I'm planning to build a gaming PC sometime between now and next summer, if I decide to go ahead. I've heard that prices for components—especially motherboards and graphics cards—are rising again and might not come down until around 2028. I'm considering an RX 9070 XT or an RTX 5080. Since I already have a working PC, would it be smarter to wait a few months for possible sales, or buy now before prices increase further?
4 Answers
Component prices don’t all follow the same trend. RAM may still be gradually declining in some markets, while graphics cards are moving upward. I’d choose the parts you actually want, set a target price, and buy when the complete build reaches a reasonable total instead of trying to predict the market years ahead.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are worth watching, but be careful with advertised discounts. Some retailers raise prices beforehand, and popular GPUs may not receive meaningful reductions. Compare prices over time rather than trusting the percentage-off label.
Since you already have a working PC, there’s no urgent reason to buy immediately. You could watch prices and wait for a genuinely good deal, but don’t assume components will definitely get cheaper over the next few months. Graphics cards seem more likely to rise than fall right now.
Yeah, I do still have a PC I can use for now, so waiting is definitely possible.
If you need the PC soon, buying now is probably safer. AMD cards such as the RX 9070 XT still look relatively reasonable, while Nvidia’s higher-end options, especially the RTX 5080, have become much more expensive. Prices are unpredictable, so there’s no guarantee waiting will help.
That helps. I’m deciding between the RX 9070 XT and RTX 5080, so the price difference may push me toward AMD.
Memory prices have already moved up a little recently, and November is still a long way off, so waiting for sales isn’t guaranteed to pay off.