Time it takes for you decide on pc parts

[pcslookout]

How long does it normally take you to decide on pc parts before buying them ?

 

[Yakk]

Deciding on the parts is fast, finding them at the right price takes me much longer.

 

[pcslookout]

Deciding on the parts is fast, finding them at the right price takes me much longer.

This is true.

 

[Charlie98]

Either you need the parts or you don't....

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Well, I have two processes going forward in my immersion with desktop-building.

Ongoing, I always need small parts of this and that -- cables, plugs, HDDs, fans.

Seasonally, annually and over a longer span, I may plan computer-building projects, each over a year's time, but there's no certainty that I will actually build them. So there's an annual budget for "household computer upgrades," and a schedule, if only a vague one. The small-change stuff is also part of that budget-plan, but the financing of it is monthly cash, if only to zero out credit cards.

For the projects (there was my X79 IB-E plan -- didn't build it; my Haswell-E project -- didn't build that either) -- I may use an account for which there's no interest charges if paid within a year for $500 or more. But I still need to find bargains. I may figure on a base initial outlay of about $1,600.

So I start reading reviews and looking at forum exchanges. I choose a processor and chipset. I start looking at motherboards, and give a heads-up to alternatives touted by the reviews, but lean toward ASUS. I'll window-shop top-tier boards, just to get a feel for the "possible." Then I'll pick a board that has performance close to the top tier, without features I wouldn't want anyway. But I'm likely to pay between $170 and $250, well below top-tier prices.

RAM reviews always give new insights, but I've stuck mostly with G.SKILL. Instead, I'm keen for searching through the G.SKILL models for the right timings, voltage, speed, and inclusion in a "configurator" link of either the motherboard or RAM maker. The QVL lists can be good for extrapolating compatibility to the same module design at a higher speed standard.

So I'll come up with a list of parts entered in an Excel spread, with columns for several resellers in my table of resellers. Shipping, taxes, delay, certainly trust and reliability figure into my decisions.

Then I click all the checkout buttons, hopefully one big one that doesn't cost me anything in finance charges. And I may wait over a two-week period, checking the tracking pages for UPS, FedEx, DHL or whomever. I have to be sure and leave the gate unlocked for deliveries, check the mailbox and so on.

I come to see it this way, though. I see it as something like surfing. You have to wait for the right wave. And when you put it all together, it should have an overall strategy that integrates case-design considerations, cooling expectations and challenges, location of storage, ventilation -- all of it.

Even if you follow some master plan you dreamed up over months, it's going to change in the process of putting it together.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Me? I go cruising around Newegg and ebay, pretty much every night, and if I see something interesting, I snag it. It's a really bad habit that is costing me big bucks, so I don't suggest emulating it.

I bought a RX 460 4GB Nitro about a week or two ago, for $139.99 + $4.99 ship. Now, it's down to like $124.99, with a $10 MIR! Ouch. So much for early-adopter tax.

Likewise, with my Intel 600p 256GB M.2 NVMe SSD. I bought it for $109.99, and now Newegg recently had it for $89.99 with promo code.

Edit: It can be hard to gauge, though. If you remember, the i7-6700K Skylake high-end consumer mainstream CPUs, were released initially at their $349.99 MSRP, but prices almost immediately skyrocketed beyond $400 due to demand.

Even if you follow some master plan you dreamed up over months, it's going to change in the process of putting it together.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

If it's a new computer build (aka I'm not going to newegg to buy whatever I need to get my main PC/GF's PC back up and running) I usually research what the current hotness is (and why), figure out who's selling it (usually end up defaulting to newegg) and get a list of parts I've decided on.. that part usually takes a few weeks if I'm serious, for reviews/stat analysis/price trending/compatibility investigation, though it'd be faster if that's all I did for a few hours probably (so weekend I guess?). I then troll the places I've staked out for x days until one gets a decent discount, then just order everything at once. Usually only takes a week or so after deciding on parts to actually have stuff shipped, usually saving myself a hundred or so from original stakeout price (so worth it in my mind).

 

[BonzaiDuck]

If it's a new computer build (aka I'm not going to newegg to buy whatever I need to get my main PC/GF's PC back up and running) I usually research what the current hotness is (and why), figure out who's selling it (usually end up defaulting to newegg) and get a list of parts I've decided on.. that part usually takes a few weeks if I'm serious, for reviews/stat analysis/price trending/compatibility investigation, though it'd be faster if that's all I did for a few hours probably (so weekend I guess?). I then troll the places I've staked out for x days until one gets a decent discount, then just order everything at once. Usually only takes a week or so after deciding on parts to actually have stuff shipped, usually saving myself a hundred or so from original stakeout price (so worth it in my mind).

I don't measure it in hours-to-complete before purchase. Information about parts comes in a stream over time. If it's a motherboard, I'll analyze the information (folklore-from-forums, too) to see if some glitch is BIOS-revisable and I'll wait for a BIOS revision in the retail-box shipping. I've got to have a good estimate for how far it will go in an overclock and how hot things get at the worst. I tend to believe that "just buying" something and using it with the least investment of time offers me less self-satisfaction. I have to "do" something as in "DYI-do." But it must pay off in saving time over unforeseen obstacles after it's built.

I'd had a CoolerMaster Stacker 830 "black-aluminum" case in mothballs since 2013, wrapped and sealed in plastic bags and left in a corner of the outdoor patio in a perpetually-shaded corner. It was just a part of a cycle of things. I can't say it "saved me money" on a case, because I bought it new in 2008 in a bargain. It was new in a carton, and a friend had purchased two and decided to sell me one with the minor defect in the pullout mobo-tray latch and lock -- which I fixed. I paid $130, and it was a case priced between $200 and $250. If it lacks innovations in newer post-2008 cases, I will innovate.

Anyway, the "Green Hornet" is almost complete. Just need to apply a Dremel to some plexi-lexa and get my fingers sticky with specialized super-glues.

Here's some stuff I got for it that wasn't part of the plan, except that it more accommodates a major plan feature of potential 280mm radiator dual fans. That eliminates options for front-panel devices one bay at a time, and I have only two 5.25" spaces left. But I want front-panel USB3, light switches for the cold cathodes, a Blu-Ray ODD burner and a hot-swap bay for caddies with backup disks:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4A047K7490&cm_re=SAMSung_Seagate_spinpoint_2.5"_2TB-_-22-178-627-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994146&cm_re=icy_dock_hot_swap_ODD_2.5"_HDD-_-17-994-146-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...20N_ultra_slim_ODD-_-9SIA25V4Y27368-_-Product

Once I'd decided on the ICY DOCK device, my choice of disks was tutored by enough experience, but I didn't think about the difference between "Ultra slim" and "slim." Only two of the four internal ODD-to-tray mounting screws can be used on one side of the ODD, and there is no support from the tray that will properly present the hot-swap plugs of the ODD to its sockets on the ICY DOCK backplane.

I fixed that with an old SSD adhesive plastic "spacer" always included with drives these days, and some of that white foam two-sided sticky-tape.

What can I say? You can't much see the difference in the 2mm gap left visible by the ODD installation, but it fits in there solid, doesn't go anywhere and works like a charm. And I may even bother to fill the gap, in an episode of OCD, but it won't make a hilla beans difference.

If you get all tangled up, just tango on as the Al Pacino script line puts it. It's just a lapse when your plan gets cluttered with impatient impulse buying, even if the ideas are good ones, and you choose to go forward with some minor mis-match that nevertheless is as good as you'd want.

Set me back a bit for my saving plan, though.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

A few minutes. Whatever PCPartpicker has, basically.

Don't overthink it.

 

[lukart]

Whats the budget you want to spend?

 

[Charlie98]

Me? I go cruising around Newegg and ebay, pretty much every night, and if I see something interesting, I snag it. It's a really bad habit that is costing me big bucks, so I don't suggest emulating it.

Yaa... I had to quit that. I have a weakness for storage and, for some reason, power supplies.