With Mother’s Day around the corner, I’ve been thinking about how I want to upgrade my wife’s gaming PC as her Mother’s Day gift. I don’t think I need to start from scratch with a fresh build, since her current CPU is doing just fine. She could use more space for her gaming library, though, and her graphics card is overdue for an upgrade. I’ve also been tempted to replace her keyboard and mouse with a matching set. But maybe I’m overthinking things. His-and-hers copies of Helldivers II would be an easy, surefire hit.
Maybe it sounds strange that I’m looking at PC hardware and games for a Mother’s Day gift. I admit that most guys in my friend group don’t do this. Most of them take their wives out on a date night. The ones with an ounce of foresight add on some flowers and chocolate. And while I’ve got those things on lock, I’ve also got my eye on some long-term joy. After all, chocolate lasts a day, but my wife and I will never forget the PC gaming experiences that we’ve enjoyed together.
Maybe there’s a mother in your life who’s on the outside looking in at PC gaming — if not your mother, then perhaps the mother of your children. To make this Mother’s Day special, perhaps it’s time to break away from the ordinary flowers-and-chocolate routine and start a shared hobby. Here are my best recommendations for how to surprise a mother in your life and create opportunities for unforgettable shared experiences.
Tip #1: Find the perfect game for her
Some of my friends complain that their partners just aren’t interested in PC games the way that my wife is. It’s true that some people just aren’t into gaming. But here’s something else that’s true: upwards of 65% of adults play games these days. The percentage gets even higher when you look at younger generations. As of 2021, about 80% of Gen Z and Millennials are gamers. If your wife doesn’t play PC games with you, that doesn’t mean that she’s not a gamer. It might just mean that you’re not suggesting the right games.
If she plays games on her smartphone, use them as a guide for what she might enjoy on the PC. Does she love doing her daily Wordle? Set her loose on the award-winning language puzzle game Chants of Senaar. Does she enjoy stretching her mental muscles? Portal II and its endless archive of community-made puzzle chambers awaits, and it features an unforgettable cooperative mode. Does she love fantasy adventures that let her make her own character? Get rolling on a co-op run through Baldur’s Gate III. If she enjoys Diner Dash-style games, she’ll love how you can run a hectic kitchen together in Overcooked 2. Maybe she gets stressed out by the frantic action in esports games. Check out a cozy gaming title like Stardew Valley.
These suggestions only scratch the surface of what’s out there in the world of PC gaming. If the games you play haven’t caught your wife’s attention, be willing to try some new things. Odds are, you just haven’t shown her an option that fits her interests.
Tip #2: Customization options mean everything
For the most part, my wife is happy to let me do the parts shopping for her PC. But she does care a lot about what her PC looks like, and she wants her PC to feel like it’s hers. For some components, that means that we shop together. I don’t buy her a PC case unless she’s seen it and she loves it.
For other components, I prioritize customization options. When she gets to make choices about the look and feel of her PC, she feels a real sense of ownership and investment in it. One easy way to make that happen is with components and accessories with ARGB lighting. A keyboard with per-key backlighting fully customizable through Aura Sync gives her an easy way to take ownership of her keyboard and make it her own. I’m always on the lookout for new options that might catch her attention, as well, like the 3.5-inch LCD display on the ROG Ryujin III 360 ARGB AIO liquid CPU cooler or the customizable Slash Lighting across the lid of the 2024 ROG Zephyrus G14. Think about her sensibilities, and the right gift will certainly jump out at you.
Tip #3: Go for the wow factor with your Mother’s Day gift
To coax the mother in your life to join you in the world of PC gaming, you’ll need to showcase just how much more she can get by making the change. So go big. Look for hardware that makes an unforgettable first impression.
I recommend paying special attention to her gaming monitor. Don’t settle for a ho-hum model that’s too much like the bland and boring screens she’s used to from work and school. Today’s OLED gaming monitors offer jaw-dropping picture quality that’s an unmistakable cut above older display tech.
The ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM might be the perfect choice. Pairing a spacious 32-inch design with a 4K panel, it provides an exceptional balance of size and detail. As an OLED monitor, it’ll draw her eye with inky blacks, vibrant colors, and dazzling highlights. She’ll have a perfect view of the action with the smooth, blur-free animation delivered by its 240Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms response time.
This is just one option from the high-end of our ROG OLED monitor lineup. Click here to check out our full selection.
Tip #4: Take the time to give her a clean, clutter-free PC setup
When I dream about my next PC, I tend to think first and foremost about performance. I want the latest hardware, the most cutting-edge components. My wife, on the other hand, thinks about the full experience. She wants a clean, cohesive, tidy setup that lets her truly relax when she sits down to game.
For a Mother’s Day PC that she’ll love at first sight, I highly recommend taking the time to build a full setup that’s neat and organized. Wireless keyboards, mice, and headsets almost always make better gifts than their wired counterparts. And while you can’t completely take the wires out of the equation with today’s gaming monitors, you can use the ROG Ergo Monitor Arm to route the cables neatly and minimize the display’s footprint on her desk.
The inside of her PC matters, too. If all she sees through the tempered glass side panel of her chassis is a rat’s nest of cables and wires, she’s not going to be as excited about her new PC as you hoped. So buy a chassis with plentiful cable management space, like the TUF Gaming GT302 ARGB, and devote time to route the wires properly. Or better still, look at our latest BTF hardware. This selection of motherboards, PC cases, and graphics cards lets you build a PC that hides all visible wires behind the motherboard tray. 
We’re so convinced that BTF PCs are perfect for Mother’s Day that we’re giving away a PC makeover package to one extraordinary mom this year. For a limited time, you can nominate a phenomenal mother figure in your life to receive this fantastic PC makeover. Click here to learn more about this special giveaway, and act quickly, because submissions end on May 7th at 11:59PM PDT.
Tip #5: Empower her to do more with this Mother’s Day Gift
As much fun as gaming consoles and handhelds are, a PC has an undeniable advantage over these other options: it does so much more than run games. With the right PC, you can not only get a mother in your life started with PC gaming, but also give her the tools to take her other interests to the next level.
If she has a passion for photography, video editing, AI, game development, 3D design, recording music, or other creative pursuits, a powerful PC might be just what she needs to do more. For PC gear that provides not only the performance for gaming and creating, but also the versatile connectivity, professional-grade visuals, and high-end cooling necessary for many creative pursuits, check out our ProArt ecosystem of displays, motherboards, PC cases, AIO liquid CPU coolers, graphics cards, laptops, and more.
Tip #6: It’s all about the time together
One last tip for anyone looking to use Mother’s Day as an occasion to get a loved one started in the world of PC gaming. Don’t forget that the most important gift you can give is time spent together. My wife loves the PC hardware that I give her because we use that hardware to pursue a shared hobby together. A new graphics card isn’t just a new graphics card: it’s endless hours of cooperative adventure in Valheim.
So bring the mother in your life into the process. Talk through the component options together. If you need some more specific suggestions as to what components would be a good fit for Mother’s Day, click here to browse some easy suggestions. When you have the parts list put together, invite her to roll up her sleeves and assemble the PC with you. Follow her passions and interests with the games that you choose. And when her dream PC setup is all put together, don’t forget the most important part: have fun playing games together.