where can I find trending prices and charts for cpu, memory, ssd etc.

[holden j caufield]

I need to buy and bunch of parts and I used to see places like pricewatch with a good chart what are some places with charts for components?

Thanks

 

[SadPanda]

Try pcpartpicker.com...I'm using that right now.

 

[Torn Mind]

I will mention camelcamelcamel.com for Amazon prices.

 

[piasabird]

Beware of websites that look for a good price. Often sites pay to be included. In the USA there are cycles of sales and often if you time your prices to when things are on sale you can easily save some green. I think the best thing to do is set up a system where you save $50-$100 every month in a Christmas or savings account and then use that to purchase a computer every 2 years or so.

 

[Lonyo]

CamelCamelCamel as noted above has historic prices for components which isn't that useful.

CPU historic prices are almost irrelevant, as they are basically in set price brackets, and the only time it's cheaper is if it's on a sale/offer, which you can't predict. Intel CPU prices have a very specific cadence which has been consistent for something like 5+ years now. Unless you get a Microcenter deal then it will be the price it is.

RAM is very volatile and historic trends have no relation to future prices.

SSDs are on a somewhat consistent downward cycle so the longer you wait the better the deal you will get pretty much guaranteed, again not much point in looking at past prices, since they won't be relevant for the future. Sales will be sales and can't really be predicted.

GPUs are probably the most volatile but depend primarily on new products being introduced more than anything else, which often shifts pricing, but price cuts and movements can't really be predicted.

Motherboards, PSUs, cases etc are all fairly immovable and unless there's a new chipset around the corner all three will be fairly static.

So basically, there's no point in looking at historic prices and you just need to keep an eye on hot deal forums for the parts which will have sales, or buy whenever you are able the parts which won't change in price.

 

[piasabird]

Take your pick:
Valentines day
Mother's Day
Father's Day
4th of July
Labor Day
Thanksgiving i.e. black Friday
Back to school
D Day
New Product Releases or Yearly product refreshes i.e. model year
Veterans Day
Columbus Day
St Patricks Day
Christmas
New years

For instance I purchased an Intel CPU E4330 for around $125 around last Christmas. It is still selling for about $139.99 at Newegg last time I checked. Christmas and black Friday seem to be good time to purchase items. However, if you sign up for the Newegg newsletter you will see items go on sale all the time. Just make sure you are purchasing what you really want or close to it and pay attention to shipping costs.