Should I buy all my parts over a year or all at once?

[Vindaloovians]

I'm planning to build a gaming rig in 2014 (Mid-late) but I keep seeing great deals on ebay for parts! Shall I buy them all when I build it or buy parts (cept CPU, GPU, RAM and MOBO) when I see a good offer? For example, I saw windows 8 OEM for £40! And a blu ray writer for £20!

 

[MDXX]

Id try to buy them all within a month. That way you can return parts through your dealer without having to go through the companys rma program

 

[Abscent]

If it is something like software then buy it but any componets it is always best to order it all at once, in case something is faulty. It's better to find out when you can still RMA it

 

[Onus]

In general, buying all at once is safer. If you buy piecemeal, you run the risk of discovering you got a DOA product, but the return period will have elapsed. That said, something like the OS would be safe to buy, or anything you can test elsewhere as soon as you get it.

 

[realchaos]

I would wait all at once, because say if you buy the processor you can't test to see if it works until you get the motherboard which may take awhile.
However, if it's a really good deal like Windows 8 for £40, and you are sure that it works, then I would say go for it.

 

[USAFRet]

First off, software on eBay (especially a theoretical new Windows OS) is very much a crapshoot. Win8 for £40 is almost certainly not legit, no matter what the seller says.

But buying parts over several months has a lot of disadvantages. By the time you get it all together, 1/2 of it is already 6 or more months out of date. And you can't return the earlier bought parts if anything doesn't work.