Buying my Components

[WhiteKnight]

I have an idea of what I want in my computer I am building. I don't have the privilege to be able to buy everything at once. I was going to buy my RAM, motherboard, and sound card today, I have already bought my case and PSU.

Should I wait until CES to buy everything?

[Dragon_Cannon]

CES is just an unveiling of products that places like Intel, AMD and nvidia are going to be releasing in the future but they won't necessarily be releasing them then however. The new AMD cards are likely to be shown off at CES but they aren't being released until Q2 this year

[Vanderburg]

If you know something you want is going to be available until a certain date, then sit on your money. This way, you'll be able to snipe sales as they happen, rather then buy almost everything at once and then watch all the money you could have saved go by.

If you know what you want, it's all available now and you're ready to build now, then there's no reason to not get it all now. Prices will always come down, so if you're waiting just for that reason, you'll never have the incentive to pull the trigger.

[thegamezbeplayed]

Definitely wait until you can buy everything! the case and psu are okay. I am currently saving up for my build, I am just waiting for the next gen of GPU's to come out which should happen hopefully by end of Q2. I am hoping by then the Samsungs 840 pro series come down in price by then as well.

[Dirk]

I would wait until you can buy it all at once. I did the same thing it looks like you are doing and by the time I had everything I could have saved a ton.

[killerx525]

You could just buy the sound card but not sure if your willing to wait for Haswell to come out.

[allthatremains94]

You could just buy the sound card but not sure if your willing to wait for Haswell to come out.

Very true. soundcards are pretty much the only things that do not go down in price overtime, so if you're really waiting to get something after CES OP, then wait till then. If you see something that you truly now that you're going to use on sale, then consider buying it because the price(s) may not be that low for a while.

[Larrivee013]

I'd wait to have all the money to buy all at once. Check if you see anything you want at CES, or check if a newer version of what you want comes out at CES and that will be released soon, so when the new *thing* comes out, you'll grab the component you want for less money.

[Money]

I'd wait to have all the money to buy all at once. Check if you see anything you want at CES' date=' or check if a newer version of what you want comes out at CES and that will be released soon, so when the new *thing* comes out, you'll grab the component you want for less money. [/quote']

Like he said, wait to buy the rest of the components until you have the money to get them all at the same time. It just works out better in case any new parts come out.

[Christian]

I'd say wait until you have the money, then buy everything at once. This way, you are able to get the cheapest possible prices (as prices of parts will go down over time), and you are ensuring you are considering the latest at that particular time. You never know what might happen in the future, and if you put your money into a GPU now, but find you are unable to purchase anything for another year or so for whatever financial reasons, then you will be left with an outdated GPU, which you could have purchased far cheaper a year later, or the latest GPU for the same price.

[killerx525]

It's the holiday season and a great time to buy some of those components.

[Christian]

It's the holiday season and a great time to buy some of those components.

Sorry Michael, i disagree. The components will become outdated. Why purchase them now and be stuck with old components when you have purchased everything else. Doesn't make sense to me...

[killerx525]

Some of the new components that will be released won't be cheap and since it's the holiday season, some of components are generally going to be cheaper as they on sell. The OP has only purchased a case and PSU. Buying a the sound card and optical drive first isn't a bad idea.

[Christian]

Yeh that's true, but i still don't see the value in purchasing prior to building. Linus had a tweet saying that he had bought all his SSDs for his personal rig, and now they are worth far less (can't remember exact figures). So I'm just saying that to be on the safe side, it's probably best to wait until you have all the money, then by the parts. And it's not just about ageing parts or value. If you have spend $400 on a shiny new GPU. Then a week later you need the money for something else, but suddenly you have wasted it on a GPU that's not even being used. I just think that it would be better to wait right until you have the right amount of money for everything, and then buy it at once. But buying an optical drive, case, PSU and soundcard isn't too bad. For motherboard, CPU, RAM, and everything else, i would personally wait- as there are new ones coming out all the time, and the prices are constantly changing.

[killerx525]

"But buying an optical drive, case, PSU and soundcard isn't too bad. For motherboard, CPU, RAM, and everything else, i would personally wait." That's what i was implying at to buy those components now and wait to buy the core components later in the year as Intel, AMD and Nvidia will be releasing their new parts.

[wpirobotbuilder]

You can probably get the RAM and sound card right now, nothing much about those will change in the near future, and any improvements will yield very small performance benefits. If you're going to go with AMD for CPU, you'll be able to upgrade your CPU in the future, while if you go with Ivy Bridge it will be obsolete in less than a year. Haswell is coming out in Q2, so you'll have to wait a while. If you're waiting on the GPU for the next gen, you should wait on the processors as well.

[BathroomSecurity]

Buy what you need, when you need it. Never buy things that you don't need immediately.

[clickynote]

Buy what you need' date=' when you need it. Never buy things that you don't need immediately. [/quote']

I agree with this. I know it sounds good to buy pieces as you gather the funds, but sadly you'll end up in a worse situation this way. I have done both types of builds (all at once, and one at a time) and I can tell you with absolute certainty you get a MUCH better system purchasing all at once. Tech changes so fast that a month or two difference can potentially make certain components outdated.

The second part of this is what happens if you finally get everything together to get your PC up and going and you find out that the motherboard you purchased 2 months ago doesn't function? Now you have to go through all sorts of warranty hooplah to get a new board, when if you had purchased everything together you could have RMA'd it through your retailer and had a new board in days.

Summation: Save your money, pick a system, buy all at once.