8 PC Gaming Gift Ideas for the Holidays 2018

As a newly minted PC builder (TM), I now consider myself to be the expert and ultimate authority on what you should get your PC enthusiast friends for this year. Here’s our PC gaming gift ideas guide for holidays 2018.

PC Gaming Gift Ideas for the Holidays 2018

NZXT HUE 2 RGB Lighting Kit

You know what they say, your PC’s performance is good, but it’ll never reach its true potential without RGB lights. That’s where NZXT’s HUE 2 Lighting Kit comes in. If your PC case is decked out with RGB lighting strips, along with other multi-colored components, the HUE 2 will help you sync everything up easily, and allow you to control the lighting effects to suit your mood. The HUE+ is still a pretty decent pickup for the holidays 2018, but if you can shell out just a bit more money, the HUE 2 would make for a pretty sweet gift.

Sleeved Cables

So you’ve got a friend who’s just finished building their first PC. Let me guess, they’re still using the basic ass black cables that came with their power supply, aren’t they? If their PC case has a glass side panel, consider picking up some colored sleeved cables to help spice up their build. Even without any RGB lighting, basic colored cables can really help to make a PC build pop, and CableMod continues to be an excellent choice if you’re looking to get started. Just make sure that the cables are compatible with your power supply brand.

A GPU Upgrade

This is definitely one of the pricier items on our list, but it can make any PC enthusiast really happy. NVIDIA has released the latest generation of graphics cards, but with all the issues being reported with the 2080Ti, and the rest of the lineup being ridiculously expensive for the performance upgrade, it’s a good idea to look at some of the older cards instead. The 1080Ti is still an excellent card for the performance it offers, especially if you get it used. And if that’s still a bit too steep, the 1070 can crush most modern games as well.

An SSD

Believe it or not, there are still people in this world who boot their OS from a hard drive. If you know anyone like that, do them a favor and get them an SSD. Not only will the PC’s startup time be significantly improved, it might also be a good idea to store some of your frequently played games on there as well. An SSD will do wonders for load times in games, and we’re fans of the 500GB WD Blue or the tried and true Samsung 860 EVO. This is one of the better PC gaming gift ideas to keep in mind.

A New Monitor

Assuming your friend has a GPU that can handle high resolutions and framerates, you might consider getting them a monitor upgrade as well. AOC and ASUS have reasonably priced monitors for people looking to play their games at 1440p with a 144hz refresh rate, and this could be a serious upgrade for anyone who enjoys playing competitive first-person shooter games on their PC.

Headphones

If you’re gonna be playing multiplayer titles on PC like Overwatch or Destiny 2, you’re probably going to need a good pair of headphones so you can communicate with your teammates. There are tons of great headsets available out there, but we highly recommend the SteelSeries Arctis 7 for its low price, relatively subtle form factor, and how comfortable it is when it rests on your head. It also has a retractable mic, so you can always slot it back when you don’t need it and not look so obnoxious all the time.

Better Peripherals

Any PC gamer knows that the PC alone isn’t enough. You also need good peripherals and accessories to round out your experience properly. To start, why not get a better mouse and keyboard for the PC enthusiast in your life? Corsair is a great brand to look at for gaming mechanical keyboards, and both Razer and Logitech offer good options for gaming mice that you can tweak to your own liking. This is one of the better PC gaming gift ideas to keep in mind.

Steam Gift Card

At the end of the day, if you’re truly stumped about what to get for the PC gamer in your life, you can never go wrong with a Steam gift card. This allows your friend to purchase whatever games they want, making this a pretty safe choice. Alternatively, if they’re on your friends list, you can also take a look at their Steam wishlist and just buy them the games that they’ve been eyeing for a long time, but could never bring themselves to pull the trigger without a sale.

That does it for our PC gaming gift ideas for holidays 2018. Be sure to search for Twinfinite for more holidays 2018 gift guides.