Thursday, April 25, 2024

Should you buy a graphics card or PC parts on Black Friday 2021?

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Black Friday is just around the corner, and the good deals have already started rolling in. Getting a graphics card or PC parts has been difficult this past year — so many components are overpriced. Black Friday is slashing these prices considerably, giving aspiring PC builders a chance to benefit from some of the best GPU deals or to grab other PC parts at a good price. Below, we will explore the best Black Friday deals already available to check if now is a good time to get those components you’ve been eyeing for months.

  • View Black Friday GPU and PC hardware deals at Amazon
  • View Black Friday GPU and PC hardware deals at Best Buy
  • View Black Friday GPU and PC hardware deals at Walmart

Black Friday is the best time to buy a graphics card or PC parts — but shop early deals

It’s no secret that Black Friday is usually the best time to buy electronics. We all know someone who has scored a fantastic deal on a TV or a toaster around this time of the year. Fortunately, the same thing applies to PC parts: There’s no better time to shop than right now. With deals such as this AMD Ryzen 7 5800X processor for $419 popping up as early as the beginning of November, it’s difficult to pass up the opportunity to build a new PC at such a reduced price.

Let’s be real — it’s been a rough year for PC builders. Graphics cards and other components were in short supply and had an alarming tendency to sell out quickly. The prices were outrageous for most of the year, with GPUs sometimes selling as high as over 300% of their starting price. Fortunately, several retailers were able to navigate the muddy waters of the ongoing chip shortage in order to offer a good stock of the best graphics cards and other PC parts. This doesn’t mean that the problems with the supply chain or the shortage itself are all gone, though. The ongoing pandemic has impacted supply chains all over the world, causing delays in shipping. In other words, it’s better to shop in advance to make sure that your components arrive before the holidays.

Some retailers, such as Best Buy and Walmart, have already started their Black Friday sales, letting early shoppers take advantage of the deals before everything is sold out again. Amazon has also jumped on the bandwagon by offering discounts ahead of time, earlier than ever before. Stretching out the sales over the entire month is not a bad idea and many of the deals are covered by price guarantees, so even if they don’t start shipping before Black Friday, you’ll still have saved a good amount of money. For example, this memory kit of 16GB DDR RAM is currently massively discounted to $59, and with Best Buy’s price match guarantee, you can be sure that it will remain the cheapest deal out there.

  • See the our favorite Best Buy Black Friday deals
  • See the best Walmart Black Friday Deals

PC components will continue being discounted all through November until Black Friday rolls around, so there’ll be more deals popping up as we get closer to the date. However, with the market as bare as it’s been in the last year or so, it’s a good idea to snap up good deals (such as this EVGA 850W power supply for just $79, discounted by $60) before they’re sold out because there’s no telling if they’ll be back or not. Getting your components ahead of time not only ensures considerable savings but also gives you a good chance — if not a certainty — of having your PC built and ready to rumble before the holiday season.

Why buy a graphics card or PC parts

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The PC building market has been an exciting (if slightly volatile) place as of late. Whether you’re looking to give your current PC a much-needed refresher or you want to build something new from scratch, there’s an abundance of upgrades that promise a step-up from the previous generations. While getting your hands on the latest components has been pretty pricey throughout the year, Black Friday definitely gives you a chance to build a good computer at more reasonable prices.

If you’re in the market for a gaming PC, there are many good sales happening. Let’s start with the CPU, one of the main building blocks of any computer. For a mid-range gaming PC, you can pick this AMD Ryzen 7  5700G, discounted to just $329 — and it comes with a built-in graphics card if you’re on a tight budget, but it’s best to get a discrete GPU. For fans of Intel, Amazon has a good sale on the Intel Core i7-10700K at just $311. Both of these CPUs are likely to last you a good few years without needing a replacement. If you’re okay with spending more and just want the best the market has to offer, definitely check out this discounted AMD Ryzen 9 5900X processor for $519, perfect for a high-end gaming rig. Lastly, gaming on a budget just got a little more affordable thanks to Amazon’s sale on the Intel Core i3-10100F, a solid CPU in its own right and one of the best budget CPUs.

Moving on to graphics cards, we’re starting to see discounts that restore some of our long-lost faith in the GPU market. If you’re tired of seeing graphics cards sold at the price of a whole gaming PC, now is the time to take advantage of some of these deals — and fast, because they do sell out quickly. The deals include the high-end ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3080 Ti that will breeze through most games – check out our review of it here; the PNY GeForce RTX 3060 for $765, perfect for a mid-range computer, and even the older, but still good PNY XLR8 GeForce GTX 1660 Super for just $569.

We’ve covered the two big-ticket components, but there’s plenty more to come if you’re building a computer. As an example, Best Buy and Amazon both have some great deals on RAM. You can get 16GB of PNY Anarchy-X RAM for $59 or 16GB of Corsair Vengeance LPX memory for $75, down from $102. All of these are DDR4, so they can safely be used with current motherboards.

You’ve got all these fun PC parts doing their job, but they will need some extra cooling if you’re looking to make the most of your computer. This discounted set of Corsair Air Series LED fans is powerful and will bring a lot of air to the inside of your PC case. Speaking of PC cases: Here’s a good-looking chassis, the NZXT H510 ATX Mid-Tower, currently just $75.

Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart have all started their Black Friday deals, and there’s more than just the above in-store. While prices may continue dropping and hit their lowest mark around Black Friday itself, it’s also likely that the best deals will sell out and won’t come back in time for the holidays. As such, it’s a good time to plan out your future PC build and get shopping. One thing is almost for sure — outside of big shopping events such as Black Friday, graphics cards prices are unlikely to go back to normal anytime soon, so take advantage while supplies last.

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