jrwizbang :
Yeah. $1000 doesn't really seem like a "budget" to me.
I think the best is to have these requirements for these builds:
* Have 1 week to build and post.
* 1-2 weeks for the top 3 to be selected and 1-2 weeks to vote on.
* No Mail in rebates equated into build cost.
* No combo deals, unless said vendor will support price combo (for future purchases, sorta like a "TomsHardware" promo code or something like that).
* Stick to strict budget requirements, no builds exceeding budgets.
* Shipping figured into build price (use a standard zip code, so all will entered will have the same shipping costs).
* Should have $500, $750, $1k, $1,500 budget builds. Most people don't spend over $1,500 on builds (except a small percentage). With these builds closer in price, one can possibly see how much $250 more would buy them. This will let the average Joe make a more informed decision, IMHO.
* After the builds have been voted in, than test them out and see how well they do.
* See if a vendor (like NewEgg) will sponsor these builds and offer them up on their own website as "Toms Hardware Readers Build" or something like that. Than they can bundle these builds up and maybe even give a discount to them. Maybe honor the price for 30-60 days or something like that. Than this could be a re-occurring option with updates every quarter or so, so the builds will be up to date each quarter.
* Maybe an additional 20-30% off for winner of each build at an online vendor would be a nice reward or maybe even a Gift Card from a given vendor. This would probably make the amount of builds entered increase??
That about sums up my expectations for these kind of build-offs.