Building a new PC can be expensive, especially if you're going for a high-end rig. Do you need a $1000 graphics card? Probably not, but you want it anyway. It's a fun splurge. But the thing is, when it comes to luxurious PC parts and accessories, a $1000 GPU is nothing.
Have you ever thought about buying a keyboard that’s more expensive than every component inside your PC combined? How about a case that’s worth more than your house? Probably not, but if you’ve got more money than sense, or happen to be pals with Scrooge McDuck, here’s a list of 11 absurdly expensive bits of PC gear.
Seafarer keyboard
Price: $1650
Datamancer creates “modern heirlooms with classic style,” and this Seafarer Keyboard is a prime example of that. The nautically themed keyboard has cast brass components and has a gold foil map face print (drawn by historical cartographer Peter Schenk the Elder). It’s not just for show either, because the mechanical switches mean it’ll last years. You can even choose from various typefaces for the keys.
Telegraph mouse
Price: $550
Datamancer has quite a few keyboards, but only one mouse. Still, this computer mouse based on an old telegraph machine that was designed to send messages in morse code is a good entry on the list. It’s made from brass and oak components, and fitted with a leather palm rest for your comfort (although it doesn’t look that comfortable). But if you think that’s expensive, you might want to avert your eyes from the next mouse on the list.
The World's Most Expensive Computer Mouse
Price: $26,050
Yes, that’s the actual name of the mouse. The World’s Most Expensive Computer Mouse is cast from 18 carat white gold (750 parts out of 1,000 are pure gold) and set with 59 diamonds (58 with a diameter of 2mm, and one with a diameter of 4mm). If you’re not a fan of the flower design, you can email Fab Stuff and have them arrange the diamonds in any way you want. As for the all-important technical specifications, it’s a 1200dpi wireless laser mouse. Sure, it’s got diamonds, but it’ll need to be better than that to line up those headshots.
Jupiter Gold PC
Price: ~$560,000
Back in the late 00s, Japanese company Zeus made a pretty expensive PC. At the time its 1TB hard drive and accompanying 1920x1200 monitor were probably pretty impressive, but that’s probably not why it cost more than half a million dollars. The Jupiter had a gold case with embedded diamonds that were designed to look like constellations. But this case was just for the peasants. If you had real money you’d buy its bigger brother.
Jupiter Platinum PC
Price: ~$746,000
Not content to simply release a golden PC, Zeus decided that a platinum case worth nearly three quarters of a million dollars would be a good idea. All that extra money, and you still only got the same dual core CPU and 2GB RAM as found in the gold model. Almost not even worth it.
Optimus Popularis keyboard
Price: $1500
This crazy keyboard has LED keys which can display anything and perform any function. If you just want to type a few posts to Twitter, you can have it looking like a normal tenkeyless keyboard. But if you want to get a bit more fancy with it, the Optimus Popularis can display any language and any symbol: Cyrillic, Arabic, mathematical functions—pretty much anything you can think of. There’s also a display at the top that will show you the most important information you need.
Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional
Price: $4240
Sadly, it doesn’t look like this one is available anymore, but a Japanese model of the Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional does apparently still hold the Guinness World Record for the most expensive computer keyboard. The picture doesn’t do it justice, but those keys are coated in Urushi lacquer and dusted with gold.
Classical French Style Computers
Price: ~$22,000
Chirita makes various PCs that are styled after classic French themes. The one in the picture is the model “Louis XVI,” but you can also find “Empire,” and “Louis XV,” depending on which era you desire. They also make fancy contemporary designs, if you’re looking for something a bit more modern.
Les Clés USB
Price: ~$1,200
To go along with your French themed PC, you probably want some 18th Century-style portable storage. Chirita also makes beautiful hand-made USB sticks using brass covered with sheets of gold.
USB Key Mushrooms
Price: ~$37,000
However, if you’re splashing out on a USB stick, you might as well go all the way and get one that’s jewel encrusted. Shawish Jewellery (the folks who made a 150 carat diamond ring) have got some 32GB memory sticks on sale. You’ve got the choice of white gold with diamonds and emeralds, white gold with diamonds and pink sapphires, or yellow gold with diamonds and rubies. You might as well get all three, just to complete the set.
The Large Pixel Collider
Price: Priceless
Crafted in the form of the Ark of the Covenant, the Large Pixel Collider is the most powerful computer we at PC Gamer have ever built. The internal components—an Intel Core i7-6950X, two Nvidia Titan X GPUs, 128GB of RAM, more than 40TB of storage, and other equally ridiculous parts—add up to more than $10,000, and that's not accounting for the gorgeous custom build design.
But the real cost of the LPC can't be measured in dollars. In order to power it on, a pair of keys have to be turned simultaneously. The LPC takes two souls to lift, and two souls to activate.
