The 90s represented a lot of radical change for computers, so gaming PCs at the beginning of the decade were nothing like PCs at the end. Even budget computers ran about $1,500 in 1990, and they offered no 3D graphics. On average, gaming PCs had at least 8 MB of RAM and processors around 50 MHz.

Gaming computers changed substantially across the 2000s. At the start of the decade, budget gaming PCs were hard to come by, as gaming was pretty demanding for computers. By the end of the decade, budget gaming PCs could play most games, and the market had really expanded to provide a variety of options.