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NewEgg Black November Deals worth to build a computer?

Computer parts are a volitile commodity, unfortunately. You really have to decide what your budget is, what "level" of computer you want to build (all out gamer, midrange gamer, web surfer only, etc) before you go shopping. THEN you either buy your parts piece by piece over time, or you bite the bullet, buy all the parts from one source "on sale" at the same time and don't check back in the coming weeks to see if you could've saved $10-30.

That said, the best piece of advice I can give you is this: In any computer the most important piece of hardware is the power supply. With a cheap power supply, even $4,000 worth of parts will not work worth a darn. No $35 case comes with a good power supply. Expect to spend $50-$60 MINIMUM on a good power supply ALONE. Case is extra. Remember: A good PS and case will last you through many "new computers." Good power supplies are made by (not in rank order): Antec, Seasonic, Corsair, PC Power & Cooling to name a few good manuf's.
 
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MichaelD said:
That said, the best piece of advice I can give you is this: In any computer the most important piece of hardware is the power supply. With a cheap power supply, even $4,000 worth of parts will not work worth a darn.
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Good advice, thanks for the insight. Agreed, a PS should be purchased separately. The case on sale is one I used to build my last machine in February and it is decent quality and is perfect for my need, so at $35 after sale and rebate its a good deal. Think I went with a $60 Antec power supply, same type I used on my last 2 builds and they've never failed and are still running many years later.

Care to share your opinion on CPU and Mobo?
Microcenter has the Intel CPU and mobo combo's, and I have a MC about 30 minutes away so i'll either go that route, or, i'll buy everything on NewEgg and Amazon.
-NewEgg's Intel Core i3-2120 Sandy Bridge
-Microcenter's Intel Intel Core i3-3220 Ivy Bridge

Which is a better bet? Or are they highly comparable? Does one have cheaper motherboards or those about the same as well?
 
Ivy Bridge is the newer iteration of Intel's i3 line. Uses less power for the same or better performance. Be sure whatever motherboard you buy is compatible with Ivy Bridge; some are not w/o a BIOS flash. Trick is that in order to flash the BIOS you need a working/compatible CPU. IOW, motherboard XYZ might be compatible w/Ivy Bridge with a BIOS flash. So you need a Sandy Bridge CPU to boot up and flash it, but you bought an Ivy Bridge CPU, so you're stuck.

What are your intended uses for this computer? What GPU/RAM do you already have? Sandy/Ivy Bridge both are DDR3 only motherboards. I assume you have an Operating System already?
 
MichaelD said:
Computer parts are a volitile commodity, unfortunately. You really have to decide what your budget is, what "level" of computer you want to build (all out gamer, midrange gamer, web surfer only, etc) before you go shopping. THEN you either buy your parts piece by piece over time, or you bite the bullet, buy all the parts from one source "on sale" at the same time and don't check back in the coming weeks to see if you could've saved $10-30.

That said, the best piece of advice I can give you is this: In any computer the most important piece of hardware is the power supply. With a cheap power supply, even $4,000 worth of parts will not work worth a darn. No $35 case comes with a good power supply. Expect to spend $50-$60 MINIMUM on a good power supply ALONE. Case is extra. Remember: A good PS and case will last you through many "new computers." Good power supplies are made by (not in rank order): Antec, Seasonic, Corsair, PC Power & Cooling to name a few good manuf's.
Click to expand...
I'm going to quibble on a couple things.

With the way power supplies have gone on sale these days, it actually is possible to get a quality 400-500W power supply for $25-50 on occasion.

Also, Antec, Corsair and other companies like them typically don't manufacture their own PSUs, so I think referring to them as manufacturers might be a little misleading. They typically rebrand PSUs built by companies like Seasonic, Channel Well and Delta. As a result, while essentially every Seasonic is a good unit because they manufacture their entire line themselves, not every Antec or Corsair is the same quality as their best units.

As far as motherboards, get a 7-series chipset motherboard and avoid the BIOS headaches. (Z77, B75, H77). Edit: By "BIOS headaches" I do not mean to imply that Z68 boards have faulty BIOSes. I'm just saying you'll avoid the whole BIOS flash thing.
 
MichaelD said:
Ivy Bridge is the newer iteration of Intel's i3 line. Uses less power for the same or better performance. Be sure whatever motherboard you buy is compatible with Ivy Bridge; some are not w/o a BIOS flash. Trick is that in order to flash the BIOS you need a working/compatible CPU. IOW, motherboard XYZ might be compatible w/Ivy Bridge with a BIOS flash. So you need a Sandy Bridge CPU to boot up and flash it, but you bought an Ivy Bridge CPU, so you're stuck.

What are your intended uses for this computer? What GPU/RAM do you already have? Sandy/Ivy Bridge both are DDR3 only motherboards. I assume you have an Operating System already?
Click to expand...

The computer will mostly be used to remote desktop into a more powerful computer at a different location. However, I will have all the programs loaded up in case I need to use them without remote desktop which will include stuff like Photoshop for regular work, dreamweaver, and then everything else is plain jane stuff that doesn't require much cpu power. So the machine will propbably be overwill with either of these CPU's, but I'm still going to try to make this machine decent enough to stand on its own for the long haul. I'm planning a decent but highly rated 60GM SSD drive, and will probaly go 8GB or 16GB Ram.

For operating system i'll be running Windows 7, I have an extra copy already paid for.


My other computer has a Sandy Bridge. Any good reason to stick to Sandy bridge then? Here are some of the specs:
-Intel i7-2700K CPU (Got on price mistake for a crazy price so I didn't pay over the 2500K)
-Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B Motherboard
-Corsair 16 GB Vengeance Low Profile 1600mhz PC3-12800 240-pin Dual Channel DDR3

Don't know if there needs to be any synergy between the machines, just figured I'd mention it.

DSF said:
Also, Antec, Corsair and other companies like them typically don't manufacture their own PSUs, so I think referring to them as manufacturers might be a little misleading.

As far as motherboards, get a 7-series chipset motherboard and avoid the BIOS headaches. (Z77, B75, H77). Edit: By "BIOS headaches" I do not mean to imply that Z68 boards have faulty BIOSes. I'm just saying you'll avoid the whole BIOS flash thing.
Click to expand...

Agreed on the power supply explanation. I typically read reviews and try to buy on the upper hand side of a manufacturers line. That's never steered me wrong.

Can you elaborate on the motherboard issue further? On my other rig I have a Z68 and it works great, although the first one I got bricked itself but this second one has been great.

Appreciate the help everyone.
 
Just that Z77 boards are designed to accept Ivy Bridge CPUs straight from the box, whereas Z68 boards are not. Putting an Ivy Bridge chip into a Z68 board usually involves booting up with a Sandy Bridge chip and then flashing the BIOS and switching out the CPU. That's what MichaelD was alluding to above.

So he and I were both saying to avoid the issue by buying a motherboard with a 7-series chipset.
 
itakey said:
Care to share your opinion on CPU and Mobo?
Microcenter has the Intel CPU and mobo combo's, and I have a MC about 30 minutes away so i'll either go that route, or, i'll buy everything on NewEgg and Amazon.
-NewEgg's Intel Core i3-2120 Sandy Bridge
-Microcenter's Intel Intel Core i3-3220 Ivy Bridge

Which is a better bet? Or are they highly comparable? Does one have cheaper motherboards or those about the same as well?
Click to expand...

The i3 3225 is $120 at MC and eligible for the "$40 off any compatible mobo" option. Grab that and an H77 mobo like the Biostar H77MU3. With combo savings and rebate, you'll be able to get the CPU and mobo for $140 + tax.

You won't beat that price at Newegg, BF or no.
 
DSF said:
I'm going to quibble on a couple things.

With the way power supplies have gone on sale these days, it actually is possible to get a quality 400-500W power supply for $25-50 on occasion.

Also, Antec, Corsair and other companies like them typically don't manufacture their own PSUs, so I think referring to them as manufacturers might be a little misleading. They typically rebrand PSUs built by companies like Seasonic, Channel Well and Delta. As a result, while essentially every Seasonic is a good unit because they manufacture their entire line themselves, not every Antec or Corsair is the same quality as their best units.

As far as motherboards, get a 7-series chipset motherboard and avoid the BIOS headaches. (Z77, B75, H77). Edit: By "BIOS headaches" I do not mean to imply that Z68 boards have faulty BIOSes. I'm just saying you'll avoid the whole BIOS flash thing.
Click to expand...

I agree with your comments on the OEM of power supplies "made by" Antec, Corsair etc. I know who OEMs for those guys but I've been doing this computer thing since the mid-80's. I didn't want to confuse the OP. I.E. you don't typically see Channel Well and Delta-BRANDED power supplies.
 
Dont forget to add the Tax and the Gas at $4 gal to the purchase price. Sometimes the savings is not much at all. Plus what happens if you have to return something? Sometimes the convenience of Newegg makes it worth it. Sometimes if you wait for a sale on Newegg you can save some extra money. Sign up for the newsletter to get more savings.

Sometimes you can get certain items cheaper at amazon.com
 
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Even including sales tax and gas costs (@50 mi. each way), I still saved more than $130 on an order of CPU+mobo+RAM+drives at Microcenter. I couldn't believe Newegg was that much more expensive, I double and triple checked the prices, but it was true.

3770K CPU - $90 cheaper
Asus P8Z77-V Pro - $30 cheaper
Crucial RAM - $40 cheaper
WD Black 1 TB HD - $5 cheaper
Crucial M4 128GB SSD - $20 cheaper (AR)
 
As much as I like Newegg, MicroCenter is giving NE a run for it's money. SSD's are basically at what NE is selling them for (sometimes even on sale,) even though you would have to pay sales tax at MC. I believe NE's prices have been creeping up the past 6 months, and their daily deals really haven't been that great. Occasionally, a nugget will be put up and I'll jump on it, but lately... Meh. I actually prefer to go to my local MC and shop vs NE... but my wife doesn't like me to go there!

I bought a Corsair CX430 PSU for $17 after rebate for my HTPC build... so the deals are out there.

Depending on what you are looking for (and your timeframe,) make a list and check the deals as they roll into your mailbox. At this point, I would wait until BF and just see what comes up unless you really find a good deal on something you want/need before then.
 
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