Prebuilt PC, Buy Now or Wait for Boxing Day

I need to buy a new computer as mine is ancient and on it's last legs. I noticed the Nebula PC deal for the Astra build and was thinking of purchasing it.

After all the customisations I've chosen the price has gone up to $2,400 just wondering if it's worth buying still or if I should wait for Boxing Day in the hopes of finding a better deal.

Astra Build

Comments

  • Buy now

  • @Nebula PC thoughts?

  • wait - sales are tanking across most industries (outside of travel, restaurants etc)

    suppliers will be anxious to hit their Q4/H2/2023 numbers so they'll get desperate and dump promote to move some stock

    • Isn't that what they're already doing now with their Black Friday sales? Prices of things are going up everywhere, not sure how much more fat suppliers have to cut.

  • Upgrades are not worth it imo, unless you value the 3yr warranty by a large margin. Here's a parts list with better cpu, ram, SSD, psu and still cheaper:
    https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/Qtjqh3

    You could probably get this built for the same price as that pre-built if you just give the list to your local computer shop

    • What makes the RAM, SSD, and Mobo better if you don't mind me asking?

      • +1

        The mobo wasn't an upgrade, it's was a reasonable downgrade to save money. There is no difference between the two unless you plan on doing heavy overclocking. I might be bias because I am have the same mobo/CPU combo.

        The teamgroup ram has lower latency without additional tweaking. Althought if you want to play it safe G.Skill Z5 Neo 6000mhz CL32 might be a better bet as it is in the official supported list.

        The crucial SSD has 1GB of dram which will make the system response much snappier. You don't want dramless SSD as a system boot drive.

        • The Adata SSD is supposed to have DRAM too?

          Also, even with all that the pricing is not far off, and the system you put together doesn't seem to be a lot better than what I had.

          I can see that Nebula does appear to be a bit too expensive when wanting something a bit more custom, but I'm not sure I have any other option unless I build it myself which I don't want.

          • +1

            @BarginHunter: Yeah you are right, I didn't see dram cache on pc part picker so I assumed it didn't. Regardless I still think those upgrades are pretty poor value. Techfast just posted a couple new builds that might be better.

            • @LurkingLurker: I checked the Techfast deals, they're even more expensive. Is there anyone other than Nebula that would build a custom PC using parts I specify that wouldn't be too much more expensive than retail?

              • +1

                @BarginHunter: If you want retail price most local computer stores can do that. My local computer store just orders parts from umart etc and charges $150 for building and testing.

                • @LurkingLurker: Don't really have a local computer store, will need to do some searching to see if there's anything good nearby.

                  Also, what do you think of this parts list, it's a mix of your suggestions and some stuff from Logical Increments. https://au.pcpartpicker.com/user/BM20/saved/49tV4D

                  Only things I'm not sure about are the Mobo and whether to stick with 7800XT or pay an extra $100 or so for 4070.

                  • +1

                    @BarginHunter: Oh, that's a bummer. Any reason why https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/810692 isn't comparable? It's got lower clocked ram and probably a cheap ssd, but it is way cheaper.

                    I can't see the parts list as it is private. But I don't see mobo being an issue unless you do significant overclocking or have 6200mhz+ ram. Speaking from experience, you can save some potential hassles if you pick ram from the mobo QVL.

                    Gaming-wise, the 7800XT has better hardware than the 4070, but Nvidia DLSS is really, really good, while AMD FSR is still playing catch-up. They are such minor differences in grand scheme of things and I would just get whichever one lands on the Ozbargain front page.

                    • @LurkingLurker: Can you try again now, should be public. As for the Techfast deal, it's a worse CPU, no aftermarket cpu cooling unless you get liquid cooling, no wi-fi. I also want a case with at least one USB Type-C port.

                      • +1

                        @BarginHunter: Yeah fair enough with the Techfast deal. The parts list looks good and the mobo is really solid. No complaints from me :)

  • Do you guys likely think there will be any good value 4080/7900xtx pre-built pc builds in the few weeks leading Christmas?

    I've seen tons of good deals pushed out by techfast recently, and I'm scared I won't have the opportunity to snag a good deal like the 7800x3d + 4080 pc build.

Login or Join to leave a comment