Ninja is probably the most famous streaming influencer around due to his status breakout in the early Fortnite days in 2017 when he quickly developed high level editing skills that were soon recognized by the Fortnite and Twitch communities. Along the way, Ninja’s gaming setup has developed to be one of the best in the buisness. Here we have broken all the peripherals down.
Ninja’a success wasn’t achieved overnight. He had been a pro-gamer since 2009 when he started competing in Halo tournaments, and his streaming career started in 2011. After transitioning from various games including H1Z1 and PUBG for years, he slowly gained followers until he had amassed 500,000 followers by the time that he switched to Fortnite in September 2017. By the time that he decided to move to Mixer in August 2019, he had over 14.6 million followers.
NINJA’S MONITOR
Ninja uses an Alienware 25 AW2518H Gaming Monitor. The Alienware 25 AW2518H G-Sync-capable monitor has a 24.5-inch screen with a preset 1920 x 1080 resolution and 240Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time. Of course, while this refresh rate will greatly enhance the responsiveness between your command inputs from your peripherals, it will only be effective if you have a graphics card and CPU that have the capacity to process at such high rates. If you are unsure, then it’s advisable to ask on forums.
It rests on a metal tripod stand that allows for up to 4 inches of height adjustment. The screen can also be tilted, swiveled or pivoted up to 170°/160° to suit your positional preferences, so that if you would like to take a break from gaming to watch something while lying on your bed, it would be a problem to set up the screen for it.
This monitor is good for fps and other fast-paced games, which therefore makes sense for it to be part of Ninja’s gaming setup. However, it’s probably not necessary if you’re interested in less urgent games such as TCGs or bas MMORPG, then you might want to look for a cheaper monitor with a lower refresh rate, such as the BenQ ZOWIE XL2411P 24-inch monitor or the ASUS VG248QE 24-inch monitor.
NINJA’S MOUSE
Ninja uses a FinalMouse Air58 Ninja. FinalMouse teamed up with Ninja to create the Limited Edition Air58 Ninja with each scroll wheel being hand-engraved and painted with a unique Japanese haiku. It is a lightweight ambidextrous plug-and-play mouse that has hexagonal holes integrated into the chassis to improve the grip. It also has a PMW 3360 sensor as well as easily accessible side-buttons. The cord is designed to stay out of the way, thereby eliminating the need for a mouse-bungie.
However, this did receive mixed reviews and it seems that it is no longer being produced.
NINJA’S KEYBOARD
Ninja uses a Corsair K70 Rapidfire keyboard. The CORSAIR K70 RGB MK.2 is a wired mechanical keyboard that is built with silent switches in order to reduce background noise and distractions while you are trying to play video games or record audio. If you prefer more tactile switches, they can easily be replaced with other cherry switches by using the complementary switch removal tool that is included in the box.
The keyboard is constructed on an aluminum frame to increase its durability and also comes with a detachable wrist-rest. Other streamers who use it include summit1g, Annemunition and Teawrex.
NINJA’S HEADSET
Ninja uses Beyerdynamic DT-990-Pro-25 headphones. The Beyerdynamic DT-990-Pro-25s are over-ear, open-backed studio reference 3mm wired headphones that are designed with audio recording, editing, mixing and mastering in mind. They are therefore designed for indoor private use, rather than for use in a public space, especially since the open-back allows audio to escape so that others can hear it in addition to your being able to hear them a well.
They come with soft, replaceable velour earpads that come in either grey or black. They also have a v-shaped frequency response of between 5 – 35,000Hz and an impedance of either 80 or 250 ohm which does affect the price by a difference of ~$40 USD.
NINJA’S MICROPHONE
Ninja uses an AT2035 microphone. The AT2035 is a unidirectional cardioid condenser microphone that requires an XLR cord and a phantom power source in order to register on your recording device. This is one of the reasons that Ninja has incorporated the Creative Sound Blaster X7 preamp into his setup. A basic description is included below.
Aside from that, this mic has a sturdy metal construction with a large diaphragm. In addition to having a frequency response rate of between 20-20,000Hz and an impedance of 250ohms it also offers a low frequency roll-off of 80Hz.
Unfortunately, this product has been discontinued, as has the At2020. However, it is still available on Amazon.
NINJA’S WEBCAM
Ninja uses a Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro 4.6K camera. The Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro 4.6K is a high-end camera that allows you to record at 4608 x 2592 up to 60p and 15 stops of dynamic range, with the capability of attaching almost any type of lens. It is a professional camera that is designed for recording IRL television-quality footage and is often used by TV crews for filming documentaries.
As such, it is big, but mobile and is designed to sit comfortably on the cameraman’s shoulder. There are an array of buttons that are easily accessible on the sides of the camera, as well as three internal ND filters that you can quickly toggle between with a knob. These filters help to diminish the amount of light that is being filtered into the camera so that you will get a clear shot no matter what the lighting is like.
However, this camera comes with a price to match at ~$6,000 USD and provides features that are far beyond the needs of a basic stream or vlog. So, while it may be within the budget of a multimillionaire streamer like Ninja to include this in his gaming setup, it would probably make more sense for a streamer who is just starting out to stick with a cheaper model, such as one of these.
NINJA’S MIXER
Ninja uses a Creative Sound Blaster X7 mixer. The Creative Sound Blaster X7 is a preamp and DAC for microphones and headsets that comes with jacks for one 3.5mm microphone plug, 3.5mm headphone plug and one ¼ inch headphone plug, all of which can be used simultaneously. It can handle headphone impedances of up to 600ohm, with options to toggle your speakers between 4 or 8ohm. The speaker configurations can be adjusted up to 5.1 surround sound, with stereo also being an alternative option.
The software provides further customization options for the speakers, headphones and microphone. The SBX Pro Studio Software allows for you to make adjustments to the sound processing, including the option to adjust the bass output and the crystallization option that helps to boost the clarity of music, as well as the ambient sounds within video games. This greatly enhance the immersivity of games such as FPS and MMORPG games, which is like why Ninja decided to add it to his gaming setup.
The CrystalVoice software is centered on vocal inputs and allows you to edit the vocal outputs from the microphone, meaning that you can actually change the way your voice sounds. Further adjustment options for the device include an equalizer and mixer in order to tweak the balance options according to your personal preferences. It also comes with a selection of preset profiles to be used with specific game genres.
However, it only supports vocal communications from PCs and Macs, not gaming consoles. So, you will need to use an external microphone or headset and configure it within the console itself if you want to make vocal communications or recordings during gameplay.
Otherwise, the minimum system requirements are: Apple MacOS X 10.6.8 or later, Microsoft Windows 7 (32/64 bits), Microsoft Windows Vista (32/64 bits) SP1 or later, Windows 8 (32/64 bits), Windows 8.1 (32/64 bits).
Thanks for sharing. I gotta say though, Ninja’s setup is pretty damn expensive
He is a multi-millionaire after all;) There are definitely much cheaper setups out there.