As a Counter-Striker who's tried a bunch of competitive FPS gaming peripherals and monitors, let me show you the best I've found this Prime Day

IEM, mouse, and gaming monitor for competitive gaming on a Prime Day PC Gamer background. — (Image credit: Linsoul Tripowin x 0Dibi, Mchose, KTC)

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The deals

I've been playing competitive online games—mostly competitive shooters—for nearly two decades now. And I'm very fortunate in having been able to try a bunch of competitive PC gaming peripherals, monitors, and so on, to figure out what's worth its salt for actually improving my in-game performance.

From sifting through various discounts and deals from different retailers during this Amazon Prime Day, I've been able to pick out a few that I'd be happy staking my name to as a recommendation for fellow compet-FPS-ers.

We're keeping track of all the Amazon Prime Day PC gaming deals here

Almost all of these are products I use, or have used, personally. The 400 Hz KTC monitor, for instance, sits in front of me right this minute, and is what I'll be booting up Counter-Strike 2 on later this evening. Ditto those IEMs, which are a wonderful pair of budget drivers that are great at audio imaging to place enemies on the map (just ensure you've got enough motherboard audio juice to power it, or have a DAC—even a cheap one).

I've also thrown in something many of you might not consider: aftermarket mouse skates. If yours feel nice and smooth, there might be little point switching. But if you fancy an upgrade, good dot skates like those X-RayPad ones can make for a super quick, easy, and affordable upgrade. Just remember they might take a little wearing in.

Amazon Prime Day competitive peripheral and monitor deals

For competitive FPS gaming on a budget, this is 100% where I'd be spending my money even at retail price, but especially so with this discount. I rated the monitor highly in my review, in part because you're getting a nice refresh rate for the price, but also because it's a pretty nice all-rounder too, with an IPS panel that has some decent HDR. Just note there is some perceptible motion blur, so it's not perfect.

Key specs: 25-inch | 1920 x 1080 | 320 Hz | IPS | 0.5 ms (GtG)

Price check: Amazon $249.99 | Dell $249.99 | Walmart $249.99

Secretlab Titan Evo gaming chair in Royal colouring, on a white background

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Jacob got his hands on a gaming PC for the first time when he was about 12 years old. He swiftly realised the local PC repair store had ripped him off with his build and vowed never to let another soul build his rig again. With this vow, Jacob the hardware junkie was born. Since then, Jacob's led a double-life as part-hardware geek, part-philosophy nerd, first working as a Hardware Writer for PCGamesN in 2020, then working towards a PhD in Philosophy for a few years while freelancing on the side for sites such as TechRadar, Pocket-lint, and yours truly, PC Gamer. Eventually, he gave up the ruthless mercenary life to join the world's #1 PC Gaming site full-time. It's definitely not an ego thing, he assures us.