I figure there are at least 5 reasons, I think, that people custom build higher-end computers. A person will likely fall into one or more of the categories below:

1. Enthusiast – This is the true overclocker, the purist, the extremist. The entire group of custom builders (the other categories below) should be thankful for their trailblazing, early adopter, watchdog benefits to the rest of us. They keep the mb, graphics, mem, and processor companies in line. They identify strengths, report problems, and find solutions.

2. Wealthy – The enthusiast may or may not be wealthy. But I’ve noticed more than one person building a high-end custom machine seemingly only because they have the money to do so and want the best even if they aren’t using it to its fullest potential or don’t understand what they are doing.

3. Gamers – We should all also be thankful for the gamers since they share attributes of the enthusiasts. Gamers are also quick to adopt but for a goal focused on their gaming capability. Their analysis isn’t as thorough but it is still very useful information as they try things that sometimes even the enthusiast didn’t think of yet.

4. Application oriented – These are people with non-gaming needs such as CAD, photo and video editing, probably some other applications. This is more where I am. They use the information from the enthusiasts and gamers and many times contribute back to the community with their specs, experiences, etc.

5. Server oriented – These people, although they often purchase COTS products, will sometimes build or at least tweak their machines to obtain better performance.

I believe that group 5 has stability, robustness as their top priority. Group 4 also would want stability but has speed, multitasking as important secondary priorities.

Gamers don’t yet need quad cores as much as they need speed. Until the games make better use of multiple cores it doesn’t help them much if at all.

Since gamers, enthusiasts, and wealthy upgrade their systems more often than application or server oriented, they often are the earliest adopters. Gamers are often looking for deals being that most are not wealthy. Same for enthusiasts but maybe less so. In other words, I often hear gamers recommend OC-ing an inexpensive dual core for best gaming results rather than OC-ing a more expensive quad core which, at this time, help them any more.

I’m not trying to make classes to cause division but to recognize the different attributes that a person might have. A gamer might also be interested in applications. We all have different strengths.

As an application-oriented person I hope to add information as to what would be the “mainstream” custom-built computer.

I hope to add to this community as I hope to learn from it.