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What's the perfect gaming desk for your gaming room?

You’ve kitted out your gaming rig and selected your monitors. Your accessories are lined up and ready to go. Now, you need somewhere to put everything, somewhere that will help you stay organized and in the game. That’s where the gaming desk comes in, offering not just a flat surface for piling things on but specialized designs and features that can accommodate a gamer’s specific needs. 

The problem is, there are so many different types and brands of desks that it’s hard to get started in selecting exactly the right one for you. That’s what this guide aims to do – provide you with an overview of what to consider when choosing your gaming desk along with a representative sample of options. 

Size

Homall 60" Gaming Desk

Homall, Homall the range

The size of your gaming desk will be determined primarily by two factors. First is the obvious: how much space do you have in your gaming environment? Probably, you’ll want to get as large a desk as you can comfortably fit, because the more surface area the more comfortably you can position everything. 

Also, you might want to use your gaming desk for non-gaming tasks. Organizing paperwork, paying bills, and doing general productivity and household tasks can benefit from its own space. So, pick a desk that’s large enough for both your gaming and non-gaming needs. 

Another factor that will help determine how big your desk must be is the number of monitors you plan to use. If you’re using just a single display, then your desk can be smaller. But if you’re lining up three or more monitors, then you’ll need tons of horizontal space to accommodate them.   

Atlantic Gaming Desk

1/8,949,859th scale of the actual Atlantic

For the typical gamer with two monitors and the usual accessories, you’ll probably find around 60 inches of horizontal desktop space to be sufficient, and with enough depth to position your keyboard and mouse in front of your monitors (unless you use a keyboard tray, see below). But again, the more, the better, up to the limits of your gaming room. 

The $149.99 Homall 60-inch Gaming Desk is an example of a large desk that’s simply designed and provides a number of accessories like a headphone hook and cup holder. The Atlantic Gaming Original Desk Pro is a smaller desk at 41 inches wide that will fight into tighter spaces while still providing a number of helpful accessories. 

Arm your battle station with a great Gaming Keyboard and Gaming Mouse

Shape

LUGANG Corner Desk

LUGANG to like this desk

Gaming desks come in a variety of shapes, with simple straight and L-shaped desks being the most common. If you don’t have the space for more than just a simple desk, then that answers your question. You’ll want to stick with a simple straight desk that’s a single surface. Again, note the size requirements, particularly regarding your monitors.  

You can also consider an L-shaped desk that adds a section along one side of the main desk that expands the overall surface area. That can create extra working space, including somewhere to store non-gaming items like papers and other paraphernalia. Note that L-shaped desks can better fit into corners and they can fit more desktop space into smaller areas. If you add another section, then you technically have a U-shaped desks, which are not common among gaming desks.   

Bestier 55" Gaming Desk

Who’s a better friend to a gamer than their Bestie?

The $89.99 LUGANG L-Shaped Desk provides 58 inches of reversible desk space that fits nicely into corners and smaller spaces, while still providing plenty of desktop space. The $199.99 Bestier Racing Style desk is another that provides plenty of space at 55.2 inches while adding in an RGB lighting strip and accessories like a headphone hook and cupholder. A straight desk with some flair, including a carbon fiber surface, is the $68.01 Goaic Gaming Desk, a smaller option at 47 inches that can fit into tight spaces.

Variations on the theme of the L- and U-shaped desk is to add storage space underneath each section. This can be simple shelves, drawers, or full filing cabinets. If you need to hide items away or, again, just need more storage area, then these accoutrements can make a huge difference. You can add shelves and drawers underneath regular straight desk, but that takes up available leg space. Dedicated gaming desks don’t often incorporate shelves and cabinets, and so you might have to go with a more traditional setup if you need those options, but the $129.99 L-Shaped Corner Desk is one that provides some handy shelves at one end. 

A great Gaming Desk demands a great Gaming Desktop or Gaming Laptop

Ergonomics

Eureka Gaming Desk

You’ve found it!

Ergonomics, or how well your desk works with you to make your gaming efficient and healthy, is an important consideration when choosing a gaming desk. At the bare minimum, you’ll want a desk that will fit all your accessories comfortably and at the right angle to avoid fatigue and repetitive stress. You’ll also want a desk that provides enough room for your legs to fit comfortably underneath and that gives you sufficient space for your chair to sit at the right distance. 

One ergonomic option is a standing desk, or one that can change height to allow you to use it while sitting or standing. Standing desks range in price and complexity, but all of them offer the same basic function of using a motor to raise and lower the desktop within some range of movement. You’ll want to pick a standing desk that will go as low and as high as you need, which will be based on your own height along with whatever positions are most comfortable for you. 

The idea is to avoid sitting in place for too long. Periodically standing and playing (or working) has been proven to help create a healthier lifestyle, and it’s for that reason that standing desks have gained in popularity despite their higher prices. Height adjustable gaming desks aren’t as common, but one good choice is the $479.99 Eureka Ergonomic Gaming General Series EGD-62B, which also adds in RGB lighting, a headphone hook, and a large 65-inch desktop. Another is the $476.99 COUGAR Mars Ergonomic Design gaming desk that’s also spacious at 60 inches and adds in RGB lighting. 

PUTORSEN Standing Desk

PUTORSEN, is not the island nation from 1993 movie classic “Surf Ninjas”

Next, adding on a keyboard tray can help with ergonomics by placing the keyboard and mouse at the proper height. Often, putting a keyboard and mouse on the top of a desk creates an improper angle for the arms and wrists, which can cause fatigue and repetitive stress injuries over time. Pairing a keyboard tray with a standing desk can create the perfect angles and heights for healthy gaming. 

Keyboard trays aren’t common on gaming desktops. However, you can add one to many desks if finding the right keyboard and mouse height proves difficult. One good option is the $59.99 VIVO Clamp-On Keyboard and Mouse Tray, which doesn’t require drilling any holes in the underside of your desktop. The $119.87 PUTORSEN Standing Desk Convertor is an interesting option, sitting on top of an existing desk and providing space for monitors and a dedicated keyboard and mouse tray. 

Support your back, your game, and your style with the right Gaming Chair

Material

Homemaxs Gaming Desk

Who’s home is it?

Desktop surfaces are typically made from one of four materials. Real wood is the most expensive and the most durable. Medium-density fiberboard (MDF) is typically used in less expensive desks and can look like real wood but is usually recycled wood pieces pressed together with an adhesive. MDF can also be quite durable. Glass is the third material, which adds some panache but of course runs the risk of being cracked and broken. Most desks are further constructed of steel frames. Finally, carbon fiber surfaces are popular among gaming desks and can offer a more comfortable working surface with some flair. 

Furmax Gaming Desk

Though the confusion is understandable, Furmax is not a roller rink arcade for furries.

All these surfaces are fine. It all comes down to budget and preference as to which is the best for you. Among the most highly rated gaming desks, the HOMEMAXS Computer Desk is constructed of wood and steel and is a smaller option at 47 inches. The Furmax 63-inch Gaming Desk is an attractive option that’s constructed of carbon fiber plates and strong metal alloy legs.  

Find the perfect Gaming Monitor

Extras

COUGAR Mars Gaming Desk

One cougar that’s outta this world!

Some gaming desks have extras built in. Some have hooks for headphones, for example, while others feature cupholders. Some have special spaces and stands for desktop PCs to sit on, which keeps them elevated from the floor and off the top of the desk where they take up extra space. 

Some other gaming desks include RGB lighting that can sync with popular systems and even connect to motherboards for direct lighting control. One example is the $476.99 COUGAR Mars Ergonomic Design gaming desk mentioned earlier, which uses a carbon fiber texture on the large 60-inch surface for comfort and can be adjusted to three different heights. 

So many choices 

There are clearly many decisions to make when selecting a gaming desk, and many options to choose from. Doing your research is vital, and visiting Newegg’s Gaming Desk section is a great place to start. 

All the tech you want in one place. Newegg.

Author Mark Coppock

A technology and aspiring science fiction writer from just outside Los Angeles, CA.

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