As noted at PCMag and on social media, the stated delivery dates on Amazon for many popular PC components like the best AMD and Intel CPUs, motherboards, memory, cases and power supplies have recently gone from the usual handful of days to nearly a month--even for paying Amazon Prime customers accustomed to waiting just a day or two.
April 21 seems to be a common delivery date at the moment for many PC parts. The same date holds for many other products the company is likely deeming a lower priority as the ecommerce giant juggles the logistics and health concerns around the coronavirus, like books and personal care products. That said, the mix seems to be pretty hit or miss, with some power supply models still showing an arrival time in March, with many others listed as arriving three weeks later.
The good news for those of us who don’t want to wait for our tech is that there are still other companies that specialize in tech, and don’t yet seem to be delaying shipments of PC components and other hardware--at least for now. For example, the Ryzen 7 3700X is currently listed on Amazon as arriving April 21, while the same CPU at Best Buy is currently showing as arriving by Friday, March 27th at my zip code in NJ. The same Ryzen on Newegg shows it as arriving between 3/31 and 4/2. NZXT’s H510 case is also showing as arriving from Amazon on 4/21, while Newegg says it will ship it to you between 3/25 and 3/30--though you’ll have to spend $9.99 on shipping for the case on Newegg. Also, prices of course vary between sellers.
Of course, these dates vary by location, and as should be obvious to everyone at this point, anything could change in a day, or even a few hours. But many of the same PC parts that Amazon says will now take nearly a month to arrive can be ordered from Newegg and Best Buy with free 3-5 day shipping, or even faster for a fee as low as $3.99.
Note that not all PC tech on Amazon is listed as arriving in mid-April. Many monitors, mice and other peripherals are still showing up on the site as shipping by the end of the week. It’s also possible (if not likely) that Amazon is being overly conservative in its delivery dates, and products promised by the third week of April will arrive sooner. I’ve personally witnessed Amazon under-promise and over-deliver on order arrival dates in recent days. But of course things are changing rapidly.
To be fair, as much as we love PC parts, Amazon sells plenty of products that should probably take precedence over your new SSD or graphics card, as should the health and wellbeing of Amazon’s workers. Just know that if you really want that new upgrade or missing piece for your new build to arrive soon, skipping Amazon for the likes of Best Buy or Newegg will likely be a more expedient -- and speedier -- alternative for now.
Jobs eviscerated at Chinese Arm chip design firm in wake of restrictions from TSMC — lack of access to 7nm node could cause 150 employees to be laid off
Chinese chip firms say a new round of US sanctions won’t stop China’s chip industry — Chinese government responds with its own export restrictions anyways
