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Jun 28, 2023

What Is The Best Desk Size For Gaming?

Need to know the best desk size for your gaming needs? Here are our

Need to know the best desk size for your gaming needs? Here are our recommendations.

It's time to get a gaming desk to upgrade the "battlestation," and it would be ideal to get the best desk size for gaming. But they all come in a variety of sizes and even some different shapes. What's the smallest gaming desk you can get away with? Can a gaming desk be too large? The fact of the matter is, figuring out how big a gaming desk really should be isn't something that gamers are taught.

To get the right idea and zero in on what size your gaming desk should be, start with the golden rule of selecting a gaming desk size, below. Then, peruse the dimension and shape guides for extra clarification.

What rule supersedes all others in the quest to find the best desk size for gaming? Don't get a gaming desk bigger than the area allotted for it. If a gaming space only has a four-foot wide area for a desk, including walking pathways, a larger gaming desk is not for it. At present, the Secretlab MAGNUS Pro Desk is rated as GameRant's top pick for overall best gaming desk, but its 70-inch-long width will not work for the area described above.

Among gamers, Secretlab is a well-known brand that creates some of the greatest workstations and chairs. The Magnus Pro is the first sit-to-stand metal desk in the world to provide enhanced cable management, a unique integrated power solution that uses just one cable, and its own modular, magnetic ecosystem of accessories. Specially designed to cooperate with a Secretlab gaming chair to support all-day healthy body mobility.The Magnus Pro has also precise height adjustment, an ultra-durable steel chassis, built-in control panel, three presets, and a fully integrated power supply column.

Remember, also, to not stuff the room with desk. A maneuverable gaming room is more pleasurable than one that is cramped and allows for VR headsets to be freely used as well. Ensure that the gaming area has easy walkways (no shimming by the edge of the desk to leave the room) and at least one empty area, so friends can come over, or the aforementioned VR headset can be used.

If the intended gaming space is tiny or a hybrid gaming-living space consider a movable gaming desk, such as the SHW Standing Desk Workstation so the integrity of the space can be maintained once gaming is over. This style of desk can also promote healthy gaming habits in younger children. Once the desk is rolled away, gaming is over for the day.

The SHW Electric Height Adjustable Mobile Rolling Standing Desk Workstation is smaller than other height adjustable desks, but is also highly mobile. It is ideal for gamers that want to roll out into the living room sometimes or who have a smaller living area and need to share their gaming space with others.

At the end of the day, maxing out a gaming space is about balance. Remember, the golden rule of selecting the best desk size for gaming — do not choose a gaming desk bigger than the space allows — trumps any dimension-specific rule listed below.

Typically, gaming desk sizes are described with three dimensions — depth, width, and height — though the vocabulary may change from manufacturer to manufacturer. For example, "length" may be used instead of depth or width. Here, depth will be used to describe the distance from the side of the desk where the user sits to the back of the desk while width will describe the distance from the leftmost to the rightmost side of the desk.

Discussion in this section will be primarily related to standard, rectangular gaming desks. Special considerations for concave and L-shaped desks will follow in the next section.

A comfortable depth for a desk does two things, keep the screen far enough away from the gamer's face to keep their eyes comfy and provide a space for the gaming keyboard to comfortably sit if PC games are to be played.

Millennials and older might recall panicked parents warning for sitting too close to the TV. The fears were based on worries of eye damage. In an era where the average person is staring at a screen, sometimes very up close, for most of the day these types of fears feel outdated. Still, there are optimal distances eyes should be from a screen. According to New Mexico's Workers' Compensation Administration, a monitor should be between 20 and 40 inches away from the user's eyes.

Unless using a mount, gaming monitors will have a base that will have to be placed firmly on the desktop. This means that the screen won't align with the very back of the desk. Fortunately, to counterbalance this, most gamers do not sit at the edge of the desk either.

Speaking of the monitor's base, it could get in the way of a PC gamer's keyboard if the gaming desk is not deep enough. Keyboards are not all placed on the edge of a gaming desk and are typically more central when in use. Depending on activity, positioning, and personal style, the keyboard will be placed anywhere on the desk up to the distance between the gamer's elbow and fingertips.

With all of these factors combined, the best dest size for gaming has a depth of at least 20 inches and preferably over 30 inches.

When selecting the best desk size for gaming, width comes down more to the overall plan of the gaming station than having a particular best. To find the best desk width for any given gaming setup, look at what monitors are going onto it and factor in extra space for a mousepad. Additional space for some books or a plate is also advisable as it is very easy for a gaming desk to become a messy area. Here's the basic formula:

Ideal Width = Monitor(s) Width + Mouse Pad Width + Leeway

One thing to keep in mind is that a monitor's width is not the number that is stated as its "size." This is, instead, a measure from one corner of the monitor to the opposite corner. For example, the 24-inch ViewSonic Omni VX2418C, one of the best budget gaming monitors, is actually 21.3 inches wide.

The ViewSonic Omni VX2418C is a ready-to-go game station monitor, complete with adaptive sync, blue light filtering eye care tech, and even speakers. It comes with a variety of gaming modes to make it optimized for FPS, RTS, and MOBA games and has a 1ms response time via DisplayPort to keep any twitch-action gamers on their toes.

A gamer's mouse pad will usually be no more than 10 inches wide, though having at least an extra inch of space around the edges will increase comfort.

Finally, add some leeway. No parts of this are an exact science. A bit of wiggle room between monitors, some space to upgrade to an ultrawide gaming monitor later, and a bit of room for some books are all on the table, so to speak. Finally, remember the golden rule of finding the best desk size for gaming. Don't get a desk that is too wide for the space it is to go in.

As this is not a 2D world, the final dimension of height also needs to be taken into account when searching for the best desk size for gaming. An in-depth discussion of the ideal heights for gaming desks, both in sitting and standing positions, can be found alongside recommendations for the best height adjustable gaming desks. Here is a brief summary:

More height adjustment ranges are generally always better, and even budget gaming desks can have decent height adjustment. Additionally, make sure the arms of the preferred chair can slide under the desk when it is in sitting gaming desk mode.

While the above works well for the standard rectangular gaming desk, what is the best size for other shapes of gaming desk?

For an L-shaped gaming desk, consider getting something a bit wider than you need if space allows. Treat the entire arm area as a separate area. This allows for additional equipment to be placed on the arm.

Concave style gaming desks — which have a cutaway towards the middle to allow the gamer "inside" the desk — might benefit from extra depth to accommodate the extra closeness gained from this setup. However, that can also counteract the feeling of closeness that makes this style of desk popular in the first place.

While these are the most common alternative gaming desk shapes, there are others. As always, use common sense and follow the "golden rule" outlined above.

John Alexander is a writer, game lover, and Twitch-addicted individual. His writing has appeared in WIRED, PopSci, and DigitalTrends amongst others. He particularly enjoys writing about products, electronic and otherwise. There are not enough hours in the day to complete all of his board game goals. Odds are he is currently sipping tea and peaking at the stream on his second monitor.