I have just bought a new rig and I'm very happy with it. Coming with a mighty RTX 4070 Super, and a Ryzen 7 7800X3D, the old king of our best gaming CPU list, I can't see a reason for me to swap out its most important parts for years.
However, with Black Friday deals finally arriving, I think I could afford to upgrade the more granular parts of my gaming space. Just because the most important parts don't need upgrading doesn't mean I don't long for stuff and here's exactly how I would upgrade my gaming space as a whole this Black Friday.
Quick Links
- 1. Silicon Power UD90 2 TB SSD | $92.97 @ Newegg
- 2. ASRock Phantom gaming monitor | $99.77 @ Newegg
- 3. CRKD Atom keychain controller - $15.99 @ Amazon
- 4. TeamGroup PD20 - $82.99 @ Newegg
- 5. Govee Floor Lamp 2 - $99.99 @ Amazon
Silicon Power UD90 2 TB SSD
The SSD was the very first thing I upgraded in my new rig, but I could actually benefit from swapping the 1 TB drive already in my PC for something a little meatier and my money would be on the Silicon Power UD90.
For under $100 at Newegg, I could fit so many more games on my rig, or leave all that space so I'm not rushing around for files to delete the next time some big release catches my eye.
👉 We're curating the best Black Friday PC gaming deals right here 👈
I'm someone who feels a little anxious if I don't have adequate room left over and with the piddly 3 TB in my machine, I managed to cram that full of games that will take me months to finally play.
Okay, I admit I may actually be the problem here but an extra TB of store can't hurt.
ASRock Phantom Gaming monitor
I admit it, my main PC Gaming device prior to getting my rig was a gaming laptop. Having just moved country over a year prior, I bought my Lenovo Legion 5 back in 2021 to give me enough juice to run modern games without totally destroying my bank account.
Swapping to the PC was a bit freeing, but also meant losing my dual monitor setup I had grown accustomed to until then. A cheap and small 1080p panel, the ASRock Phantom monitor is exactly what I'm looking for as a second screen. It's not going to absolutely blow you away in its visuals but that 165 Hz refresh rate will make it plenty snappy for gaming.
Getting the ability to open a spreadsheet or watch a video in a separate monitor in an extra tab is really what I'm looking for and the ASRock is almost the lowest you can go, whilst still getting a competent gaming screen.
CRKD Atom keychain controller
First things first, I'm currently gaming on a SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3 keyboard and a Logitech Pro X Superlight 2 Dex. These are both great and don't need upgrading. However, I've found I can never have enough controllers and this ickle CRKD device stands out among the crowd.
Coming in at just shy of twenty dollars, and being able to click onto a keychain, this cute little thing is a fully functional controller with around ten hours of battery life, that our own Kara was a big fan of in her CRKD Atom controller review.
Importantly, not only is this a nice ornament to pop on a desk, much like Panic's Playdate, but it means you can whip out for a platformer or fighter (where I think controllers are best at) without having to hunt through a drawer or look for a spare cable.
I have plenty of controllers sitting around in different locations but the biggest deterrent to actually using them is finding them, setting them up, and getting a nice spot to store them afterwards. Like a VR headset, controllers can be a bit of a pain to use if you only ever pick them up once a month. With this controller, it could hang around my keys to play with ease, and it looks pretty nice too.
TeamGroup PD20
Some people think getting one storage upgrade is enough. I say those people are cowards. Though you can technically use something like this just to store more games and call it a day, I've found having a big external hard drive is useful in far more ways.
After all, I can't handily remove my SSD and pass it to my partner when I want to give them some files. I can't pop it into my MacBook to edit videos or photos on the go. I can't daisy-chain it through the passthrough of a keyboard or through a USB hub.
This is all a long-winded way of saying that external hard drives often serve a different purpose to internal ones and I just need more storage, okay?
Govee Floor Lamp 2
I already have a Govee Floor Lamp 2. In fact, I sort of have two of them (except one is the Pro model). However, I could always have more. These things look great in a room, feel very customizable, and the Floor Lamp 2 is Matter-enabled which means it can fit into a smart home.
Importantly, you don't need a full smart home setup to get the use out of its smart features. I have all of my smart lights linked together through my partner's iPhone and we simply need to say "Siri, turn on my lights" for them to light up the room. As a certified big light hater, a few floor lamps are the best way to light up a room.
From a $400 budget, I can get all of the items above, and even have a little left over to get some of the best deals from the Steam Autumn sale to fill up that new SSD.
