Should I Shop Slowly?

[Mike Soda]

Simply repeating the title back to myself once got me tongue tied, but anyway. In about a week I'll have enough money to purchase some of the parts for my upcoming first PC build. 3GB MSI GTX 1060 & an EVGA G2 550W PSU for now; then in December - January a few more parts ending with a Zen quad core, it's motherboard & RAM in February. I'd prefer to just buy it all at once but I've been realizing that's impossible since not everything will be on sale at the same time. However I have a few concerns regarding my budget shopping plans I'd like your opinions on.

 

1: Can spacing out the purchases over a 4 month period negatively effect warranties?

 

2: Do any PC parts need to be actively in use in order to even register the manufacturer's warranty?

 

3: Should I not even unbox the stuff until I'm actually ready to build?

 

If y'all are interested in the other parts I'll likely be using: Windows 10 Home Retail Full Version USB, Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSD, 8GB DDR4 HyperX RAM (speed undecided, dependent on CPU), MasterCase Pro 3 (unless a smaller case with the same features becomes available). Also, just in case Zen fails I do have a Skylake backup plan which includes all the above with an i5-6500 & MSI H110M Gaming motherboard. I'm open to suggestions on everything although I can't sacrifice quality for budget. Hence why I went with that current case instead of Corsair Carbide Spec M2, it's just disappointing that to get what I need/want I must choose between too cheap or too big.

 

*EDIT: Total Budget is $1,000.00 USD for everything.

[TheStigsChineseCousin]

Warranty may depend on the manufacturer, but I'd guess it starts from the day you purchase it in most cases.  Personally I'd set the money aside and buy all at once (which is what I'm doing for my new build), then you get full use out of your warranties.  And 4 months from now Kaby will be out along with a slew of new motherboards, and you'll know how well Zen stacks up.

[Energycore]

I'd buy all at once tbh. Unless you find a killer sale (say, 25% off or better) on black friday. And as for your parts,

 

A 850 EVO isn't worth it anymore, they spiked prices on it hard and now it's better to get a $70 MX300 or a $65 SL308 (both great SSDs that trail the 850 EVO by just a hair).

 

A Supernova G2 for $80 is also a bit much for a 550W PSU imo, I'd get a M12II 520W for $63, made by Safesonic and fully modular.

 

A good mATX case for $75 is the Define Mini C from Fractal Design, it's got the famous silence optimization of the define series and has 5 slots so you can do crossfire on it.

[EminentSun]

First if you can work an rx 480 (4 or 8gb)/1060 6gb in do it. The 3gig variants are under powered, compared to the real 1060s, and 3gb of ram is cutting it extremely close for anything made in the last couple of years.

 

-Your warranties will end at different times, but most have a year or more, so DOA parts shouldn't come back to bite you any more than normal.

 

-No, but you won't find out if the parts are dead until you use them so it doesn't matter to much.

 

-Yes, it probably won't matter, but nothing good can come of opening you parts months in advance of building.

 

Finally would you like a pcpartpicker?

 

[Zyndo]

20 minutes ago, Mike Soda said:

Snip

Unless you get a GREAT deal on some component you know you want to have 100% for sure... then just get everything all at once when you're ready to build and have the budget to do so. buying things incrementally doesn't make much sense because something could always be cheaper in the future, or some newer, better product could be released and you may want that instead of your already purchased product.

 

8 minutes ago, Energycore said:

Supernova G2 for $80 is also a bit much for a 550W PSU imo, I'd get a M12II 520W for $63, made by Safesonic and fully modular.

the G2 is better quality and efficiency than the M12II. Seems like a waste to spend ~1k on a system then cheap out on 17 bucks for the PSU lol. But you're right in that there is nothing wrong with the M12II... its also pretty good, just not AS good as the G2

[Mike Soda]

5 minutes ago, TheStigsChineseCousin said:

Warranty may depend on the manufacturer, but I'd guess it starts from the day you purchase it in most cases.  Personally I'd set the money aside and buy all at once (which is what I'm doing for my new build), then you get full use out of your warranties.  And 4 months from now Kaby will be out along with a slew of new motherboards, and you'll know how well Zen stacks up.

Thank you, although in order for me to be able to do this at all the vast majority of parts will have to be purchased on sale.

4 minutes ago, Energycore said:

I'd buy all at once tbh. Unless you find a killer sale (say, 25% off or better) on black friday. And as for your parts,

 

A 850 EVO isn't worth it anymore, they spiked prices on it hard and now it's better to get a $70 MX300 or a $65 SL308 (both great SSDs that trail the 850 EVO by just a hair).

 

A Supernova G2 for $80 is also a bit much for a 550W PSU imo, I'd get a M12II 520W for $63, made by Safesonic and fully modular.

 

A good mATX case for $75 is the Define Mini C from Fractal Design, it's got the famous silence optimization of the define series and has 5 slots so you can do crossfire on it.

I'll look into that, the 5 year warranty & color is why I went with the EVO. I know the 550W G2 is overpriced at the moment but sometimes I've seen it at $65.00, although currently the 650W variant is only $70.00. I'll do some research into that case, Airflow is very important for my climate though. I've heard that cases with that type of front ventilation suffer from some restriction.

[Energycore]

Just now, Mike Soda said:

Thank you, although in order for me to be able to do this at all the vast majority of parts will have to be purchased on sale.

I'll look into that, the 5 year warranty & color is why I went with the EVO. I know the 550W G2 is overpriced at the moment but sometimes I've seen it at $65.00, although currently the 650W variant is only $70.00. I'll do some research into that case, Airflow is very important for my climate though. I've heard that cases with that type of front ventilation suffer from some restriction.

A 650W G2 for $70 is a pretty fine deal

 

1 minute ago, Zyndo said:

the G2 is better quality and efficiency than the M12II. Seems like a waste to spend ~1k on a system then cheap out on 17 bucks for the PSU lol. But you're right in that there is nothing wrong with the M12II... its also pretty good, just not AS good as the G2

lol it's not like I don't condone buying a G2. By all means get that and not a Raidmax. But for $80 why not a 750B2?

[Zyndo]

1 minute ago, Energycore said:

A 650W G2 for $70 is a pretty fine deal

 

lol it's not like I don't condone buying a G2. By all means get that and not a Raidmax. But for $80 why not a 750B2?

Because the B2 is much lower quality and efficiency. There is a lot more to PSU selection than wattage per dollar

[EminentSun]

I made this for someone else a few days ago, it's itx and a few dollars over budget, but this seems to be right up your alley.

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/8mTCFd

 

[Energycore]

1 minute ago, Zyndo said:

Because the B2 is much lower quality and efficiency. There is a lot more to PSU selection than wattage per dollar

The B2 is Tier 2, I wouldn't call it much lower quality, and it allows for Crossfire setups.

 

Look normally I agree with you but today I feel like playing devil's advocate. Both choices (750 B2, 550 G2) are very good for the price so I'm just nitpicking.

[Mike Soda]

2 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

Unless you get a GREAT deal on some component you know you want to have 100% for sure... then just get everything all at once when you're ready to build and have the budget to do so. buying things incrementally doesn't make much sense because something could always be cheaper in the future, or some newer, better product could be released and you may want that instead of your already purchased product.

 

the G2 is better quality and efficiency than the M12II. Seems like a waste to spend ~1k on a system then cheap out on 17 bucks for the PSU lol. But you're right in that there is nothing wrong with the M12II... its also pretty good, just not AS good as the G2

Thank you, I'll just stick with the G2 550 or 650 whenever I do buy it.

3 minutes ago, EminentSun said:

First if you can work an rx 480 (4 or 8gb)/1060 6gb in do it. The 3gig variants are under powered, compared to the real 1060s, and 3gb of ram is cutting it extremely close for anything made in the last couple of years.

 

-Your warranties will end at different times, but most have a year or more, so DOA parts shouldn't come back to bite you any more than normal.

 

-No, but you won't find out if the parts are dead until you use them so it doesn't matter to much.

 

-Yes, it probably won't matter, but nothing good can come of opening you parts months in advance of building.

 

Finally would you like a pcpartpicker?

 

My current monitor that's only a year old is a 19" 720p 1600x900 Acer V206HQL. So including that plus the only game I play right now (RuneScape), a 3GB 1060 is more than enough. I'd like to get into another game or two in the future but that's a couple years away or so. Sure anyone's welcome to post pcpartpicker recommendations but I've gotta go for a bit so will check back at this a little later tonight.

[Energycore]

1 minute ago, Mike Soda said:

My current monitor that's only a year old is a 19" 720p 1600x900 Acer V206HQL. So including that plus the only game I play right now (RuneScape), a 3GB 1060 is more than enough. I'd like to get into another game or two in the future but that's a couple years away or so. Sure anyone's welcome to post pcpartpicker recommendations but I've gotta go for a bit so will check back at this a little later tonight.

Sounds like you could be fine with less than a 1060 3GB. An RX 470, or even a 1050Ti

[Mike Soda]

3 hours ago, Energycore said:

Sounds like you could be fine with less than a 1060 3GB. An RX 470, or even a 1050Ti

Yeah that's true although I decided on the 3GB 1060 to prevent what happened to me when I bought my current PC. 5 years ago I got what was just good enough to run my game on the lowest possible detail. This time I'm building a PC that's more than capable of running it on Ultra, since right after that purchase 5 years ago they updated the game massively .

[Energycore]

Just now, Mike Soda said:

Yeah that's true although I decided on the 3GB 1060 to prevent what happened to me when I bought my current PC. 5 years ago I got what was just good enough to run my game on the lowest possible detail. This time I'm building a PC that's more than capable of running it on Ultra, since right after that purchase 5 years ago they updated the game massively .

If you want to go for future, a RX 480 4GB is a better bet overall. Both the frame buffer and the tendency for AMD cards to outlast nvidia cards that's been a trend since the HD7000/GTX600 series.

[Mike Soda]

1 minute ago, Energycore said:

If you want to go for future, a RX 480 4GB is a better bet overall. Both the frame buffer and the tendency for AMD cards to outlast nvidia cards that's been a trend since the HD7000/GTX600 series.

Does AMD now offer something comparable to Nvidia's new Fast-Sync? I know it's basically triple buffering but at the moment I just have a HD 6450 so there's no way I can check. There is Free-Sync but that has latency issues like G-Sync & it's not compatible with any monitor like Fast-Sync is.

[Energycore]

Just now, Mike Soda said:

Does AMD now offer something comparable to Nvidia's new Fast-Sync? I know it's basically triple buffering but at the moment I just have a HD 6450 so there's no way I can check. There is Free-Sync but that has latency issues like G-Sync & it's not compatible with any monitor like Fast-Sync is.

Freesync is just like Gsync in that it doesn't introduce more latency. The monitor waits until it can present a frame, instead of having to wait until 2 or 3 frames with vsync.

 

On top of that, Freesync is basically free so I would give the win to AMD here. If anything, fast sync is something nvidia introduced so their cards don't look horrible in the face of a technology that's strictly better

[Mike Soda]

1 minute ago, Energycore said:

Freesync is just like Gsync in that it doesn't introduce more latency. The monitor waits until it can present a frame, instead of having to wait until 2 or 3 frames with vsync.

 

On top of that, Freesync is basically free so I would give the win to AMD here. If anything, fast sync is something nvidia introduced so their cards don't look horrible in the face of a technology that's strictly better

Hmm I just don't like the idea that I need to buy a special monitor to use any type of syncing technology, or am I wrong & could Freesync work with my Acer V206HQL? It's true I don't play any 1st person shooters although being my monitor is only 60Hz, tearing would still be an issue for videos & what gaming I do. This 4GB MSI RX 480 on Newegg for only $180.00 does look enticing though.

[Energycore]

12 minutes ago, Mike Soda said:

Hmm I just don't like the idea that I need to buy a special monitor to use any type of syncing technology, or am I wrong & could Freesync work with my Acer V206HQL? It's true I don't play any 1st person shooters although being my monitor is only 60Hz, tearing would still be an issue for videos & what gaming I do. This 4GB MSI RX 480 on Newegg for only $180.00 does look enticing though.

For you with your normal monitor, AMD and Nvidia will behave the same way without vsync (tearing) and with it (latency).

 

A good point in between is to cap your framerate at 59, and that way you don't get as much screen tearing but still have good latency.

 

An AMD card will make it easier to enjoy adaptive sync in the future, because Freesync monitors can be had for as little as $120.

[Mike Soda]

48 minutes ago, Energycore said:

For you with your normal monitor, AMD and Nvidia will behave the same way without vsync (tearing) and with it (latency).

 

A good point in between is to cap your framerate at 59, and that way you don't get as much screen tearing but still have good latency.

 

An AMD card will make it easier to enjoy adaptive sync in the future, because Freesync monitors can be had for as little as $120.

Thank you very much although now I'm more torn between a 4GB GTX 480 & a 3GB 1060 lol. I always thought vsync, especially adaptive vsync (which my game supports) was Nvidia only. Now that I know AMD can use it too (unless I misread what ya said sorry I'm sleepy), I can hopefully make a better cost per FPS decision. Of course heat & power consumption are also very important as I live in a hot climate.

[Mike Soda]

As an update to this thread, I've decided to do a compromise of the ideas suggested by various posters. Since I don't have the $200.00+ for the GPU & PSU for new build right now I'll just continue to wait. Unfortunately I will be missing any Black Friday sales although I'm sure more deals will arise between now & February. However if I do spot a sale where a part is marked down by quiet a bit I will purchase it & activate the warranty ASAP. Thank you all for your input & I look forward to actually sharing my build log with ya when everything is here in 2017.

[Mike Soda]

5 hours ago, Energycore said:

I'd buy all at once tbh. Unless you find a killer sale (say, 25% off or better) on black friday. And as for your parts,

 

A 850 EVO isn't worth it anymore, they spiked prices on it hard and now it's better to get a $70 MX300 or a $65 SL308 (both great SSDs that trail the 850 EVO by just a hair).

 

A Supernova G2 for $80 is also a bit much for a 550W PSU imo, I'd get a M12II 520W for $63, made by Safesonic and fully modular.

 

A good mATX case for $75 is the Define Mini C from Fractal Design, it's got the famous silence optimization of the define series and has 5 slots so you can do crossfire on it.

 

5 hours ago, Zyndo said:

Unless you get a GREAT deal on some component you know you want to have 100% for sure... then just get everything all at once when you're ready to build and have the budget to do so. buying things incrementally doesn't make much sense because something could always be cheaper in the future, or some newer, better product could be released and you may want that instead of your already purchased product.

 

the G2 is better quality and efficiency than the M12II. Seems like a waste to spend ~1k on a system then cheap out on 17 bucks for the PSU lol. But you're right in that there is nothing wrong with the M12II... its also pretty good, just not AS good as the G2

It wont let me mark both of your posts as the Answer to this thread so I'm just making this personal reply saying thanks a million.