(Green Text is updated information)
That said...
I have a subscription to a magazine called Computer Power User. It's basically your average computer rag that started out as an interesting mashup of PC hardware reviews, editorial pieces and helpful howto articles. It's quickly devolving into nothing more than glossy color ads and biased reviews slanted to keep the advertisers happy.
I mean, how honest can a glowing review be when the page following it is an advertisement for the same product! It's gotten so bad that every cover directs the reader to what appears to be a review of a new product. Unfortunately it turns out to be an advertisement with the only indication being a different colored page frame and a very tiny and very dim word hidden in the corner, "Advertisement".
I've seen this kind of thing before, editorial content rapidly supplanted by fluff pieces for whomever is the highest bidder. This particular magazine is getting so bad that even the editor's column has been dropped.
So imagine my surprise when I look at the October 2011 issue proclaiming "Dream PC's" with almost every one from a paid advertiser.
Here's an interesting one from the article. Check out the specs...
These are the specs for the orgin Genesis gaming PC ( Ha! there's the gaming part of this rambling diatribe!) CPU ranks it as the pinnacle of 2011 gaming PC technology. With specs that would put most servers to shame and more CPU and GPU processing power than any game could possibly take advantage of.
(It still is pretty stout although the 580's will need to go)
By what stretch of the imagination would someone spend, wait for it... $14,449 for a rig optimized for games that won't exist for another decade. FOURTEEN.....THOUSAND.....DOLLARS.....for a gaming PC.
(Funny how prices have come down. This same configuration would go for about 1/3 of that now)
Let's see, right now the median annual income in the U.S. right now is around 50,000 US Dollars. Of course that number has consituent parts that range from 42K to almost 60K.
So at what point does it make sense to devote almost 1/3 of your income to a gaming pc?
Hey I'm all for a powerful game rig but I've never considered anything over 3K to get one. What do you buy such a rig for? Battlefield 3? I don't need 14K to run that. Crysis 2? Really? c'mon now they only just released a patch to enable DX11 and it's still pointless. Deus Ex:Human Revolution? It runs on Playstation and a MAC, how taxing can that be.
So what's the point in paying 14K for a PC? Vanity???
Yup, that's it. No other reason but bragging rights and oh, by the way, it'll be obsolete by this time next year so better get intersted in VMWARE or something that can use 12 cores or you're going to be REALLY PO'd about your now obsolete formely ultimate gaming rig that's worth 1/3rd of what you paid for it.
It's hard to find unbiased information these days and pointless reviews of boutique products that never get sold to anybody are nothing short of a cruel joke.
Here's my advice, Don't bother with anything that costs more than 5K at the highest. Any more is just money down the drain and only the republican presidential candidates can afford to do that...
(Still good advice, 6K should get you the rig of your dreams and handle anything you can throw at it)
Here's a parts list for a 3770K based system that I made up at PCParts Picker. Click the Picture for a better view.
Link to the build here...
The whole thing will set you back about $6200 including a 30" monitor, High end Full tower case, gaming KB and Mouse and BD writer. It will blow the doors off of that 14K rig too.
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