How To Spend Your Christmas Cash

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 26th December 2008

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Peripherals

Maybe you’ve got all those games though and are after some new tools and peripherals to help improve your overall PC experience.

A good bit of PC gear can brighten your days for months of course and picking a good chassis or mouse for your PC can be just as important as choosing the right graphics card or motherboard.

So, if you want to fine tune your gaming experience, want to improve the look or feel of your PC, but don’t want to spend a huge amount of cash on something fancy like a new processor or monitor then we’ve got some of our favourite peripherals listed below.

Check them out and don’t forget that you can always read our monthly buyers guide for a more in-depth run through of what is the latest and greatest.

Antec P182

How To Spend Your Christmas Cash How To Spend Your Christmas Cash - Peripherals

UK Price: £108.50 (inc. VAT)
US Price: $145.95 (ex. Tax)
Full Review Here

The Antec P182 isn’t exactly the most current piece of chassis technology, but it is by far one of the greatest and offers fantastic value for money from one of the most respected manufacturers in the industry. Sure, we know we’re gushing but the case really is that good. So good in fact that it’s still the most popular case among the bit-tech staff.

Strong, tall and reinforced with three layers of sound-deadining metal and plastic the Antec P182 just screams quality all over, as well as boasting some incredible cooling functions. With chimneyed fans in the top and plenty of ventilation in the bottom, the Antec P182 uses a totally chambered design that keeps the whole PC vibration-free and nicely chilled.

This is a piece of kit we just can’t recommend highly enough - which is exactly what we said in our full Antec P182 review.

Sennheiser PC 350

UK Price: £81.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price: $147.99 (ex. Tax)

Edging out the PC 161s which we featured in last year's round-up, the PC 350s are in our opinion the new king of headsets, though you do have to pay a premium in order to wear that crown admittedly.

There isn’t a single area where the PC 350s stand out and that’s what makes them great – they’re just fantastic all-rounders. They have great sound quality and bass response, a great microphone and a stylish look. On top of that they also manage to be awesomely comfortable thanks to the fact that each cup can be rotated to hug your head as you want.

The closed-cup design ensures that they won’t wear away at the side of your head if you wear glasses and the cool folding design means that you can flat-pack the entire headset in a second, which is great for when you’re on the move. Finally, to top it all off, the massive cable ensures you can roam freely while you’re wearing them. There’s simply no reason not to love the PC 350s.

Razer Deathadder

UK Price: £36.50 (inc. VAT)
US Price: $56.99 (ex. Tax)
Full Review Here

This is the second time in as many years that the Razer Deathadder has appeared on our Christmas list and it still hasn’t been surpassed. What have those other mice-makers been up to, we wonder.

The Razer Deathadder, which last year also claimed our coveted best peripheral award is quite simply one of the best mice we’ve ever used and there’s a good reason why it’s not left Joe’s desk since the day he started working here.

Unlike many competitors which try to reinvent the mouse by adding in new features like adjustable weight, DPI and size, the Deathadder is just a rock-solid standard mouse. It’s got a wheel, two thumb buttons and a 1800 DPI infrared sensor that can be controlled with bundled software.

Perfectly sized and very ergonomic, this is still the mightiest mouse there is. Check out our full review of the Razer Deathadder if you want to know more.