Thoughts on Black Friday component shopping

[billdresh]

I'm new to the forum but have been building PCs for over 5 years. One thing I haven't done is buy hardware during the Black Friday (Cyber Monday?) shopping season. I am planning on building a new PC for Battlefield 3 and Skyrim and have the specs all figured out. However, since Skyrim doesn't come out until November anyway, I was thinking about waiting until the Thanksgiving holiday to try and get some components on sale. Does anyone have experience buying hardware during this time? Do I have a chance of getting high-end components at significant (or any) savings? I just wanted to get an idea of if its worth it to wait on this build. I just didn't want to risk low stock or having to compete to get these things when the time comes. Here's the build I'm looking at:

Antec Nine Hundred Two V3 ATX Mid Tower
ASUS P8P67 LGA 1155 ATX Motherboard
EVGA SuperClocked GTX 570 HD 1280MB
Intel Core i7-2600K 3.4GHz
Corsair TX850 V2 850W Power Supply
Corsair XMS 8GB 240-pin DDR3
Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 7200 RPM Sata HDD
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD PCIe Sound Card
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler
Samsung 22x Sata DVD Burner

I also welcome comments on the build itself. I was considering the GTX 580 but its out of my budget at this point. However, if the I could get it considerably cheaper during the holiday sales I would definitely consider it. Thanks!

 

[cutebeans]

Get an i5-2500k since it's more or less the same as the i7-2600k less $100 in gaming.

Do you plan SLI? If not A 600w can easily power it. If you can squeeze a 580 there then a 650w would be great.

You do know that you don't need sound cards since every mobo has one built in but if you are an audiophile then go ahead.

That is all!

 

[billdresh]

I agree that I don't really need the sound card. I was going for the i7-2600k because I can get it for $280 at my local Micro Center store. http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354587

I was thinking about doing SLI down the road so the PSU is cushion for that.

 

[cutebeans]

I agree that I don't really need the sound card. I was going for the i7-2600k because I can get it for $280 at my local Micro Center store. http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354587

I was thinking about doing SLI down the road so the PSU is cushion for that.

Then you sir, are pretty much good build wise! I don't think the i5-2500k or i7-2600k would get a significant discount though, it's the strongest CPUs right now. The AMD phenoms would be first to go on sale since it will be considered obsolete when BD comes out.

Don't count on those sales too much. The parts you chose will always be bought regardless of sale or if it's at normal price. Although, I hope that you get them at sale.

 

[inzone]

The Black Friday sales are usually for things that are low priced so they can advertise then for an even lower price to get people in the stores both on line and retail. The high priced components are not always going to be on sale and you may find one or two here and there. You may get luckey and find one of the components you need on sale so it wouldn't hurt to wait and see. I do agree with all your choices and who knows by waiting there may be a good sale on a GTX 580 also Cooler Master just came out with a new cpu cooler;
COOLER MASTER Hyper N 520 RR-920-N520-GP 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler Intel Core i7 compatible
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103057

Check it out. Also have you considered a SSD for the OS and the hdd for everything else , 120gb would be nice.
Corsair Force Series GT CSSD-F120GBGT-BK 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233191

 

[inzone]

By the way which Asus P8P67 motherboard are you looking at , there are several listed when I looked.

 

[billdresh]

Motherboard link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131705

I'll drop the sound card and look at getting a solid state drive instead. I'm thinking the GTX580 isn't really a game changer. I'm planning on running on a 24-inch 1920x1080 LCD for everyday gaming and occasionally hooking up to my TV (also 1080p). If I need extra graphics boost down the road then I may opt to get another GTX570 and go SLI. I can't imagine this rig is going to struggle with anything for a while though.

 

[cutebeans]

It will struggle to play BF3 at ultra. Since a GTX 580 is needed but oh well get it at high and be content.

 

[billdresh]

Yeah. I don't think I've ever played a game at Ultra settings and I've always considered myself to have a pretty solid build. On that note, I've always been happy with the the quality and performance I've gotten in games therefore it shouldn't be an issue. I might just wait until November anyway, regardless of sales, to save up a little extra cash for a GTX580 and future-proof it a little more. I've gotten 3-4 solid years out of my current build so I understand the importance of that.

 

[cutebeans]

If you don't need to get games at Ultra then you can just get a 560ti.

 

[inzone]

I just looked at you MB and do you realize that the second x16 slot (the black one) is running at x4 speed? Just in case you didn't know that , so you may wamt to look at another one , I personally would not put a GTX 570 or 580 in that slot even though it may work. Try this one;

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131771

 

[billdresh]

Thanks for pointing that out. I might have bookmarked the wrong one. There are many boards in that line that are very similar.