Don’t wait – Prime Day actually has some brilliant GPU and CPU deals

Opinion: You don’t have to wait for Lovelace, honest

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The general advice on building a gaming PC right now is that you should hold off for a few months because a tonne of generational component releases are just on the horizon. On paper, that makes sense – no point buying a GPU or processor right now if they’re just about to be superseded, right?

Well… no. At least, I disagree with that anyway, especially if you late a look at what happened during the release of the current generation of graphics cards. A dastardly mix of achip shortage(in itself caused by production issues and increased demand from other areas of tech), paired witha boom in Ethereum, a cryptocurrency that was capable of being mined on consumer-grade GPUs.

Demand skyrocketed overnight while production and inventory plummeted, which in turn caused prices to inflate. It’s only in recent weeks that a good chunk of PC gamers and PC enthusiasts have beenappleto snap up anNvidia AmpereorAMD RDNA2video card at a reasonable price. It’s all very well to tell people to hold on untilLovelaceandRDNA 3cards are released, but looking around theAmazon Prime Day deals, it’s actually refreshing to see a healthy supply of components in stock, and at a reasonable price at that.

I feel like telling people to wait is also a disservice to folks still using older hardware, especially those who took the leap and purchased a current–gen card recently. While it’s not the only way to check on the state of the gaming market, theSteam Hardware surveystill places cards from the GeForce GTX 16 series at the top of the list, and developers are at least partially aware that they can’t market games to an audience with hardware that’s incapable of running them.

TheNvidiaRTX 30 series and Big Navi cards are going to be very relevant for years to come, as will recently released processors, motherboards, and more. There’s a lot of pressure to upgrade your entire system to a full next-gen setup that utilizesDDR5 RAMand the very latest components, but you’ll find that a budget-friendly build equipped with older releases will still be a capable system for a few years.

Thank god for PC Part Picker

Gaming PCs are kinda like cars. Some folks like to buy a luxury motor, and some like to modify their ride from top to bottom with upgrades, but it’s okay to just drive a reasonably priced economy car.

If all you need is for it to play your favorite games such asFortniteorValorant, there’s really no sense in overspending on something more powerful. If you’re not going to utilize all that power then it’s wasteful and will become just as irrelevant as it ages after all.

I mentioned the Prime Day sale earlier as I’d really encourage you to check out some of the deals if you wanted to make use of this relative period of pricing and production stability.

I’ve outlined a few of my favorites below, but I cannot stress enough thatthey’re not all going to be compatible. An easy way to make sure that the components will play nicely in your current build, or indeed in a completely new system you’re planning is to input the parts into thePC Part Picker website.

This will tell you with relative accuracy if there’s any reason that something isn’t compatible – trying to buy anIntelprocessor for anAMDsocket motherboard for example. It’s best used by absolute novice builders as it provides a pretty good guide, but there are plenty of community forums that can help you with more specific buying advice.

The best PC Gaming Prime day deals

The best GPU Prime Day deals

ZOTAC Gaming GeForce RTX 3060 Twin Edge OC-$549$379.99 at AmazonSave $170 -The RTX 3060 is one of the better budget cards you can buy, with 12GB VRAM, 192-bit bus, and Zotac IceStorm 2.0 cooling to limit throttling, this is the #1 selling graphics card on Amazon for a reason - and now it’s $55 off for Prime Day.

GIGABYTE AORUS GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Elite-$699$599 at AmazonSave $100 -This is it folks, the best graphics card deal on Amazon Prime Day. Save 14% on the best graphics card (by value) of the entire Ampere line, featuring 8GB VRAM and a 256-bit bus, this card is fast, powerful, and relatively affordable. You don’t want to miss this one.

XFX Speedster QICK319 AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT Black -$569$479 at AmazonSave $90 -AMD’s ‘Big Navi’ GPUs brought competitive ray tracing performance to the Radeon RX line of graphics cards, and the RX 6700 XT is one of the most solid midrange graphics cards you can get, with good performance at a good price, especially with 16% off for Prime Day.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti 24GB:$1999.99$1599.99 at Best BuySave $400 -This is the Founders Edition, meaning Nvidia’s own version of the flagship GPU, and with 20% off, the 3090 Ti is now a more palatable proposition for your wallet.

ASUS TUF Gaming NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti OC Edition-$1,349$1,099 at AmazonSave $250 -The RTX 3080 Ti is one of the most powerful graphics cards ever made, and right now you can get it fornearly 20% offthanks to this Amazon Prime Day deal.

XFX Speedster MERC319 AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT Black$1,399$881 at AmazonSave $518 -Get top-flight performance for less this Prime Day with this incredible deal on the RX 6900 XT from XFX. Featuring 16GB VRAM and advanced ray tracing technology, your games will look better than ever for 37% less with this deal.

MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 3060 -$479$449 at AmazonSave $30 -While not the biggest discount on Prime Day, this RTX 3060 from MSI is the cheapest Ampere graphics card we’ve been able to find on sale, making it a great pickup if you’re looking to upgrade to the RTX 3000-series.

The best processor Prime Day deals

Intel Core i5-12600KF Desktop Processor$311$229 at AmazonSave $82.25 -It’s not everyday that one of the best processors ever made gets this big of a price cut. If you’re a PC builder looking to upgrade or build a whole new rig, this CPU is definitely a great one to build a system around.

AMD Ryzen 9 5900X$569$364.99 at AmazonSave $205 -Arguably the second best processor on the consumer market after the i9-12900K, the Ryzen 9 5900X offers incredible value even at full retail price, so getting it for 36% off makes this 12-core beast of a processor even better.

Intel Core i9-11900K Desktop Processor$389$301.99 at AmazonSave $88 -When we reviewed the i9-11900K, we really didn’t think it was that much of improvement over the 10th-gen chip it replaced, so the high MSRP really recommended against buying it. But now with this Prime Day deal, you can take 23% off the price, making this a much better value that is worth snatching up.

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X desktop processor$449$274 at AmazonSave $175 -The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X is an 8-core, 16-thread processor that we called the best gaming CPU when it launched in 2020, and it’s still one of the best processors you can get even two years later, making this 39% discount off its list price an absolute steal.

Intel Core i5-11600KF desktop processor$209$178 at AmazonSave $31 -While Intel Alder Lake is getting a lot of attention, last generation’s processors are getting a healthy price cut, including this $31 discount on arguably the best processor by value of the entire 11th-gen Intel lineup.

AMD Ryzen 7 5700X desktop processor$299$249 at AmazonSave $50 -The AMD Ryzen 7 5700X isn’t as robust as the Ryzen 7 5800X, but it’s still a powerful chip in its own right, capable of plowing through multitask-heavy workloads with relative ease thanks to its 8 cores and 16 threads.

Intel Core i7-10700K Desktop Processor$387$259 at AmazonSave $127 -The Core i7-10700K is a powerful 8-core processor with speeds up to 5.1GHz, making it a fantastic processor for a new gaming PC build, and you can save big with this Amazon Prime Day deal and put some of that money towards a new graphics card to go with it.

Intel Core i3-10100 Desktop Processor$122$95 at AmazonSave $27 -If you’re looking to build a low profile or budget PC this year, the Core i3-10100 is a great processor to build around, and right now it’s 22% off at Amazon for Prime Day.

Intel Core i5-10600K Desktop Processor$263$159 at AmazonSave $104 -The 10th-gen Intel Core processor series is one of the best that Intel ever put out, and right now you can get this 10th-Gen Core i5 unlocked desktop CPU for nearly 40% off on during the AmazonPrime Day sale.

The best DDR5 RAM Prime Day deals

Aorus DDR5 32GB (2x16GB) 5200MHz:$319.99$249.99 at AmazonSave $70:Desktop memory has some catching up to do this generation before things get as flashy as they did for DDR4, so while it lacks RGB lighting, this pair of Aorus DDR5 dimms is one of the best-looking options you can buy right now. Not only is it stylish, but it’s also incredibly fast, with speeds of up to 5200MHz at your disposal.

Crucial RAM 64GB Kit (2x32GB) DDR5 4800MHz CL40 Desktop Memory:$415.69$289.99 at AmazonSave $126:Do not adjust your screen, you’re reading this price correctly. Prices for DDR5 RAM have been falling for some time as more compatible hardware is released to accommodate it, but it’s incredible to see you can snap up a whopping 64GB of speedy memory for under $300.

Crucial RAM 32GB Kit (2x16GB) DDR5 4800MHz CL40 Desktop Memory:$203.48$144.99 at AmazonSave $59:Not too long ago it was considered overkill to have 32GB of RAM in your desktop PC unless you ran especially demanding applications. These days, everyone can make use of the latest generation of memory and the speed boosts that come with it - providing you have a compatible motherboard of course.

Crucial RAM 16GB DDR5 4800MHz CL40 Desktop Memory:$108.99$74.99 at AmazonSave $34:The new age of RAM is upon us, and providing you have compatible hardware its finally a reasonable time to upgrade. This single dimm of DDR5 holds a whopping 16GB of memory, giving you the option to run a single channel at high speeds.

Crucial RAM 32GB DDR5 4800MHz CL40 Desktop Memory:$204.50$144.99 at AmazonSave $60:Are you ready for DDR5? The latest generation of desktop PC memory is up to 1.5x faster than DDR4, and while prices were sky high last year, DDR5 is now competitively priced enough to justify the upgrade - better yet, these Prime Day deals can save you even more money on your PC upgrade.

More GPU deals across the world

No matter where you live, you’ll find all the lowest prices for graphics cards around the web right here, with offers available in your region.

More Prime Day deals in the US

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Jess is a former TechRadar Computing writer, where she covered all aspects of Mac and PC hardware, including PC gaming and peripherals. She has been interviewed as an industry expert for the BBC, and while her educational background was in prosthetics and model-making, her true love is in tech and she has built numerous desktop computers over the last 10 years for gaming and content creation. Jess is now a journalist at The Verge.

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