Even as PC shipments go through further decline-related woes, one segment remains fairly strong-- according to Jon Peddie Research PC gaming hardware sales are to grow with a CAGR of 3% over the 2012-2016 period on a global basis.

According to the analyst global PC gaming hardware sales will grow from $18.4 billion in 2012 to $20.8bn by 2016.

How so? Gamers, just like motorcycle, 4X4 and sports car enthusiasts, are willing to buy the best (and most expensive) hardware to get their speed and power fix. After all, tablets and cloud computing devices do not slice it when it comes to the latest and most demanding titles!

"Not only is gaming becoming an even more important purchasing influence of PC sales due to the offloading of more basic functionality to smart devices, but we are forecasting growth in the most expensive discrete graphics products," JPR remarks. "We are also impressed with the embedded graphics offerings this generation and going forward."

The analyst estimates $800 million worth in PC builds is influenced by games such as ARMA 3, a title demanding not only GPU but also CPU power-- meaning swapping out a video card is not enough.

PCs also remain superior to consoles on the high-end gaming sphere, even as CPUs with built-in graphics make headway into the living room (interesting to note both Playstation 4 and Xbox One carry similar PC-based hardware). Either way, it appears the high-end PC is here to stay, at least when it comes to gaming. Retailers, take note.

Go Global PC Gaming Hardware Sales Shrug Off PC Market Decline