Being a hardware enthusiast means different things to different people and usually dictates their interpretation of what it takes to be an enthusiast. For the purposes of this article we're going to assume a hardware enthusiast is someone who is passionate about computer components and is not afraid to push things beyond spec. This person will typically assemble systems using the best components they can buy and will often swap out components with the purpose of getting better performance, theoretical or otherwise.

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You are a budding hardware enthusiast, you have money and you have taste. The only problem is you have been in the enthusiast world for 6 months and your Saturday overclocking session is the loneliest night of the week for you. As they say, "no scores, no joy". In an attempt to improve your position and finally capture that wPrime world record you search high and low to get the same board that set the record but it is nowhere to be found.

Why is that?

Simply put the motherboard maker didn't take the 70's stock car racing approach when it came to establishing an inventory for their special edition product. Instead these special edition products were put into the hands of professional overclockers to establish records and create hype. The problem is that when a maker decides to only create a limited number of these products they run the risk of alienating a good number of potential buyers.

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