While I’m sure a lot of our readers are not into gaming, I am also sure a large number are. If you are and prefer to build your own system over purchase a ready made, then this tip is for you. This article on Tom’s Hardware titled ‘System Builder Marathon: Performance & Value : Is Spending More Justified?‘ covers building a gaming machine on 3 distinct budget ranges and compares the resulting systems.

The 3 budget values examined are $625, $1,250 and $2,500, which seems like typical amounts people spend on gaming machines judging by posts in the forums here. The really interesting angle of this article is the comparison of what extras you get for the extra money.

Jumping to the conclusion:

As we’d hoped, performance scales directly to dollars spent, but not proportionally. Performance increases are almost linear whereas build-cost increases are exponential. Doubling our $625 PC budget produced a 78% performance gain in the $1,250 PC, but doubling the $1,250 budget gave our $2,500 PC only a measly 13% gain. Overclocking helped the $2,500 PC more than the rest, but  the value of high-end systems is always somewhat questionable.

One thing to keep in mind, is these systems were spec’ed in December, but for the most part the prices should not have fluctuated too much.