what's the average gaming rig nowadays ?
It depends on what criteria you count as a "gamer". One obvious stats source is:
http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey
Is installing Steam enough in itself? There are a lot of very old games on it that'll run on pretty much anything capable to running modern Windows. Still, looking at the stats presented right now the most common in each category are:
Windows 10 64-bit at 45% and Windows 7 64-bit at 41%
8 GB ram at 44% and 12GB+ at 24%
4 core CPU (it doesn't split out threads) at 58%,with 2 core at 37%
It only breaks out Intel CPU clock speeds, with 21% clocked between 3.3 to 3.7 GHz, and 19% clocked 3.0 to 3.3 GHz. 5% above 3.7 GHz.
Top 3 GPUs are 1060, 960, 750Ti, at roughly 7.5%, 6.6%, 6.0% respectively. So lower mid range there.
VRAM most common 2GB (28%), with 1GB closely following (27%). Each comparable to 4/6/8 GB combined (15/5/4% respectively).
1080p most common screen size by far at 57%, 2nd 1366x768 at 17%. Nothing else comes close.
Note the survey probably doesn't have a way to split out desktops from laptops, so the latter may skew the results somewhat.
If you were to build something to the above spec, I think you'd have a reasonable 1080p 60Hz gaming system and high fps isn't out of the question if you don't mind using lower quality settings.
Edit: just for fun, I built a hypothetical system along the lines of the above using
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/kMLwxY
i3-8100 (3.6 GHz fixed, quad core)
Asrock Z370 Pro4
2x4GB G.Skill Ripjaws V 3200
Crucial MX300 275GB
Toshiba 2TB 7200rpm HD
EVGA 1060 3GB
Corsair CX550M (gives a little upgrading headroom, even the 450W is more than sufficient as is)
Total $743.60 for items comparable to wccf build example
What does wccf's page come up with, set to $750, gaming, Intel, nvidia:
http://wccftech.com/build-my-pc/?purpose=gaming&price=750&cpu=Intel&gpu=NVIDIA
i3-7100
GIGABYTE GA-B250-HD3
G.SKILL Aegis 8GB 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2133
No SSD
WD Blue 1TB Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM
ASUS GeForce GTX 1060 STRIX-GTX1060-O6G-GAMING 6GB
EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G2, 80+ GOLD 650W
Interesting choices there... only 2c4t processor, that could choke the 1060 6GB they went for. We're matched on ram quantity, but I went for two sticks to get dual channel bandwidth, and you can also make use of higher speed ram on Z chipset even if CPU is locked, assuming they haven't changed that since Haswell/Skylake. The wccf serving suggestion doesn't even manage a SSD, and a paltry 1 TB HD? IMO the PSU is more than is needed, and the GPU is no doubt faster, but I'm not sure it'll give the full potential with the CPU and lack of SSD.
On my build, if I were to actually do it, I'd go up to the 8350k and Noctua D15 (both like I already have). I'd then also stretch to get the 1060 6GB, although not necessarily the more pricey Asus Strix. Gigabyte seem to do better in value without sacrificing performance. Total would still be sub $1000. If you then increase wccf's calculator to $1000 also, they bump it up to a 1070, still with the dual core i3 which has to be inadequate by that point, but at least they then squeeze in a 128GB SSD, and bump up to 16GB of ram. I can't say I agree with their balance choices, and would definitely go quad core by that point.
Yes, I know Ryzen exists, and that would likely provide a more rounded system for the price than above, but I'm working on the assumption the vast majority of systems around are still Intel based.
