There’s a peculiar condition that affects nearly every PC gamer I know. A feverish impulse that arrives without warning and spreads faster than RGB hype at a Computex booth. The symptoms? Endless spec comparisons, YouTube deep dives at 2AM, and an almost spiritual need to upgrade something. It doesn’t matter if your frame rates are fine or your temps are chill. The upgrade bug does not care for logic. It just wants to feel newness.
But what if I told you the secret to curing that itch might not involve swapping your RAM or selling a kidney for a new graphics card? What if a simple tweak to your mouse pad, a splash of colour on your keyboard, or a headset mod was enough to scratch that tinkering instinct and leave your wallet intact? That’s the niche I’ve stumbled into lately: the joy of custom touches that make a setup feel personal, playful, and refreshingly different.
It all began with SteelSeries and its custom collaborations. The QcK Large Rainbow Six Siege Edition mouse pad featuring the operator Twitch instantly struck a chord. As a long-time Siege fan, I was sold on the theme, but the 450×400mm footprint wasn’t quite right. Tactical shooters demand real estate, especially when you’re running sub-800 DPI. So began the search for something that offered both function and flair.
Enter the Black Ice Collection. Much like the in-game weapon skin it mimics, that crystal aesthetic felt too perfect to pass up. The fact that the matching Prime mouse and QcK Heavy XXL were SteelSeries website exclusives and US-only at the time only made me want them more. Cue an intermediary called MyUS and a $7 subscription fee that granted me access to what felt like forbidden treasure. Thankfully, SteelSeries has since become much kinder to its international fans, even bringing most of its lineup to Amazon.
Despite my love for the frozen theme, the setup still didn’t feel quite me. I needed something that popped and my keyboard felt left out without the same striking icy tones. I pondered sailing the Etsy seas for a range of custom keycaps but my fingers deserve nothing less than quality double-shot PBT to thwack each and every day. Resin is pretty but isn’t quite as typing friendly.
I’m no Counter-Strike fan, but Neo Noir Collection had a seductive blend of blues and pinks that felt loud in all the right ways. After all, it’s a colour palette that we’re no strangers to here at Club386. In fact, you’ll have spotted it in the background of a fair few of my reviews, including be quiet! Light Mount and Endorfy Celeris 1800.
To pair with it, I went white-on-white for the keyboard and mouse, matching the ethereal anime-style hair from the design. But it wasn’t until I landed the Glorious Synth Sunset keycaps that things really clicked. A glorious blend (pun intended) of pinks, purples, and late-80s synthwave, these caps oozed personality. That was the moment my rig stopped looking like a build and started looking like mine.
There was, however, one odd duck left on the desk: my SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless. Brilliant headset, but in all-black, it stuck out like a sore thumb among the pastels and neon. Sure, there’s a white model, but I had a better idea.
I tracked down a set of Destiny 2 faceplates sporting – you guessed it – pink and purple highlights. Then I paired them with a custom ski band and gel ear pads from Wicked Cushions, both of which somehow matched the faceplates to perfection. Against all odds, I’d managed to create a headset that finally belonged on my desk. And now, whenever I jump on a video call, it’s the first thing people ask about.
This is the setup I still use today. It’s by no means cheap. When I tally up the mouse pad, custom caps, headset mods, and shipping, it adds up to around £200. But for less than most internal component upgrades, I’ve got a setup that feels bespoke, joyful, and completely mine. None of it makes me a better player, mind you, and it doesn’t quite go as far as modding my PC into a tank, but it does make me smile every time I sit down to work or game.
The best part is that there’s a whole world of things to choose from. Team Liquid partners with Alienware for some fantastic mouse pads and has a range of keycaps. Meanwhile, both Glorious and Alpherior Keys make some compelling alternatives. Not all come with whopping big sets that’ll cover your whole board but do just enough to speak to your language. DBrand, for example, has a wonderful enter key that your bosses and partners probably won’t appreciate.
SteelSeries Dragon Lore Collection
Feast your eyes on the latest SteelSeries collaboration, bringing one of CS2’s best weapon skins to life.
As for me, the journey for my current setup might be over but I haven’t stopped. My latest obsession is SteelSeries QcK XXL Dragon Edition. Currently, nothing I have goes with the beautiful beige slab, so now I’ve taken on the challenge of finding the perfect pairing. Should I succeed, I might need to get a good, old CRT to match.
