Best gaming desk 2022: Our favourite sitting and standing desks for PC and console gaming
Level up your rig and camp out at one of the best gaming desks you can buy
While even the best gaming desk won’t magically carry you to the top of the leaderboards in Warzone, having an accessible and comfortable gaming setup is instrumental in optimising your performance. Whether it’s preventing back pain that would distract you from the task at hand or affording you that crucial extra inch of mouse manoeuvrability, the best gaming desk will empower you to bring your A-game.
Below, you’ll find our carefully curated selection of gaming desks for all needs, including both sitting and standing, as well as desks that transition between the two, and L-shaped corner desks. If you’re unsure of the benefits of each type you can read our in-depth buying guide before checking out the products to see our top picks.
Either way, read on to see our selection of the best gaming desks you can buy right now, and find the perfect piece to complement your setup and style.
Best gaming desk: At a glance
How to choose the best gaming desk for you
What different types of gaming desk are there?
Strictly speaking, any desk can be a gaming desk, if you believe enough. Still, much like mice and keyboards, the best gaming desk for you will likely be specially designed to make your play session as comfortable and accessible as possible. The ways in which they achieve this can vary, but generally, most gaming desks will fall into one of the following categories.
Sitting desks are pretty much your standard desk, designed to allow comfortable legroom underneath and ergonomic access to mice and keyboards. Gaming varieties of sitting desks ll often include additional features, such as a cup holder or a hook to hang your headphones off, to keep your setup organised. These desks are best suited to a smaller PC setup with just one or two screens, or a gaming laptop.
L-shaped desks are just like sitting desks, but shaped roughly like an “L”. In seriousness, these are perfect for sitting in a corner, giving you more desktop space for all your gear. If you also work from home, this can be a great way to differentiate between work time and gaming time: just have your workstation on one side of the desk, and when it’s time to clock off, you can swivel round to the gaming station and blow off some steam.
If you love logging long hours of gameplay but don’t relish the idea of sitting for extended periods, investing in a standing desk could be your happy medium. The health benefits of standing desks are numerous, ranging from avoiding aches and pains by improving posture to lessening the risks of heart disease that are associated with a sedentary lifestyle.
While most standing desks can be adjusted to also serve as sitting desks, if you often find yourself switching between the two modes, doing this manually can become tiresome. Enter motorised desks, which can be preset to certain heights, and transition between them with the press of a button. You usually get two or three settings, so you can go from sitting to standing quickly and smoothly.
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How much should I be spending?
The short answer is: as much as you’re willing to invest in a gaming desk. You can easily get a decent budget option for under £100, with some running as low as £50, but these will naturally come with the exclusion of certain features. If your needs are simple, and your setup relatively small, one of these low-cost options should suffice.
Conversely, with more advanced features comes a higher price tag, so for desks that are ultrawide, motorised, or offer wireless charging for your phone, you could be looking at anywhere between £100 and £400. At the very top of the range, you can get a desk that doubles as a case for your PC, which, as well as being brilliantly futuristic, helps to save space around the desk. This is the premium end of gaming desks, so expect to spend well over £1,000 here.
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The best gaming desks to buy in 2022
1. X Rocker Jaguar: The best gaming desk
Price: £110 | Buy now from Argos
If you want a gaming desk that covers all of the basics and doesn’t cost a fortune, the X Rocker Jaguar is the product for you. This distinctive-looking gaming desk is made of aluminium and has a 144 x 60cm wipe-clean surface designed to accommodate up to two monitors plus peripherals and your salted snack of choice without breaking a sweat.
Like others on this list, the Rocker Jaguar has a cup holder for your brightly coloured energy drink of choice and Z-shaped legs for what we can only assume is maximum gaming-ness (and stability). There’s also a headset hook for your new wireless gaming headset and two RGB LED light strips that flank the surface itself. These lights are powered by a USB cable and react to the sound pumping from your speakers.
Throw in a free X Rocker mouse pad and you’re onto a winner – especially at this price.
Key specs – Height: 75cm; Desktop dimensions (WxD): 144 x 60cm; Monitor stand dimensions (WxD): N/A; Weight supported: Up to 50kg; Colours: Black
2. HOMCOM Gaming Desk: The best budget gaming desk
Price: £77 | Buy now from Maplin
If you’ve already exhausted most of your budget on building your perfect gaming rig, HOMCOM’s gaming desk is probably your best option. It’s on the lower end of the payscale for desks on this list, but comes with a surprising amount of space and features that will help keep your desk neat and tidy.
With a headphone hook on the left, and a cup holder on the right, you’ll give your worktop extra space, and a minimised risk of spilling your G-fuel of choice all over your mouse and keyboard. Another great feature for this price is the cable organiser at the back, which isn’t always found on budget desks. The HOMCOM’s feet are also adjustable allowing you to have a stable playing surface if you have an uneven floor or carpet.
Key specs – Height: 75cm; Desktop dimensions (WxD): 65 x 120cm; Weight supported: Up to 30kg; Colours: Black
3. Arozzi Arena: The best ultrawide gaming desk
Price: From £230 | Buy now from BOX
For those of you who like to use multiple screens when gaming, Arozzi’s Arena is going to be the way to go. Wide enough to hold a three-monitor setup, this desk gives you plenty of room for all of your equipment. The ultrawide surface is completely covered with an interchangeable microfibre mousepad, allowing for the largest possible range of mouse movement. The mousepad surface is also water-resistant, so any spills will be easy to wipe away.
Both the pad and the desk surface itself have three cutouts, which allow cables to be fed through to a mesh basket on the underside for convenient and tangle-free cable management. These cutouts can also be used to attach monitor arms, keeping your setup stable and saving even more space by removing monitor bases.
Key specs – Height: 71-81cm (adjustable); Desktop dimensions (WxD): 160 x 82cm; Weight supported: Up to 80kg (evenly distributed); Colours: Black, blue, green, pure black, red, white
4. EZ Desk Air: The best standing gaming desk
Price: From £220 | Buy now from Amazon
The EZ Desk Air will take your gaming sessions to greater heights, both physically and metaphorically. What’s more, it’s motorised, which is a bit of a coup given the price.
A small control panel clips just underneath the front edge of the desk, attaching on the left or right side, and a press of a button sees the desk adjust quickly and quietly from its minimum height of 73cm all the way up to 119cm. On the opposite side to the control panel, you can also affix a cup holder and headphones hook.
The desktop itself is broad enough for two 16:9 32in monitors to sit side by side without poking over the edge, and there’s plenty of space for all your peripherals. Cable management is ample, too: cables can be routed through the two grommets on the left and right sides of the desk, and a central rear cutout and under-desk net gather the cables together to keep them tucked out of the way.
Impressively, the sturdy steel frame is wobble-free, standing firm even while you’re adjusting the height, and the 80kg weight limit means it can lift even the weightiest combinations of gaming hardware.
Key specs – Height: 73-119cm; Desktop dimensions (WxD): 140 x 60cm; Weight supported: Up to 80kg; Colours: Carbon Fibre, Dark Walnut, Black & White
5. Cougar Mars 120: The best gaming desk with RGB lights
Price: £223 | Buy now from CCL Online
Sick of your gaming sessions not coming with a matching light show? Look no further. Cougar’s Mars 120 gaming desk is ergonomically curved for greater comfort and a wider range of mouse movement. The desktop itself is scratch-resistant, and wide enough for all your gaming accessories, and the control panel in the rear-right corner provides convenient access for connecting ancillary USB and audio devices.
That’s all great, of course, but the real showstopper here is the desk’s compatibility with 5V motherboards using software such as Asus Aura Sync or ASRock Polychrome Sync. If that means nothing to you, the short version is that the ARGB strips on the desk can be synced with your system, pulsing and changing colour in tandem with music or in-game action, delivering a spectacular, fully immersive gaming experience.
Key specs – Height: 81cm; Desktop dimensions (WxD): 120 x 74cm; Weight supported: 150kg; Colours: Black