[Marci]

Half the problem is, as the scene has expanded and commercialized, so has the number of websites covering that scene. As said earlier, every forum has a wc-ing section.

Back when I got into watercooling (Swiftech MCW462 had JUST come out) you had to HUNT for info. VERY few websites covered anything about it, and that's what inspired us to take the watercooling route for over-clock.com

These days, folks think watercooling, and just head to the nearest section on their local fave website and go off whatever is said in there. As there is info to hand (allbeit a lot of b/s), they look no further. More and more end up satisfied with the commercial offerings. Thermaltake being one of the biggest culprits cashing in on this market. Once the majority of this crowd have water in their rig, they don't see the need to upgrade or can't afford to. If they do, they go back to manufacturer of what they bought in the first place. A minority move to DIY...

Anyone with an ounce of gumption could get the RIGHT gear first time round... it's posted around places often enough... but the minority actually do.

Market saturation hasn't occured YET, but for the kind of watercooling to which we refer (the extreme enthusiast / DIY end), it more or less has.

Over-Clock.com is churning out 40% of what it was a year ago. We used to be shipping 50+ custom kits out a day. Now we're lucky if we move 1 full kit a day.

The same happened with the modding scene. 4 years ago we were sending out cathodes n' laser cut grills and window kits left right n' center. Then cheapy cases came out with it all predone and voila - the customer base vanished. We still have BOXES of this stuff upstairs, and it's still on our site, but demand for it simply isn't there anymore.

Personally - I also run an aircooled rig. I have responsibilities now which result in my only use for PCs at home being to check e-mails, listen to a bit of music and watch the occasional movie. That's it. Nothing else. I don't have the spare cash to put into it, that goes on my son and bills. I don't have the time to sit for hours on end playing games... I have more important things to do in my life.

Then you have the XBox... and MMORPG. Half the high-end customers are now immersed in mmorpg, paying monthly gaming subscriptions for up to 5 games... soaking up all spare income. Then there's the crowd who got sick of upgrading graphics cards etc to get blah-de-blah games to work - they went and bought an xbox. Then they modded that xbox to cover net browsing, and media playback. All of a sudden, the PC itself is no longer needed.

Businesses / individuals with money to earn still have a need, but for the home-user with a 9 to 5 job that pays the wage, and an xbox in the corner, and dvd recorder with integrated HDD and a Sky+ box no longer have any use for the PC.

I almost got into the whole HTPC market... then I inherited a TiVo. Thus, couldn't be arsed to prat about with a HTPC. My DVD Recorder networks up to my LAN so retrieves all my movies and mp3's from a cheap NAS Box. No need for any PC to be switched on.

The PC Market is on a downwards spiral when it comes to their use as a necessary tool in the home. If PCs themselves are becoming relatively unneeded, so therefore are all accessories etc for them...