Pushing the pedal to the metal
The number of people who overclock their desktop PCs is growing, according to data found in the latest HWInsights Quarterly Report. We have no idea how HWInsights tracks such things, but apparently there was a 50 percent uptick in the annual growth of overclockers from the first quarter of 2013 to the first quarter of 2014, and 100 percent from 2014 to 2015, Digitimes reports.
HWInsights says that despite the overall desktop market stagnating, demand for high end hardware with amenities for overclockers has been rapidly rising over the past few years.
"PC component makers and vendors have, over the past several years, seen their key markets - mainstream (high-volume) and gaming (high-margin) - steadily cannibalized by alternatives including tablets, notebooks and games consoles," noted Pieter-Jan Plaisier, Director, HWBOT. "With their market shares and margins under constant pressure, the healthy overclocking market represents an opportunity hardware vendors simply cannot continue to underutilize with outdated product positioning and marketing strategies."
According to HWInsights, a typical mainstream overclocking system in the first quarter of 2015 averaged $1,175, and for high-end systems it was around $2,850. However, it's an ongoing cost -- overclockers tend to upgrade their hardware more frequently than the average user.
The rise in overclockers is something that vendors can take advantage of, though it's not without certain challenges. While a vendor might be able to get away with shoddy hardware when it comes to sub-$500 systems, overclockers have much higher standards. It also presents a challenge in branding and marketing, as the overclocking community is very much driven by word-of-mouth testaments.
From maximumpc
from http://bit.ly/1LOcjWG
