How the Value Engine Works

Unlike traditional hardware sites that rely on static editorial scores, The Comparator calculates a live Value Score (0 - 100) for every graphics card, processor, SSD, and RAM kit.

1. The Core Concept

The Value Engine compares what you get (performance, capacity, warranty) with what it costs (price, power draw, latency) through dimensionless ratios:

• A desirable factor uses value / frame best; a cost factor uses the inverse frame best / value.

• Each slider raises that ratio to weight/100: 0 ignores it, 50 applies its square root, and 100 applies the full ratio.

• The weighted factors are multiplied. With only performance and price at 100, the ranking is exactly performance per dollar.

• Value Score expresses each raw result relative to the frame leader, which receives 100. Raw dollars, watts, and benchmark points are never added or subtracted from one another.

• Desirable attributes:

  • Raster Performance: Benchmark gaming performance index (RTX 4070 = 1000 points baseline).
  • Ray Tracing Index: Performance in RT-heavy titles.
  • AI & Compute Index: Tensor TFLOPS for Machine Learning and AI workloads.
  • VRAM Capacity: Dedicated memory (8GB, 12GB, 16GB+).
  • Warranty & Recency: Manufacturer warranty years and release year factor.

• Cost attributes (inverse multipliers):

  • Total Price: Store retail price + shipping costs.
  • TCO Electricity (Optional): Estimated 3-year power cost based on component TDP and $0.15/kWh default rate.

2. Dynamic Relative Scale ($0 - 100$)

The Value Engine measures each factor and its leader across the currently compared products:

• 🟢 Score 100: The product is the benefit/cost leader for this exact frame and set of weights.
• 🟡 Score 70-89: Great deal with solid price-to-performance ratio.
• 🔴 Score < 50: Overpriced relative to available market alternatives.

3. Presets & Weight Adjustment

Adjusting the weight sliders on the calculator changes how much importance the algorithm places on each attribute.

• Moving Price to 100% prioritizes cheap budget deals.
• Moving VRAM or Ray Tracing up prioritizes high-end 4K cards.
• Selecting a Preset (e.g. 1440p Sweet Spot, AI / LLM, Everyday) instantly configures the optimal weights for that workload.

If every slider is zero, the fallback is equivalent to setting every configured factor to 100. A factor with no usable frame evidence is excluded; a known factor identical for every product has ratio 1 and is neutral. The worst product is not forced to zero, so low-weight or tiny differences cannot be exaggerated across the entire scale.