Gaming PC Makers Take Aim at Lucrative Niche

Cymage writes "Yahoo (Reuters) reports that gaming PCs are now a high profit area, and that the bigger players (Dell, HP) are trying to get into the market: 'In an age when a new PC can cost just a few hundred dollars, an adolescent need for speed is creating a profitable niche for souped-up gaming computers at the ultra-costly end of the market.' How many people really spend $5,000 on a gaming machine? Mine cost less than $2,000, and I can play UT2k4 and others on it just fine."

Comments

it's about insecurity

[kin_korn_karn]

I almost started a business doing this once. Then I saw Falcon Northwest and Alienware and realized that there wasn't room in the market for another one.

I figured that as PCs became commoditized and as commonplace as your average toaster that the elitists of the world would want some way to stratify PC ownership. Same reason that there are Kias, and there are Porsches. The small-penis crowd needs to validate itself through what it owns.

Here's an alternative plan.

[hal2814]

About 5 years ago, I built a 233 Mhz Pentium II machine for about $500. Each year, I put $100 - $200 into hardware upgrades and I have a machine that will very comfortably play today's games (ex. Tron 2.0, Vice City, UT2K4) and I still haven't spent more than $1500. On top of that, I was able to Frankenstein some parts from the old computer and buy a $30 case/power supply and I now have a spare computer that can read e-mail, surf the net, and play games along the age of RA2, Quake 3, and UT.

Re:3-5k? No probelm.

[Phisbut]

Intel Pentium 4/ 2.8C GHz 800MHz FSB, 512K Cache $180
ATI RADEON 9800PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR $222
1Gb RAM Corsair TwinX1024-4400 $435
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum $165
Maxtor 250GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive $207
ASUS "P4C800-E DELUXE" i875P Chipset Motherboard $179

SubTotal: 1388

Add the case, the keyboard and the mouse... I really don't see how you can get a gaming maching for more than 3k...

Re:If I spend quite a bit of time, why not.

[Hecubas]

Speaking as an ex-latest-greatest buyer... In computing power, you get very diminishing returns on bleeding edge gear. Furthermore, you might have even more headaches with getting support and functioning drivers for the latest-greatest. As most have mentioned, you need to find that sweet spot, which right now, is less than $1000.

Two of the four pc's I've bought were "top-end". In both cases, certain big names hastily pushed out their parts and I got stuck with lemons with crippled performance. My last PC was only $700 and it smokes. (Go AMD!)

But go ahead, keep doing what you doing, if it makes you feel better in your mind. I know it makes my wallet feel better when prices get bumped down.

Re:Independent games?

[miyako]

Unfortunately, what worked oh-so well for the SNES was one of the major reasons for the ultimate lack of relevancy the N64 had, and now the relative obscurity of the GameCube.
While Nintendo has focused on quality, Sony looked to sheer number of titles for sale, and it would seem Sonys approach worked.
If you walk into a store and were to pick up any random game for the Game Cube, chances are that, assuming it was a genre you liked, it will be a good game. Not so with the PS2. The thing is, while games for nintendo systems, especially games produced by nintendo themselves, tend to be very refined and lots of fun, they are rarely revolutionary.
Don't get me wrong, I love all my nintendo consoles dearly, but if they want to compete with Sony they need to loosen up on what titles they will release (though it looks to me like nintendo is not looking to compete directly with Sony and MS, and is instead seeking a niche market. The relationship between Nintendo and Sony is much like that between Microsoft and Apple I think, with Sony gladling pushing out gobs of mass market games, while nintendo caters to it's own niche of enthusiasts)