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Old 02-07-2015, 09:03 PM
 
Location: TN/NC
34,847 posts, read 30,914,378 times
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I was always a PC gamer and PC builder back in the early-mid 2000s in high school and college. At the time, upgrade cycles were very short, and building a PC was usually more economical than buying one. I had a couple of HPs, a Dell, and a Packard Bell before building, and most of these were unreliable, or poor performers at their price points. Doing virtually any gaming on a prebuilt PC was a no-go, as few power supplies could power a decent graphics board.

These days, the power of the average PC has gone far beyond the needs of the average user. I have a three year old i7 3770k/32GB RAM/256GB SSD/GTX 560Ti machine and downloaded Tomb Raider and it runs at 50+ FPS flawlessly. Movies convert very quickly - the machine does anything I've thrown it with ease. A decade ago, that three year old PC would be getting long in the tooth.

PCs are much cheaper to buy now. $300-$400 PCs are common and would be hard to build if you bought a legal copy of Windows. The economic edge is no longer really there. PC games don't seem to have big blockbuster releases that they did a decade ago.

Do you think the DIY PC market is in decline?
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Old 02-07-2015, 09:39 PM
 
18,073 posts, read 18,692,582 times
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Your title states "high end enthusiast" - I do not think this is going away at all, I think it is stronger than ever.

Your post states "DIY PC market" - Hard to tell. 15 years ago, even ten years ago, I knew a few people who would build their own and build for others, now I do not know anyone, and even those people just purchase the gaming PCs. I think a lot of DIY types did it because it was cheaper than buying one with equal capacity, and now days it is not like that anymore. A great gaming PC is relatively affordable compared to what a PC was 15 years ago with the fraction of the performance.

But on the flip side, I see online more activity regarding DIY PCs, but from a hobbyist perspective it seems more so than a need. I think more people are inclined to be hobbyist now than before if anything, due to costs.
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Old 02-07-2015, 11:47 PM
 
Location: Berkeley Neighborhood, Denver, CO USA
17,673 posts, read 29,579,921 times
Reputation: 33222
Yes
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Old 02-08-2015, 05:39 AM
 
1,135 posts, read 1,108,122 times
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But Tomb Raider can even be played on integrated graphics. I need a high end pc for game development work too, and renderings.
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Old 02-08-2015, 06:07 PM
 
Location: Not far from Fairbanks, AK
20,245 posts, read 36,924,623 times
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Well, since photo and video editing is accomplished a lot faster with the high-end computers than the cheap and slow ones, at least in this sector of computing the high-end machines will be popular. Just look at the video and photo editing machines that are set-up for that kind of work and notice the price. Nowadays with the right setup, a kid in his or her garage can edit his or her own movie, something that is being accomplished as we talk about it.
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Old 02-08-2015, 09:42 PM
 
48,505 posts, read 96,526,809 times
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I think the chase of high tech is long over. Its still popular with a mine segment tho. Many are turning to mobile devices more and more from even the basic PC.
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Old 02-09-2015, 08:17 AM
 
Location: Russia
303 posts, read 253,139 times
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Not really. Market in the doldrums for home computers, and even then, only for as long as two-dimensional monitors are not replaced or high-grade glasses 3-D reality or bulky screens. Here the question is no longer in computing power, but in technology. For home computer and graphics really limit is reached.
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Old 02-09-2015, 11:12 AM
 
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
16,464 posts, read 19,490,320 times
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No. The death of PC Gaming has been predicted every year since the PS2 came out. It's not as strong as it once was...but it's not going anywhere.

Cal Of Duty: MW3 sold 1.7 million units on PC on or around launch day. That's about $96,000,000 in sales. no company wants to give up on that...
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