As a primary console gamer currently heres how I price my PC (Note a lot of people used this kind of formulae to justify their PS3 purchases)
Cost of Baseline PC to do general Multimedia centre/Office type duties on my big TV. (I do have one so im not blowing smoke here)
$500. (General Spec Athlon X2, 2gb Ram, 500gb HDD, Optical Drive, Case, Keyboard/Mouse)
Lifespan 5 years or $100 per year cost
Cost of upgrading to gaming specs
Xbox 360 controller. $40
Graphics card. $150
Total $190
Mid life refit (2.5 years)
More ram $40
New CPU $100
New GPU $150
Total $290 - $90 for old CPU/GPU = $200
End of life replacement (5 years)
Case can be reused (Worth $100) and old parts can be sold for about $100 which gives $100 back for the next full system and a $100 saving.
Cost of Office Machine - $500 every 5 years
Cost of 1st upgrade : $190
Cost of 2nd upgrade $200
Cost of 3rd upgrade $0 (Due to $100 residual and saving $$$ on the case.
Thats how I work out my upgrade path for my PC. (Just a rough estimate.)
Tease.
