Is it better to build the PC over time or buy everything at once?

[Raven Ocara]

So just out of curiosity- would you all think that it is better to gradually spend money over time on your PC and buy a component at a time until you finally have everything to build your PC or would you just save up however much you were willing to dish out and spend it all at once on components? What do you choose and why?

 

[getochkn]

Depends on how long of a time span. Things change in PC world, and that affects prices a lot when something new comes out, old stuff is discontinued, cheap for a while, then hard to find. Also things happens like the flooding a few years back in Taiwan I think, that cause HD prices to skyrocket since there was any new HD's being made, so current stock was costly. One major memory chip maker has a big issue, prices jump, so what you budget might not buy what you want 3 months down the road.

Generally though most parts are allfairly compatible so if you buy something, odds are it's still good in 2 months.

I prefer buying all at once so I can put it together. A brand new MB/cpu sitting there for 3 months would drive me nuts. lol.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

I'd say it's best not to leave untested parts sitting around. It's far easier to return something in the 30-day DoA window than to have to go through the manufacturer.

It's also likely that prices will drop (especially on SSDs) or new products will be released.

Put the cash in a savings account if you have trouble keeping the money set aside.