There are a lot of accessories and factors that you have to consider when taking up PC gaming, from the make of your monitor to the shape of your mouse, but how important is having the best keyboard and can a keyboard tailored for gaming really make a difference in how you play? The short answer is "somewhat", the medium answer is "it depends on what you play", and the long answer is, well, this article.
We're here to break down how a keyboard affects your gaming performance and experience, what sort of specialist features gaming keyboards offer and whether they're worth your money, and help you decide if a standard keyboard can still get the job done for you.
How does a keyboard affect your gaming experience?
Having a dedicated gaming keyboard isn't going to suddenly turn you into a gamer god overnight, but the bit of extra convenience and comfort they offer will very likely improve your enjoyment. When choosing a keyboard, pay attention to the switches and the actuation force they require. If you frequently play fast-paced action games and use a keyboard for them, you'll likely want a set that doesn't require heavy pushes, that way you can breeze through multiple inputs easily.
Comfort really is a major factor and should be considered more than you might initially think. Different keyboards have different spacing between the keys, and that can naturally affect the travel time between key presses. For those of us with larger hands, this is a good thing, as it means our fingers aren't all crammed together competing for a set of nearby keys. If you have smaller hands, choosing a set of close-together keys is better, as it ensures you don't have to stretch across the keyboard just to press where you need to.
If you often spend multiple hours gaming, you might have experienced sore wrists from time to time. A keyboard with an adjustable tilt or higher form can alleviate that and keep you comfortable for longer. To further add to that, you can pick up a wrist rest to make sure you aren't pressing your wrists into the desk at all.
What special features to look out for?
There are two features we suggest looking out for that can have a positive effect on your gaming performance. The first is fairly minor but doubles as a nice bit of extra style. That would be a backlight, and most gaming keyboards have some type of RGB effect with it. Sometimes you can even customise it or separate it by zone. This lights up the spaces behind and to the side of the keys, with some more expensive models even lighting up the character symbol as well. It's mainly helpful for keeping your keys distinct at a glance but can be super handy if your desk isn't near a window, lacks natural lighting, or you just forgot to turn a lamp on as the night goes on (we've been there).
The second feature is anti-ghosting, and this one will likely have a great effect on your gaming experience. Sometimes key inputs can get lost, especially if you press multiple keys at once, which some games require often. Just think of how often you combine WASD presses. Anti-ghosting ensures that no key press gets lost or misread, so you shouldn't have your gameplay ruined by a rogue MIA button. It's a pretty simple feature and one that you won't notice when you have it since it's mostly a background effect, but you would definitely miss it if you went without it.
Is a gaming keyboard worth the money?
For the most part, we'd say yes. There are plenty of affordable keyboards out there, even for gaming, so it's largely up to your preference how much you want to spend. In general, more expensive models will have more additional features, but you can still find plenty of cheap keyboards with an RGB backlight and anti-ghosting. Pricier keyboards might last a bit longer, but there's definitely a point where price exceeds effectiveness. While there isn't really a minimum price we'd recommend, we would say that anything more than £200 is probably going to see a negligible advantage over more affordable keyboards.
Will a standard keyboard suffice?
Although we do think a gaming keyboard is worth having, it's not a must-have item. Unless you're playing at the high tiers of a competitive video game, missing the additional features won't have a massive impact on your performance. A quality gaming mouse will likely have more effect on your gameplay. What really matters is choosing a keyboard that is comfortable for you, and if that's a more standard model, that's perfectly acceptable.
Kyle Purves is a Commercial Content Writer for What’s The Best, with an avid interest in all things gaming and tech.
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