PC prices are finally trending closer to MSRP after years of rampant price gouging. But for those on limited budgets,capable GPUs or CPUs can still feel expensive.

That doesn’t mean you have to skimp out and settle for a low-end component, though.

There are some absolute steals ready to be snagged. You just need to knowwhen,where, andhowto find these deals. And that is exactly what this article will teach you.

Basics of Finding Good Deals

As I said, there are three main aspects to finding the best deals.

Timingis key as PC prices fluctuate a lot. Most people that can afford to wait, do wait for major sales like Black Friday. After all, who doesn’t love a nice fat discount?

Thesellercomes second. Different sellers put different profit margins on the same product. you may find better deals for most items if you compare multiple sellers.

Keep an eye out forbundles,coupon codes, andfree shipping. Stacking these is what often transforms a good deal into a steal. Besides these, there are a few more frugal strategies worth learning.

Let’s look at each of these in detail.

Should You Wait For the Biggest Sales?

There are a few major PC sales every year –Prime Dayin July, andBlack Friday/Cyber Mondayduring the holiday season.

Search online about the best deals from previous years to get a general idea of all this. Then, consider whether the wait period justifies the discount.

Sales like these are agreat time to get a new PC. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a custom build or a prebuilt – you’ll still save a lot.

Upgrading certain components onlyis a bit more nuanced.

I would wait for these sales to upgrade to a new SSD or monitor. But waiting months for a GPU that barely sees a 30$ discount may not be worth it.

Best Places to Find PC Deals

First of all, visit theBuildAPCSales subreddit. The community is almost a million strong, and there are hourly posts for discounts on PC products.

If you want to do the price tracking yourself,Amazonis the best place. We’ll go in-depth on this later.

You can check out deals sites likeSlickDeals.

Local retailers are also worth checking (Overclockers– UK,Currys– UK,Memory Express– Canada, etc).

If you’re from the US and have access to aMicro Center, take advantage of their bundle deals andPC builder. Their techs will also help youchoose parts and assemble the PCif you’d like assistance.

Advanced Tips for Finding PC Deals

For most people, simply searching in the right place at the right time is enough. It’ll net you fairly good results (basically the 80-20 principle).

But if you want to getthe most bang for your buck, there are a few more things you may try.

Track Prices and Compare Sellers

PCPartPickerandCamelCamelCamelare the two most popular tools for tracking PC prices. You may also be familiar withHoneyandKeepaif you’re used to shopping online.

Regardless of which tool you use, the main goal is totrack prices over the long term. you may set up alerts in case a product drops below a certain price point.

Also, don’t forget to include additional costs like shipping in your comparisons.

Use Coupon Codes

Coupon codes are a great way to shave a few bucks off the final price.Honey,RetailMeNot, andRakutenare my go-to sources for this.

If you use social media a lot, you could also consider following product manufacturers, retailers, and content creators. This is a common way to find out aboutpromo codesandflash sales.

Try Open Box Deals

Open Box deals are products that were returned after the packaging was opened. Although this may sound shady, these products are usually returned due to a change of mind.

People often snatch new-ish products at discounted prices thanks to open-box deals. There are a few key points to keep in mind before you may do the same:

Check the Used Goods Market

If you’rebuilding a PC on a limited budget, checking second-hand deals is a great idea. For instance, you may currently find used RTX 3080s for under $350. That’s less than half of its MSRP, and overall, just a great price for such a powerful card.

Amazon,eBay,Craigslist,HardwareSwap, and yourlocal second-hand marketsare the best places to find such deals. Just keep a few things in mind when considering them: