Poll: component prices?

[Nevyn522]

For the last few weeks I've been weighing my options on upgrading my "aging" desktop -- hell, everyone knows a PII 400 is too slow these days!

I was about set to make my purchases (AMD Thunderbird 1.2GHz 266MHz bus, either the Shuttle AK-31Rev2 or Epox EP-8k7A mobo, at least 256MB DDR, and maybe a new power supply and case (I have drives and cards up the wazoo), when it struck me that with my work schedule, I've used my laptop a lot, but I've spent less than an hour on my desktop in the last 3 weeks -- total. (Of course, I then went and watched a movie on it last night, but still...).

So, I'm thinking of putting off buying anything until September -- if prices follow the normal trends, I expect to be able to get a 1.4GHz or so for about the same price, and possibly a newer mobo...

But I'm concerned, given that prices have fallen so much, that prices will rise again.

So, what's your thoughts?

Will prices start rising soon? Should I buy RAM now, and then the rest in two months?

HELP! 🙂

 

[Hender]

Buying volitile components like RAM is always a gamble. I bought my DDR memory a couple of months ago when Crucial started selling it, and RAM prices had been in the dumpster for so long I figured it would rise again, so I bought two sticks of 256 MB PC2100 DDR-SDRAM for $115 apiece, and now the price are down to $55 apiece. I took a bath, but memory prices can't drop much more. Of course, having said that, the Computer Gods will drop Crucial's price yet again to make me even more miserable. 🙂

Prices on CPUs will continue to drop. AMD is not planning on moving past 1.6 GHz this year, so keep that in mind. They normally have price cuts on their older stuff when they debut a new chip, but the 1.4 GHz Athlon won't get significantly cheaper by year's end. Maybe $30-$40 less, I'd say. Components prices always drop, but that means there's always something better around the corner. Plus, you won't notice the difference between a 1.2 GHz Athlon and a 1.4 GHz Athlon unless you're rendering, running simulations, or compiling big programs.

 

[MrBond]

CPU prices will continue to drop, as will board prices, etc. Ram prices fluctuate. A lot. I remember when $78/128mb of pc100 seemed like a good deal, so I picked some up. 2 months later, it was up to $150/128mb. They've fallen since. I'd just pick up however much ram you will use in the new system, put it in your 400mhz, and wait for fall. If it drops, oh well, if it doesn't, you're lucky.

Oh wait, you're building a DDR system. Nevermind about the buy and use it now idea 😀