Is Amazon Basics gaming gear worth it? Here's what to buy—and skip

Amazon Basics, the online retailer’s value-oriented brand of essentials, has grown to cover a wide variety of product categories, and that includes gaming.

So gamers now have the potential to build out much of their gaming setup with Amazon Basics products and potentially save a bundle. It's an understandable approach, given the low cost and ready availability of the site’s offerings. But Amazon Basics products vary widely in quality, some proving to be a total steal and others an easy pass.

Even though they’re often some of the cheapest options on the market, there can often be better products at around the same price if you just know where to look. I took a wide set of Amazon Basics gaming products through their paces to help you know which are worth your while and where you might want to consider something else.

Amazon Basics Racing/Gaming Style Office Chair

The Amazon Basics Racing/Gaming style office chair is just a simple office chair with mesh racing stripes on the cobra-like seat back that’s common on racing-style gaming chairs. The seat has nothing special to it, and its remarkably simple construction (just a few bolts to screw in) leaves it feeling a tad too delicate.

While the seat only has a height adjustment, the chair has a bit of a rocking sensation, but that’s not because it can rock so much as it flexes while in use. The bolts don’t even use washers for a more secure assembly, and the backrest and seat base are held together by the armrests themselves. While the chair is comfortable enough in short bursts, it doesn’t offer much ergonomic support, particularly with its stationary armrests.

It’ll serve you better than a dining chair at a desk, but if you expect to spend long hours gaming, it’s worth investing in a better seat. Even Amazon’s own mesh, mid-back office chair is likely a smarter choice. $98 at Amazon

Amazon Basics 24E2QA 24-inch Monitor

The Amazon Basic 24-inch gaming monitor is a cost-effective option that has some surprisingly decent qualities, including a 99% coverage of the sRGB color space and shockingly high color accuracy. The low cost makes it immediately appealing, and the fact that it includes speakers at all is a plus, even if the audio is just loud enough for a small room and not very good otherwise.

The stand is a bit ugly and low, and only offers a little tilt adjustment, but the monitor supports VESA mounting. All this said, there’s no reason to choose this monitor. For the same price, the 24-inch Monoprice Dark Matter gaming monitor runs at 144Hz to the Amazon monitor’s 75Hz.

The same can be said of the Gigabyte G24F 2, which has been known to dip as low as $130 on sale. And then there’s the HP X27q, which steps up to a bigger 27-inch, 1440p display while occasionally dropping to just $175. $129 at Amazon

Amazon Basics Pro Gaming Mouse

The Amazon Basics Pro Gaming Mouse is a tough case. It’s a steal if you snag it for its usual price of under $20, offering RGB lighting, an adjustable DPI up to 12,000, capable tracking, and a 12-button selection below the thumb. The ergonomics are even decent, though a bit cramped for larger hands. If you’re shopping for your first gaming mouse and see it below $20, feel free to grab it.

But don’t buy it if you’re already using a mouse, you love or see it at the inflated prices it frequently jumps up to (frequently over $70). Part of the problem is the lack of software. (Reviews have called this out frequently, and I wouldn’t recommend following a link provided in a review to download software.) Without it, there’s no way to set the DPI to a level you like unless it’s already one of the presets on the mouse, nor can you control the RGB lighting or remap the 12 thumb buttons.

The other issue is that at $60 to $70, you can choose between a ton of great mice, including the oft discounted Logitech G604 Wireless or the Razer Naga X that this Amazon Basics mouse is similar to. $72 at Amazon

Amazon Basics Gaming Computer Mouse Pad

There’s nothing particularly gamer-y about this Amazon Basics mouse pad, except that you’re gaming your value by just going ahead and getting it. It’s a simple, no-nonsense mouse pad. You can get the size you need for a low price.

It’s rather thin and doesn’t have stitched edges to help with durability, but that’s true of plenty of other mouse pads as well. The only tricky thing is how often the price swings. SteelSeries’ QcK Edge pads can be similarly priced at any given time, and they’re higher quality. $9 at Amazon

Amazon Basics Single Computer Monitor Stand

While some of the products in this guide have involved a bit of hedging, the Amazon Basics monitor arm is a straightforward recommendation. For $27, it’s not only remarkably well built, but it also offers some smart extras.

Its hinges are strong, so it doesn’t sag under the weight of the monitor. The clamp mechanism for mounting it to a desk is robust and padded to avoid damaging the desk or table. And there’s a friction lever that allows for quick height adjustments. The VESA bracket itself slides on and clicks into place, so you can mount the arm first and then attach your monitor easily.

Perhaps best of all, the stand includes little cable guides and a spacious routing channel through the vertical tube to allow for a neat desk setup with hidden cables. You can even pick up the version with two arms for only $5 more. The only thing I don’t like is that I didn’t know about this stand sooner. $27 at Amazon

Amazon Basics DisplayPort 1.4 cable

This Amazon Basics DisplayPort cable is another solid option. It capably delivers signal for high-resolution and high-frame rate situations, like 4K/144Hz, and does so at a low price. The cable didn’t give me any trouble in my testing with the Gigabyte M28U.

I’ll note that a previous Amazon Basics DisplayPort 1.2 cable with a similar design did cause some issues, though. Neither of Amazon’s cables include the locking teeth found on many other DisplayPort cables, and that could be an issue. With the DisplayPort 1.2 version of the cable, I’ve run into a sputtering image signal when my desk shakes, and it’s something I’ve simply never encountered from a cable that’s held firmly in place by the little teeth. $10 at Amazon

Amazon Basics HDMI 2.1 (48Gbps) cable

The Amazon Basics HDMI 2.1 cable is great simply because it doesn’t cost a lot while doing exactly what it says on the tin. With a 48Gbps bandwidth, it’s ready to deliver 4K HDR content to even fast gaming monitors like the Asus ROG Swift PG42UQ, or great gaming televisionsalike.

I didn’t run into any signal issues even when using the 10-foot Amazon Basics HDMI cable. You don’t need to run out and buy an overly expensive cable for your gaming setup or home theater, and you’ll save a good chunk of change by buying these.

$7 at Amazon