£500 for monitor, keyboard and mouse

garnett · 23 Aug 2016 at 08:18

Hi there. I'm a novice at this so help greatly appreciated.

Hoping to put together a system in a few months' time. Prices seem a bit volatile and high at the mo, so I'm not thinking about the core system right now.

I want to spec a monitor, keyboard and mouse for £500. (I'll probably have a total budget of about £1500, so £1k left for everything else)

The PC will be for browsing, photo editing, and a bit of gaming (when I get any time hopefully).

The complicating factor is this - SWMBO is going to be using the machine, she's a designer, she's grudgingly accepted we're not getting a Mac, but she WILL NOT use anything festooned in lightning bolt or flaming logos, and nothing can feature a red and black colour scheme.

I just want functionality, but she requires style.

Any help finding tasteful gaming peripheries would be gratefully received.

garnett · 23 Aug 2016 at 12:02

I've been doing my own research and so far I've got:-

Corsair Gaming STRAFE RGB Cherry MX Brown Mechanical Gaming Keyboard (CH-9000094-UK) - £129.99

This is just the cheapest keyboard on Overclockers that has:-

MX Cherry Brown switches (whcih seem like the most sensible compromise between gaming and typing)
Backlighting that isn't red LEDS, and
A physical colour scheme that isn't balcn and red, or anything too garish

Corsair Gaming M65 PRO RGB FPS Gaming Mouse, Backlit RGB LED, 12000 DPI, Optical, Black (CH-9300011-) - £54.99

Gets good reviews for gaming
Doesn't look too awful
Lghting can be made plain white (I think)

Iiyama G-Master GB2888UHSU-B1 28" 3840x2160 TN FREESYNC 4K 60Hz 1ms Gaming Widescreen LED Monitor - £329.99

Soley because it's the currently the most popular monitor in Overclockers' Gaming Monitor section, and it's roughly on budget.

Total cost - £514.97

danoliver1 · 23 Aug 2016 at 13:18

Will you be using an amd gfx card? Freesync in the monitor youve specced only supports amd cards. Nvidia use gsync.
Will you be gaming at 4k? If yes £1000 might not be enough to buy a fast enough gfx card to run the latest games at good framerates with high detail.
Personally i wouldn't buy a tn monitor or a 28" 4k one for that matter dpi would be too small.

mugglemind · 31 Aug 2016 at 15:21

Buying a monitor that works well for photo editing and gaming is very difficult. TN panels support higher refresh rates, and lower input latency. If you get a TN panel don't bother with anything less than 120hz. TN panels, however, can't match the colour range of an IPS panel.

In terms of peripherals, try to steer clear of gimmicky features. I would recommend Zowie mice. Flawless sensors, and a good range of sizes and shapes to suite everyone. If the Zowies look too expensive I would take a look at the Nixeus Revel.

Lastly I'd highly recommend a mechanical keyboard, Corsair or Ducky depending on which you prefer aesthetically.

TL;DR
Monitor
Mouse
Keyboard

And some money left over to put towards an IPS panel for photo editing