Methodology

The Comparator is a value calculator for PC hardware. It does not try to declare one product “the best” for everyone. Instead, it estimates how much value a product offers at the current observed price, under the selected category, preset, and user weights.

What Value Score Means

Value Score is an estimate based on our current dataset, selected weights, market prices, and scoring methodology. It is not an official product rating, a guarantee of quality, a forecast of future prices, or professional purchasing advice.

A score can change when:

• the product price changes;
• competing products become cheaper or more expensive;
• a product is added to or removed from the active dataset;
• benchmark indexes, presets, or formula versions are updated;
• you change weights, condition filters, region assumptions, or the TCO toggle.

This means a higher Value Score does not always mean the product itself got cheaper. It can also mean the market around it changed.

Formula Summary

The current engine uses a weighted geometric value formula:

raw value = good factors / bad factors

Good factors are product strengths such as performance, memory, warranty, and freshness. Bad factors are costs such as price and power draw. The user weights and presets decide how strongly each factor matters.

The price input is a dated offer snapshot, not a guaranteed live checkout price. Affiliate status is not a scoring factor and does not affect the formula.

The raw value is then normalized to a 0-100 Value Score across the currently visible product set. Because of that normalization, the score is relative to the table you are looking at, not an absolute universal grade.

Presets and User Weights

Presets are saved groups of weights for common use cases. A gaming preset, a productivity preset, and an efficiency preset can rank the same products differently because they reward different strengths.

You can also adjust weights manually. Higher weights make that factor more important in the geometric formula. Setting a weight to zero removes that factor from the current scoring context.

Value Score does not measure brand reputation, long-term reliability, driver quality, merchant service quality, compatibility with your exact PC case or motherboard, or your personal tolerance for used-market risk unless those factors are explicitly represented in the current dataset.

GPU Scoring

For graphics cards, the main good factors are:

• raster performance index (score);
• ray-tracing performance index (rt_score);
• AI/compute index (ai_score);
• VRAM capacity;
• warranty length;
• release-year freshness.

The main bad factors are:

• total price, including shipping when available;
• power draw (tdp);
• optional three-year electricity cost when Total Cost of Ownership is enabled.

GPU presets change the balance. For example, a 4K preset gives more weight to performance and VRAM, a ray-tracing preset gives more weight to rt_score, and an AI/LLM preset gives more weight to ai_score and VRAM.

CPU Scoring

Processors use their own category-specific fields. CPU scoring does not reuse the GPU raster score as its main input.

For CPUs, the main good factors are:

• multi-thread performance (multi_score);
• single-thread performance (single_score);
• gaming-oriented performance (gaming_score);
• core and thread count;
• L3 cache;
• warranty length;
• release-year freshness.

The main bad factors are:

• total price, including shipping when available;
• power draw (tdp);
• optional three-year electricity cost when Total Cost of Ownership is enabled.

CPU presets are workload-oriented. Gaming, productivity, streaming, home-server, developer, budget, efficiency, and longevity presets each emphasize different fields.

Power Fields: What “TDP (Max)” Actually Means

Power values on The Comparator are intentionally the maximum sustained package or board power, not always the manufacturer’s marketing TDP. This is a deliberate choice: for value scoring and electricity-cost estimates, the number that matters is what the part can actually draw under load.

• CPUs. The TDP (Max) column is the maximum package power (for modern parts this corresponds to PPT / PL2-class limits — e.g. a CPU marketed as “170W TDP” may show 230W here). The manufacturer’s base TDP is stored separately (tdp_base) and is not used in scoring.
• GPUs. The power value is the board power for the card (TDP/TBP as published in the specification database), i.e. the whole card under load, not just the chip.
• SSDs and RAM. Power draw is negligible for value purposes and is not part of their formulas.

Both the Value formula (power is a “bad” factor in the denominator when you give it weight) and the optional Total Cost of Ownership electricity estimate use this maximum figure. That makes TCO slightly conservative — it assumes load-level draw during your configured usage hours — which we prefer over understating running costs with an idle-flattering number.

If a power value looks wrong for a specific model, it is more likely a data issue than a methodology one — check the model page and tell us.

Prices and Offers

Prices on The Comparator are offer snapshots with visible freshness information. They can become outdated quickly, and the final price, shipping, stock status, tax, return policy, and seller terms are always the retailer’s responsibility.

For Amazon offers, we may link users to Amazon instead of showing a live price on The Comparator. The value calculation may still use the last recorded price snapshot so the ranking remains useful, but users should confirm the current Amazon price on Amazon before making a decision.

Used and refurbished offers are treated as separate conditions when available. They can be good value, but they also carry extra uncertainty around warranty, seller quality, condition, returns, and remaining lifetime.

Target Price

Some widgets and future product pages may show a target or fair-value price. This is the estimated price at which the product would reach a selected Value Score threshold under the current dataset, formula, and preset.

Target price is not a prediction that the market price will fall to that level. It is a calculation from the same value model, useful for deciding whether to wait, compare alternatives, or check a used/refurbished listing more carefully.

Affiliate Independence

The Comparator may earn commissions from qualifying purchases through affiliate links. Affiliate relationships do not change the formula, weights, benchmark inputs, or ranking order. We do not manually boost a product because a link pays a higher commission.

Sponsored or partner relationships, if any, must be disclosed separately. Product names, brand names, and logos belong to their respective owners and are used for identification only.

Confidence and Freshness

Where confidence is shown, it describes how much trust to place in the current data match and offer snapshot. Confidence can depend on source quality, offer count, product-name matching, condition clarity, and how recently the price was checked.

Data refresh frequency varies by source and category. The site should be read as a dated snapshot system: always use the visible price date, freshness marker, and retailer page as the final check before purchase.

Data Freshness and Corrections

The dataset combines product specifications, benchmark indexes, retailer offer snapshots, and category-specific normalization logic. We aim to keep the data useful and explainable, but mistakes and stale offers can happen.

If you see an incorrect price, specification, link, condition, or product match, please report it at contact@thecomparator.tech. Factual corrections can change the resulting score because the formula is recalculated from the updated data.

Current Formula Versions

• GPU value formula: gpu-value-v1.0
• CPU value formula: cpu-value-v1.0

Formula versions are listed here so future changes can be documented clearly. Any scoring change that materially affects rankings should receive a new formula version and a public explanation.