I'm putting together my first gaming PC and originally planned to spend around 3,000 CAD (about 2,200 USD). I've already bought a Radeon RX 9070 XT and Ryzen 7 9800X3D, but a friend told me component prices are heavily inflated and that I should return them and wait.
My remaining parts currently come to roughly 2,900 USD total for the complete build, which is much more than I expected. The rest of my planned parts are an ASUS TUF Gaming B650-Plus WiFi motherboard, Corsair Nautilus 360 cooler, Corsair 4500X case, Corsair RM1000e Gold power supply, 32GB Lexar Thor DDR5 memory, and a 2TB Lexar PCIe 5.0 SSD.
Is it actually worth returning the CPU and GPU to wait for prices to fall, or is there no reliable way to predict whether things will get cheaper? Are there also sensible places to cut costs without hurting performance?
3 Answers
Your list has a few areas where you could save money. A quality 750–850W ATX 3.x power supply should be enough for a 9070 XT and 9800X3D, so 1,000W is unnecessary unless you specifically want extra headroom. A 360mm liquid cooler is also overkill for the 9800X3D; a good dual-tower air cooler or smaller AIO should handle it. For gaming, a reliable PCIe 4.0 SSD will usually feel the same as a much more expensive PCIe 5.0 drive. Check price history and look for motherboard, CPU, memory, or SSD bundles before ordering.
The bigger concern with buying parts separately is that warranties start when each part is purchased, and you can’t properly test everything until the whole computer is assembled. If you already have the CPU and GPU, I’d avoid waiting too long to buy the rest. Also, don’t feel obligated to use the fastest memory or storage available: 32GB of reasonably priced DDR5 and a dependable SSD are enough for a gaming build. If the total is above your budget, reduce the luxury parts rather than returning good core components solely because prices might fall.
Nobody can reliably identify the perfect time to buy. Prices are high in some categories, especially DDR5 memory and SSDs, but they could stay high or rise further. If you have the money and want the system now, buying it is reasonable. The RX 9070 XT and 9800X3D are also strong choices, so you didn’t necessarily make a bad decision.
The important thing is whether the current prices are acceptable to you, not whether someone can predict the market. Waiting only makes sense if you’re comfortable delaying the build indefinitely.
I was considering the 1,000W supply for overclocking, but a good 850W unit should still provide plenty of headroom for this CPU and GPU combination.