitor headphones for gaming, but some people like them, we were discussing headsets specifically, if you wanted straight headphones there are better over ear options for that price.
Also straight headphones are useless if you want voice comms on console.
To be fair, I had a Razor Megalodon, not good (proving your point). However, I have a wired astronomy A40 running through optical, and the CM Storm Sirus (I think) and it performs absolutely wonderfully in gaming. Couldn’t recommend the two enough! Don’t get me wrong, these aren’t headphones I listen to music with.
I have the Plantronics RIG headphones, they aren’t that great. It sounds like a good idea to have your smartphone available all the time, but in reality, unless you are willing to run a cable from your console to the couch, it’s not ideal. Maybe for a PC user, but definitely not console.
So buying the Oculus Rift ? Do you need to prove you’re a dev?
Nope. Just hand over the cash.
Just remember it is prototype hardware and will be obsolete once retail version gets released.