Toms Hardware used to be better site back in the day, before it was sold to a big company. I was on there all the time. Use to love their CPU roadmaps. Now it is just a big billboard and it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack. There are plenty of general PC related sites out there, big and small. Most are overun with ads. Having a few ads,
done tastefully, to help offset the cost of running the site is acceptable IMO. Plus it can also help create more giveaways.
My goal it to have a great Alienware Owner and Enthusiast site. Why? Because I am both, an owner & enthusiast, and I enjoy creating a place where other AW owners and enthusiasts can come, hangout, and maybe even call their second home.

Yes, it may be a small niche community, but I am perfectly OK with that. I am not a company, so competing with AWA or NBR is not even in my mindset. I do not have a team of web designers, or a staff of people in an office. It's just me, the AWO members who join the site staff, and the AWO community. Together we can make a nice close nit community.
I appreciate your feedback with expanding into a more general PC type of site, but I wouldn't have the motivation to go down that road. I have no problem creating an expanded section for custom built PCs, as I have been custom building my desktops since the late 90's. Back when Computer Shopper magazine looked like an over-sized phonebook. LOL