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Best season/time of year to upgrade

G

garndawg

Member
Stupid question, but the search engine didn't turn up anyone asking it before...

I've got an old system that I'm planning to rebuild and install Win X. I'm in no particular hurry, but probably will do this at Christmas or just after.

Is there a prime time of year to buy components? I'm going to be basing this off a new 4760k cpu.

Thanks in advance.
 
Often there are sales at different times like back to school, thanksgiving black or cyber Monday or whenever the Christmas specials New Years specials show up. Other times to buy certain items are when the new parts come out for the model year. Don't expect too much of a drop in price from Intel. Often you save 1$ here $5 there etc. You might sign up for the Newegg newsletter. They put something on sale every week or sometimes just for 2 days.

Last year I purchase a CPU at a pretty good deal. It was selling for about $124 and now it is retailing for $139. You have to play the waiting game.

1 Intel Core i3-4330 Haswell Dual-Core 3.5GHz LGA 1150 54W Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4600 BX80646I34330Item #: N82E16819116945CPU Replacement Only Return Policy $124.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116945 Current Price $139.

No price drop in 9 months.
 
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Black Friday (sales to bring on the volume, but they get worse every year)
Feb/March (that stock they couldn't get rid of during the holidays)
Back to School (Black Friday light)

Also, living near Microcenter can help 🙂

However, if you aren't flexible on your parts choices, sales are likely to be too little and too sporadic.

The last few years, the common sale times haven't been too impressive, IME.
 
Last 4 computers I've build were in September. 2001, 2004, 2007, 2012.
Best time would be Black Friday. Good thing Fry's and Microcenter are 24 miles away. TigerDirect, 1.5 miles away.
 
For the latest CPU and chipset (at least for Intel builds), it's usually around April/May time as that's when Intel release new CPU's. However, due to delays getting Broadwell out (due out soon), Skylake may not appear until summer time (currently planned for H2'2015).

For cheapest systems, aim for just before the new chips come out, since they are usually trying to reduce/get rid of older stock.
 
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I wouldn't get too hung up about the time of year. If you're flexible about part choices, you can find good deals at any time. As a case in point, I've never had a problem finding good deals every week for my midrange builders guide. I started doing that 3 years ago at this point. You might save an extra $50 overall by timing the sales perfectly, but if you're looking at a significant portion of a computer, something is going to be on sale pretty much all the time.
 
Thanks for the responses, folks. It's nice to confirm what I've been observing.

And mfenn, I really appreciate your builders' guide. I read that regularly and gain a lot from it.

Thanks again!
 
I like to upgrade in the fall to winter seasons.
It allows for me to devote more time to research and assembly.
 
IMHO, if you game, it's immediately after the launch of a full-node shrunk GPU. That's typically your chance to get a 50%+ performance, in games, with little increase in cost. Of course with slowing process upgrades at TSMC that opportunity seems to come less frequently these days...
 
I have done some studies on some of these so-called retail sellers. They may look like they offer a great deal till you add up the gasoline and the time and travel, then you have to pay taxes also. I have some a lot of doubt about retail sales. I have to save money on the entire purchase not just what the retailer has on sale. If the Item I want is not on sale maybe I don't want to buy what they are selling.
 
piasabird said:
then you have to pay taxes also.
Click to expand...

Note that in most states you are indeed liable for sales tax on Internet purchases. What you put on your tax return is your own business of course, but Internet purchases are definitely not "tax free" when you're looking at TCA.
 
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