Buying GPU now or waiting for price drops

asianse

Hey y'all

I just got into the world of pc building and was wondering whether it would be wiser to try to snatch a GPU at these prices or wait for further price drops. I'm hoping to upgrade my entire system as well, since I am currently on a dell optipllex 7020 (i5-3690, 8GB ram, amd radeon hd 7000 series). I honestly don't know if I need a new computer cause this one does fine for all my every day tasks (browsing web, watching movies, playing League).

Any advice is welcome when it down to it. Wait for DDR5 prices to go down and go with an alder lake processor or get a ryzen 5 build right now.

GoatForHire

If it's like any CPUs, RAM, etc. eventually, it'll become older stock, and the prices should drop. Except that hasn't happened at all, so the trend might continue. So who knows? I think that's really hard to determine. If you're ready to build, I would say just go for it.

magarity

If you have a Dell Optiplex then you almost certainly need a new case because Dells are usually in proprietary physical formats.

Your Radeon HD7000 can be used in any new system and your Dell can be sold used with the integrated graphics that come in the i5. Then you can wait on GPU prices until you're willing to get a new one. So really it's up to you. Now is an awesome time to get a Ryzen 5000 series system because the prices are coming way down and they're still extremely good. Depends on your budget and whether you want the latest cutting edge or not.

asianse

@magarity

Yeah, I'm thinking I could get $150 for the dell optiplex and use it towards a new build. Already have some components, llike the PSU

magarity

The Optiplex PSU has a strong chance of also being proprietary. As well as being exactly to the watt of how much power is needed to run the Optiplex as delivered. Dell is rather (in)famous for that.

asianse

Yeah, since I posted I have gotten a 1650, which is the perfect card since I don't need any SATA to 6pin adapters, it just uses the 75W from the PCIe slot

magarity

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/40839#Comment_40839

Budget-wise this was your best move and I bet the 1650 has been a huge boost over the old Radeon HD.