At random intervals I have people ask me “hey whats your <some-item-here>?”. Not all the time, but it happens… anything from video card to mouse or whatever. I figured this could be a good place to sorta lay it all out and explain why I use what I use.

Keyboard

My keyboard is a Logitech G11. At the time I purchased it, the G15 was already available but I didn’t see the need for the LCD display. I liked the idea but I felt it was a waste of money as I would rarely use it. I picked the G11 over other keyboards because after reading many consumer reviews, the back lit keys seems to be the most dependable and had the best visibility. I do most of my work on the computer in limited light situations and this was an ideal feature. Plus it had media keys and a toggle that disables the Windows Key, which always seems to get pressed during the most intense part of a gaming experience.

Mouse & Pad

Simple mouse is simple. Its a Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical USB. This was an easy pick. Wired = check. Scroll wheel = check. Mouse 4 & 5 = check. Optical = check. Cheap = check. Bingo.

As for the mouse pad (Rocketfish Gaming Mouse pad) I chose this because of the dual surfaces and the large size. I do not like material mouse pads, I strongly encourage metal pads and always have (well as long as they’ve existed). Material is so undependable and doesn’t have any continuity across several passes. I’ve always had more precise aim in games with metal pads.

Tablet

I don’t have the biggest or the best tablet in the world, but it totally fits my requirements. Its a WACOM Bamboo Fun. Great price for a great starter tablet.

I use it pretty frequently and I very rarely run into occasions where I would need anything bigger. Sometimes for detailed areas the small tablet makes your hand cramp up because you’re trying to use such little movements.

Display

Dual monitors… a fucking must. If you don’t run dual monitors you have no idea what you’re missing!

I have a 22″ widescreen as my primary and a 20″ 4:3 secondary. Not much more I can say about that, except I wish the Windows 7 Smartbar would extend across both of them! 🙁

Sound System

My sound system is a bit tricky. I split the audio and feed one line to my speakers and the other line to my headset. The speakers are a 5.1 surround sound setup designed for a home theater running off a mini JBL amp. Having the center speaker close to me and the sub near my feet adds to a great gaming experience. Gunshots sound like their in my face and I can feel the rumble of bombs in the distance.

And speaking of feeling… my headset has force feedback too. The eDimensional Audio FX is not only a great sounded headset with a great mic… but it has rumble ability. So not only do you hear a gunshot from the left, but you feel it over there too.

System

I’m Running Windows 7 Ultimate on a ASUS P5N-E SLI motherboard married with an Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz. I have 3 Gigs of OCZ Platinum DDR2 SDRAM and a EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 640MB video card. My ATX case and all peripherals are black, except for tray of my DVD burner. I use the onboard ethernet and audio which work perfectly. I have 3 hard drives, one is a high performance Raptor drive which I run my OS off, the other 2 are SATA 3.0Gb/s for a grand total of 450 Gigs… which isn’t all that much but it works for now.

Misc Stuff

I plug so much shit in I had to recently get a USB Hub, which is a Rosewill 7 Port Hub, it can be self powered but I’m using so much juice I had to use the wall adapter. I also have an adapter to use my wireless Xbox 360 controller on my PC which is mainly for adding support to our game engine.

Phone

I have a T-Mobile G1 Google phone running the Android OS. I love this phone! Its my computer away from my computer. With a full web browser, YouTube viewer and countless+endless applications to get from the Android Market; it does everything I need and more. I recently downloaded an application that allows me to control my music on my PC from my phone, and even stream the music from my PC to the phone. It even has the ability to use the touchscreen to move your mouse and the keyboard to type on screen. Sometimes I lay down on my bed and control my PC from there… lazy fucker aint I?

I use it to Twitter all day long, chat, send/read emails, play games on the shitter and even take pictures. All the pictures you see in this post were taken with it… even the pictures of the phone itself.

In closing…

I don’t have the best of the best of anything… I do that on purpose. You save a fortune if you find the top of the line and then buy one below that, which is what I tend to do. Some of my stuff needs an upgrade but right now it runs any app and plays any game I want at awesome settings so I have no real reason to upgrade… yet.

I think I covered just about everything… if you guys have any more questions ask in the comments and I’ll try to answer them.