When to buy?

First off, sorry if this is in an inappropriate place.

I've been reading through a good many posts (mainly on budget gaming builds) and am salivating on the chance to build my own. It would be my first time so I'm really naive and receptive to ideas and suggestions. I've been trying to at least self-educate myself by reading the posts and looking at the available guides and recommended list parts. But the main question I have is when is the best time to buy?

At the latest, I would be eager to begin asking for advice on building a budget Gaming Desktop ($500-$600) no later than mid-Jan, my reasonable wait would be until around end of December. While it may be the case that waiting may always see a decline in price, I'm more asking is there notable time (after Black Friday, into the December Holiday Season, after January) when the community notices them? I am very much willing to wait until around the end of December or even shortly thereafter, if price drops are known to be significant around one of those times.

Also, I would be starting from scratch minus a keyboard, mouse, monitor (I'll get back later if resolution right now here matters to know).

99% of the time the answer is "buy now"
but I think we are in the other 1% right now

Intels new i5 cpu's will shake up the market , and depending on performance they may force AMD to slash prices of Phenom . And we are on the threshold of DX11 gfx cards . Even if you cant afford to pay a pemium for one they too will force down the price of DX 10 gfx cards .

Wait a month

alright, as 'Twoboxer' said wait for the i5 it'll be much better than the 955/65
bcz of the fact they are targeted for midranges (500-600$) they'll provide better performance and upgradability than the 955/AM3 compo (vs i5/1156)
and they will provide better features as the support for CF and SLI in the most expensive 1156 mobo for mid-range i5 system.

Regards.