Most gaming gear is a waste of money. Five things actually matter: your internet connection, your computer, your mouse, your monitor, and your mousepad. Everything else is comfort.
Get Ethernet. There is no debate here.
Get a desktop capable of producing more frames per second than your monitor’s refresh rate — ideally enough headroom to fully use what the monitor can do.
Do not buy a gaming laptop. It overheats, the parts are not upgradeable through conventional means, and you are not going to do serious competitive work on one. Temperature, space, and being able to separate screen, keyboard and mouse all matter.
For a tower, target an i7-equivalent CPU or better, a GPU at least equivalent to a GTX 1080 — an RTX 3090 equivalent if you have the budget, since some cards at the same price are dramatically better — and at least 16 GB of DDR4 RAM. Use an SSD.
Your mouse is your primary tool and arguably the single most important part of your aim. Buy one with a polling rate of at least 1000 Hz — polling rate is how many times per second your mouse reports to your computer. You never want to be in a situation where your hardware cannot keep up with your mechanical skill.
Around 60 grams is a good weight target. A mouse meeting these criteria runs roughly $30 to $130. Aftermarket PTFE skates glide better than most stock feet and cost about ten dollars, so there is no reason to agonise over it.
Your keyboard is your movement tool. Get a mechanical board with short-actuation switches so you can respond faster. Smaller boards give you more mousepad room and are generally preferred — anything under a full-size layout, with 60%, 75% and TKL being the popular choices.
A good keyboard runs around $100. Make sure the switches are at least lubed so they feel and sound right. Hall effect switches are a solid option. Reds are the basic choice; I use Silvers.
This is how you see. The current market standard for gaming is 144 Hz, and the top end is currently around 540 Hz. More refresh means a smoother feel and, more importantly, seeing an enemy sooner. A 24-inch
panel is the practical sweet spot.
A mousepad is a road to drive on. If you run out of pad, you have nowhere to go — so buy one large enough for the sensitivity you use. A 1x1 ft pad is enough; a full desk pad is better. You want a surface your mouse glides across smoothly and responds to consistently. Expect to spend roughly $10 to $100.
I recommend a glass XL pad. Cloth requires too much maintenance, and its fibres wear down over time and create slow spots.
Get a microphone that works and sounds clean. A headset mic is functional, but something crisp is far easier for your team to listen to. A good mic runs roughly $100 to $300.
Get a headset or earbuds that are good at localisation — placing where a sound came from — and add a sound equaliser to sharpen footsteps. FxSound on the Microsoft Store is a solid free starting point. Do not add third-party surround sound software on top of Siege’s own system.
A 48-inch desk is comfortable. Smaller desks work, but they will not leave room for drinks and plates and will force a more aggressive keyboard tilt to fit a large mousepad. Keep the area around your mouse clear so you have room to flick and adjust.
Get an office or ergonomic chair. No debate. Make sure the desk and chair are adjustable so they fit your body rather than the other way around.
Once the hardware is in place, make sure the software is doing its job. Double-check that your audio and monitor are actually running at their best available settings — use what you paid for. Look up whether your peripherals have companion software; it usually lets you set keybinds, adjust lighting, and control power output.
Related: the gear page.
This chapter is from The Principles of Competitive Siege, a free guide by Szhutsen K. Liang. SiegeIQ puts the same thinking on your own clips: upload a round and get a breakdown of what actually went wrong. Try it free.