The "right" time to buy?

BUDFORCE

BUDFORCE

BUDFORCE

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So I read these forums a lot, there seems to be a trend that right now is not the right time to buy, with the pending release of new generation CPUs and graphics card, plus I guess still there is a bit of covid price inflation.

But generally speaking, when is the "right" time to buy?

After a new generation of hardware is released? But won't it be expensive on release? Won't you get best bang for buck say, 3 months later? Or maybe you buy the previous generation hardware? Is this even a thing and in reality it doesn't really matter?
 
BUDFORCE said:
So I read these forums a lot, there seems to be a trend that right now is not the right time to buy, with the pending release of new generation CPUs and graphics card, plus I guess still there is a bit of covid price inflation.

But generally speaking, when is the "right" time to buy?

After a new generation of hardware is released? But won't it be expensive on release? Won't you get best bang for buck say, 3 months later? Or maybe you buy the previous generation hardware? Is this even a thing and in reality it doesn't really matter?
Click to expand...

My experience is that the price of hardware doesn't go down all that much over time. If there are stock issues at a release, it tends to be the case that prices inflate with them but I'd still suggest that right after a release is the "right time". I tend to do big bang upgrades and last did so around 4 years ago with the 1080 launch, so felt like my PC was high end for longer as a result.

If you buy the previous generations hardware, you can probably pick up some bargains, but that only occurs after a new launch, just look at the prices of 2080Ti cards right now...
 
2nd September... See what's happening then with intel and Nvidia .

2080ti, 2080S, 2080 and 2070s should drop in price a little to allow 3090 and 3080 to slide in at the top.
But mid tier like 2060s/ 1660s shouldn't budget as those Next gen tier isn't out for a while
 
2080ti is a poor metric for understanding when it is best time to buy parts. 2080ti has no competition so there is no market pressure what so ever.

2070super for instance is a direct competitor for 5700 xt. cheapest launch price over £550 now it is £440. 5700 xt cheapest @ launch is £440 now £350.

price drop usually conincide with competition launch, or new generation parts as well as seasonal sales. price inflation is usually associated with demand and supply

right now as today is a bad time to buy because none of the above price deflation factors are true, while the inflationionary factors are still in play due to COVID affecting global supply chain and manufacturing.
 
Interesting I think there are many factors.

For example I'm still running a Sandbridge i7 heading towards 10 years, yes it is now outdated, but if I had known then what a knew now, I would have happily paid double, I believe, through a bit of luck I hasten to add, that was a very good time to buy.
 
Sandy bridge, Haswell, skylake were only proven to be good purchases because intel stagnated.

If they kept their promise of tick-tock and moved their fabrication along then it would have been a different story.

to judge when is a good time to buy for the next 5/6 year is impossible. You can only judge when the is a good time to buy parts with respect to the CURRENT market condition. To speculate things 6yrs down the line as a consumer is fools game.

if you are an investor has inside knowledge on AMD and intel’s technologies etc then it may give you a better understanding. However it is still risky as intel investors are now suing intel for misleading them. So there you go.
 
There always seems to be something new “a few months around the corner”
I tend to usually wait, but then the few months turns into a year and I forget.
Or, the few months passes, new tech is released and is out my price range so end up buying the old tech for a bit cheaper.

If you want something, it’s best just to buy it and enjoy it. I did that with my most recent GPU anyway. 2080Ti.
Yes, I could have waited for the 3000 series but i’m not expecting them to sell a 3080Ti for the same price as I got the 2080Ti (£825)
So...the best time to buy is now :D
 
BUDFORCE said:
For example I'm still running a Sandbridge i7 heading towards 10 years
Click to expand...
It kept on going only because of Intel stagnating, well in everything.
  • Ivy Bridge brought new manufacturing node. (though switching to chewed up bubblegum/toothpaste under heatspreader)
  • Haswell was small incremental architectural improvement on same node.
  • Broadwell didn't come to desktop with problems in new node.
  • Then Skylake brought that small architectural improvement and new node on desktop.
  • But after that Intel has only been rebranding both same architecture and node.
  • Even core count kept stagnating in same four cores reached first time in 2006, untill AMD brought Ryzen.

Now next-gen consoles coming before Christmas have basically Ryzen 3700X's non-boosting variant with 7 cores dedicated exclusively for games.
With tight optimizing of console games that's some hefty CPU power as mainstream for next-gen games.
So pretty certain that PC gaming high end moves past 10 cores in few years.
(unless Intel is giving developers payolas behind curtains)
 
By the way my comments about buying at the right time, I stress I got lucky, I know there is no way I could have known that.
 
I faffed around for nearly over a year contemplating and spec-ing a PC build, before finally pulling the trigger in early January. Turned out to be a good time to buy with prices not yet affected by covid-19. I went with a 3700x and a 2070 super and couldn't be happier. I think the only time to wait again is when we are so close to new products, which is undoubtedly have some effect on prices of older hardware.

In conclusion, I think if you have the money to spend, the joy of using your PC now trumps waiting for the "right time".
 
For gpu prolly when amd shoot their load and we know what each side has.

CPU after amd 4000 or cheap placeholder for now, as we know Intel won't have much of a response
 
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