While demand seems to be slowing for high end video cards and causing some real concern to the entire industry, one segment seems to be holding its own … PC gaming hardware.

According to the surveys and estimates compiled by Jon Peddie Research (JPR),  “in 2011 expenditures on PC gaming hardware are set to jump to over $22 billion globally, with a 27% gain in 2011 across the three segmentations of the market: mainstream, performance and enthusiast. The increased demand for rather expensive pieces of hardware is projected to be driven both by lowering previously prohibitive prices onto superior devices as well as advances of  driver software.”

According to Ted Pollak, senior gaming analyst for JPR conditions driving the increased demand for gamin hardware are,  “ the natural cycle of PC hardware purchases from historical inflection points, system demands of modern FPS (first person shooters) and RTS (real-time strategy) titles, cheaper high resolution displays, SSDs (solid state drives), and the convenience of digital distribution services like Steam and Direct2Drive.”

Also the typical gamer is not the pre-pubescent boy but older teens and young adults who have the best cameras, several computers, new games, handheld consoles and most of these much more affluent gamers buy a ne w phone every year. These new techies want #D capable machines and are demanding higher resolution monitors and “wide gamut” displays like the ones used by graphic designers that can show more of the color spectrum and want 1080p monitors for their gaming.

The race is on for the semiconductor manufacturers like AMD who are trying to provide both CP U and GPU capabilities in their sub $1,000 systems because the more casual gamers are now expressing interest in what the lower end machines can do to improve their casual f\gaming experience.

Ok folks, time to crank up your best driver writers to see what magic you can provide out of your existing hardware so us common folks can get great gaming too.