Why now's not the right time to buy motherboards and other PC parts

Thermaltake Core P5 Source: Rich Edmonds / Windows Central

The cost to build a PC with expert performance continues to fall equally nosotros get more than for our coin. Even so, the current earth situation and pandemic has led to substantial inflation of component pricing, notably motherboards and power supplies. Looking at some limited stock listings and it'southward like shooting fish in a barrel to find prices hike up 200%.

Here'southward my advice: unless you desperately require a PC built or upgraded right now, you should hold off until the situation (hopefully) improves.

What'due south happening to brand the prices of PC parts inflate?

MSI Aegis R Motherboard Source: Rich Edmonds / Windows Key

The earth is nevertheless experiencing a pandemic, with some countries even first to run into ripples of a potential second wave of cases popular upwardly in daily reports. Millions of people are non currently at piece of work, and supply lines are running low, particularly within the technology sector. Products being shipped out of China and surrounding territories are also hampered.

We already know that production slowed in recent months for board partners alone. With more people at domicile, the demand for PC parts may have seen a slight boost with more time available to perform upgrades and relish PC games. At that place'south also the case for people seeing an opportunity to buy hardware and resell on classified websites like eBay to make a quick buck.

And y'all as well accept panic ownership, as we've seen with general consumer appurtenances. Gamers Nexus did a great video on how COVID-19 has affected the PC industry. It's not only companies like ASUS and MSI who have encountered production issues, but also partner companies farther down the chain that provide various components like fans, for case.

We've seen product launches pushed back, every bit well as a substantial price increment with products we already recommend in guides. Some motherboards we have listed in our AMD guides have seen their prices increase considerably.

Should you buy PC components right now?

Not unless you're getting a practiced bargain. For some motherboards, we've seen extreme cases where prices take increased by 200%. It'southward worth searching around to brand sure y'all're getting the best price available if you absolutely must purchase components right now. It's already been said that pricing is set up to increase through 2022, but the electric current crisis is worsening matters.

"Prices for MLCCs and chip resistors are expected to rising through the fourth quarter of 2022 every bit supply volition increasingly autumn curt of demand for 5G applications. [...] The rapid spread of coronavirus in Korea has raised increasing concerns about the global supply of memory chips in 2022 as Korean makers, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, account for 73% global output of these devices, according to industry sources."

Store wisely out there. The electric current pricing state of affairs sucks, but you lot tin however grab a decent deal if you play it right. If yous are looking to shop around for PC parts, we've got y'all covered with plenty of recommendations.

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