MSI's Budget Gaming Peripherals Are 2026's Best-Per-Buck Story: Versa 300, Forge GM340, GK600 and Maestro 500

MSI's 2026 lineup is the best-per-buck story in PC hardware right now. These budget gaming peripherals bring genuinely flagship specs down to prices that used to buy office gear: the Versa 300 is a wireless 8K mouse with a PixArt 3395 sensor for ~£60, the Forge GM340 is a 57g wireless mouse that often sells under £20, the Forge GK600 is a gasket-mount TKL wireless keyboard priced aggressively, and the Maestro 500 is a wireless headset with a clean lifestyle look and decent ANC. The details below come from KitGuru's hands-on (Sept 30, updated Oct 1). And unlike the premium Logitech G PLAY 2026 lineup we covered in our G PLAY roundup, every one of these is priced to be bought, not admired.

The Budget Gaming Peripherals Shortlist

Four products, four different buyers:

• Versa 300 — wireless 8K mouse, PixArt 3395, ~£60. The flagship-spec play for competitive players on a budget.
• Forge GM340 — 57g wireless mouse, often under £20. The value king for everyone else.
• Forge GK600 — TKL wireless keyboard with a gasket-mount design, priced aggressively. The typing-feel pick. (The GK320 is its cheaper sibling — more on that below.)
• Maestro 500 — wireless headset, clean lifestyle aesthetic, decent ANC. The headset for people who hate "gamer" looks.

Versa 300: 8K Flagship, One Real Catch

This is the headline product. A PixArt 3395 sensor with 8K polling in a wireless mouse at ~£60 is the kind of spec sheet that used to cost double. For competitive FPS players, the tracking is the whole argument — the 3395 is a proven sensor, and 8K polling is genuinely useful at high refresh rates.

The catch is the battery. KitGuru reports it drains in roughly 3 days at full 8K polling, which is the price of pushing 8000 reports per second over wireless. Practical advice: run 8K when you're grinding ranked, drop to 2K or 4K for everyday use, and the battery problem mostly disappears. If you're the kind of player who never touches polling settings, be honest with yourself about that before buying — the Versa 300 rewards people who tweak. For everyone else, the Forge GM340 below gets you wireless freedom for a third of the price.

Forge GM340 and the GK600/GK320 Keyboards

The GM340 is the simplest recommendation in this whole lineup: a 57g wireless mouse that often sells under £20. At that price it's competing with wired office mice, and it wins on every metric that matters for gaming — weight, wireless, and a shape that works for most grip styles. Don't expect the Versa 300's flagship spec sheet; do expect the best sub-£20 gaming mouse experience going right now. Students, second-PC owners, and anyone whose current mouse came free with something: this is your upgrade.

The GK600 is the keyboard to pay attention to. A gasket-mount TKL wireless board at an aggressive price is a genuine shift — gasket mounting is the design that gives modern custom keyboards their soft, deep typing feel, and it's been creeping down from the enthusiast tier for years. The GK600 brings it to the budget shelf, and KitGuru's hands-on calls it solid. The GK320 is the entry-level sibling: cheaper, but with noticeably weaker dampening. Translation: if typing feel matters to you at all, stretch to the GK600. If you just need a cheap wireless TKL and don't care about acoustics, the GK320 does the job.

Maestro 500: The Headset for People Who Hate "Gamer" Looks

The Maestro 500 goes the opposite direction from most gaming headsets: clean lifestyle aesthetic instead of angular plastic, plus decent ANC for a wireless gaming headset. That's a rare combination at budget pricing. It's aimed squarely at the desk-worker-who-games crowd — the headset you can wear on a call and then keep on for ranked without looking like you're cosplaying.

Keep expectations calibrated: "decent ANC" is not flagship ANC, and no budget wireless headset is going to silence a jet engine. But for office hum, keyboard clatter, and the neighbor's renovation, it earns its place. If your current setup is earbuds and regret, this is a real upgrade.

The Buying Verdict

Who should buy what:

1. Competitive FPS on a budget → Versa 300. Run 8K for ranked, drop the polling for daily use, and charge it like your phone.
2. Everyone else who needs a mouse → Forge GM340. Under £20 wireless is an absurd deal; stop overthinking it.
3. Keyboard upgrade → Forge GK600 if you care about feel, GK320 if you care about price. Don't buy the GK320 expecting the GK600's acoustics.
4. Headset upgrade → Maestro 500, especially if you want one headset for work calls and games.
5. Building the whole setup cheap → pair these with our budget 1440p PC build for 2026 and you've got a complete battlestation that embarrasses rigs costing twice as much.

The through-line is simple: MSI stopped treating "budget" as an excuse. Flagship sensors, gasket mounts, and real ANC at these prices reset what the floor looks like — and the floor looks pretty good.