Should I buy it now or wait til I can get the whole system?

[dirtywhitellama]

Let me start by saying I am 100% sure I will be getting either i5 750 or 760 and setting up my build around that.

Right now I can get a 760 for $180 ( which is like $20-30 cheaper than usual!)

But I can't afford the rest of my system quite yet. Hopefully by the end of the month, but I don't know for sure (depends on how good my tax return is... )

Mainly I'm concerned about the possibility of DOA and being outside my return period. How likely is that to happen with CPUs? Is Intel's warranty good enough to cover any problem I may have (assuming I don't break it myself)? Of everything it seems like CPUs have the least low ratings on places like Newegg, Tigerdirect, etc and practically nobody complains about the chip being dead. (most of the complainers seem to expect this chip to have the integrated graphics...heh)

Anyway, I mostly wanted to wait and buy everything at once, but that's a pretty darn good deal and I was wondering if I should even worry about it.

Thanks for your advice!

 

[moody89]

If there's a good deal on at the moment then I would make the most of it particularly when buying a system in smaller chunks makes it easier on the wallet which is often the case. I'd be surprised if your CPU arrived dead - granted it's possible but very unlikely I would think. If it were me I'd have ordered it by now and then worry about the rest of my system when I have the money.

 

[jorn978]

What ever you do wait!!! once Sandy Bridge comes out Sunday your likely to see prices fall to 1/2 of that! not to mention im sure AMD's prices will fall to so you can have a nice choice.

and plus im sure you could get a nice sandy bridge i5 2500k for around that, and its much better (I think )

 

[beanoslim]

I'd say wait for possible price drops across the board, who knows you may be looking at an i7 950 setup.

As far as DOA goes it does happen but returns aren't a problem.
If it sat around a while before you tried it it would still be covered by Intels warranty anyway.

 

[popatim]

WAIT! SB is out and pricepoints will shift. That cpu is on sale now because they know it is going to drop even lower and they want to cut their losses (imo). You will most likely find that when youo do go to buy that another more powerful cpu has claimed that pricepoint and the one you wanted is even cheaper.

The general rule I go by is to buy when you have all the money provided nothing is right around the corner (like within a month) or just came out; like SB just did. Well.. by nothing I mean something that is worth waiting for. I wouldn't wait for a 4 platter HDD when its using the same tech as a current 3 platter. LOL.

 

[jorn978]

^
I agree, even if you dont want to make a SB build you should wait for it, prices will be MUCH lower on competing CPUs.

 

[dirtywhitellama]

Best answer selected by dirtywhitellama.