[SOLVED] Is it worth building a PC in 2021(may)

[Atin_45]

Hello! I am interested in building a PC for about $700-50, but is it worth building it now? I would like to game at 1080 high, but because of the price gouges, should I wait till gpu prices go down? If so, then when do you predict prices will go down. Or is it any cheaper to buy a prebuilt pc? If so, do you guys have any recommendations? I would love to hear your guy's opinions, Thank you!

 

[g-unit1111]

Yeah the biggest question right now is GPU availability. Which currently sucks but hopefully will get better as the markets start correcting themselves. It's insane when a 1660TI, which would normally be part of a build like this, would retail for nearly $900 when it's a $275 GPU normally. Hopefully things will start getting better as the year progresses.

 

[punkncat]

It is a good time to build an Intel machine. Unfortunately the GPU shortage and price crisis cause issue with building Ryzen, unless you happen to have a GPU on hand. Even the G series Ryzen are priced well high right now, or unavailable.
I understand that large capacity fast storage took a hit for a second due to some Chia thing, but unsure if that is really that big an issue.

 

[Eximo]

It will take a while for existing SSD and hard drive inventory to show the effects, give it a few months.

Of note now is the power supplies are still expensive due to miners buying up all the decent ones. And of course the GPU shortages.

My suggestion would be to pick out the class of GPU you want now, so 1080p, that would put you solidly in the RTX3060 territory, or a 6700 XT. Or perhaps even older cards like the RTX2070 and 5700 XT. Ebay is also an option, 1080Ti and 1080 should be expensive, but possible. 900 series cards are reasonable, but just being edged out of 1080p 60 FPS in the latest titles.

Newegg shuffle, various waiting lists, there are discord groups tracking availability like hawks, just showing up at every Best Buy you can. Microcenter in person. If you have the time, you can certainly get a card at reasonable prices.

Then you build a computer around it. A little risk if the GPU happens to arrive dead, but that would just be dealing with the seller or warranty RMA to get a replacement.

 

[TommyTwoTone66]

I doubt Chia mining will take off like GPU mining has. For one thing you can mine multiple cryptos at once with a GPU, and you can cycle through different coins to make sure you're always mining the most profitable.

Mining Chia coins doesn't earn a lot of money and they aren't in high demand. So far we saw a tiny spike in SSD availability when Chia coin first came out, but the huge stock mountain of flash chips quickly came in to fill that void and prices are back to where they were. I don't think Chia will be the next Bitcoin or Etherium.

So SSD, RAM, motherboard, etc. availability is totally fine, and intel CPU availability has never been better, but GPU availability? Yeah not so much. Best estimate is "Early 2023" for prices to go back to normal and cards to become available at RRP again.

The only way to buy an RTX card right now unless you hit the stock notification lottery is to buy a premade system, then take it apart and sell the parts. This can actually work out a pretty cost-efficient way to do it, presuming you can find an OEM that will let you buy with no warranty, no OS installed and no technical support. Otherwise you're throwing money away on those things. But if you can find a good deal on a prebuilt system, often you can sell the parts on eBay and wind up only paying retail for the GPU.