TheInformationator

Most of us aren't made of money have this accursed bottleneck called *duhduhDUuuuuuuuh* a budget. The following tips can be used by anyone willing to put in a little effort to save some money. ...and for you Oprahs and Bills out there, there is still some good information to be gleaned. I've divided it into basic and advanced sections. It all depends on how badly you want to save money.




I put patience first because one of the biggest way people waste money is impulse buys. If you want something, take note of the date you want it, and wait three weeks before you buy it. If you still want it then and you can afford it, buy it. If not, then congratulations, that is the point of this method. Waiting helps one to think things through, and sometimes prices can drop or decisions can change in the mean time. I've applied this to my purchases except it turns into months and years lol. I remember reading about PCIe last summer and I vowed to wait until it was mainstream to purchase. I'm not saying it can't be excrutiating to wait, however.



It was by research that I found out OCZ VX is one of the best memories for AMD processors. It is by researching that one learns! My primary means of researching products is a two-step process:
a) Find a site that compares multiple types of a product you're considering.
b) Take the products found on the first site, and specifically research each one to see if it suits your wants.

It might be boring to some, but I'd rather research for a few hours and get a part that will benefit my computer than waste money on an inferior part that looks cool, only to find out later it is a hindrance to system speed. It is by researching that I discovered the Tagan power supplies. They are inexpensive, high quality, quiet, powerful, incredibly stable, and all around awesome. If I hadn't found these I'd have had to blow money on one of those expensive OCZ PSUs and sacrifice spending on another part of my build. I have easily spent over 40 hours just researching parts for my computer; every part down to the thermal paste has been researched. It might seem excessive, but I enjoy researching and the byproduct of that research is an incredible pc build with quality parts throughout. Check out my other FAQ for some great sites to search within: http://www.overclock.net/showthread.php?t=22687



Why buy online? Because it will always be cheaper. I have saved $1,000's on everything from cars to keyboards by buying things off of the Internet. Not only does buying things from the Internet usually bypass sales tax, it has the package shipped to your doorstep. This means you save on gas money as well. Be warned though! Make sure to triple check that your checking address listed with your credit company matches your billing address. I live in college, and I was shipping to my house. I told them to change it, but the n00b who changed it changed my savings address instead of my checking address. The result? Multiple emails from the companies I'd bought from. If online safety is a concern, then read on to number 5.



I'd give myself a "fail out of 10" when it comes to everyday shopping, but shopping for computer hardware and software on the internet is so much easier. There are plenty of sites today that compare prices between multiple vendors so the end user benefits. In many the zip code can even be entered to see shipping and (if applicable) tax before a purchase is even considered. My personal favorites are www.shopper.com, www.pricegrabber.com, and www.pricewatch.com. Others include www.shopping.com, www.mysimon.com, and www.bizrate.com. If the product is not available anywhere, check www.eBay.com and www.google.com as last resorts. Just google for: buy [product name].



Alright, so you have found your dream item for the best price anywhere, but how do you know if the site you want to buy from is any good? Go to www.resellerratings.com and search for either the web address, or the site name (usually found on the homepage). The vast majority of the time the online store will be on resellerratings, and customer reviews will be available. If the site isn't on resellerratings or the site has a low rating, it would typically be a good idea to avoid the site. Sometimes, however I have taken the risk with a low-rated site. it all depends on what the people say. If most of the bad ratings come from false "in stock" reports, and I'm ordering a low-demand item, then I'll risk buying with the site. I saved $60 off of my Wacom tablet by doing the aforementioned.



This is the big one. Most money will be saved or lost solely based on the hardware purchased. It simply is not wise to buy the newest thing for two reasons: 1) It will be marked up tremendously and 2) the price does not justify the performance gain. Here's a real life example from my system build. I was going to buy top-end parts until some friend knocked some sense into me and made me realize how wasteful I was being.
Here's a real life example (prices taken from www.monarchcomputer.com):
Athlon 4000+ San Diego Core (2.4Ghz, 12x Multiplier): $482.00
Athlon 3700+ San Diego Core (2.2Ghz, 11x Multiplier): $334.00
1GB OCZ Gold 4000VX: $264.00
1GB OCZ Gold 3200VX: $183.00
Power Color X850XT: $460.00
Power Color X800XL: $345.00

There is a $344 price difference between bleeding edge and second best. I honestly think that when people buy bleeding edge it is a psychological thing. I saw it in myself. Every person wants to be best at some point. By blowing the extra $344.00 a guy could be best (sort of) for just a little while. After a couple of months guy 1 and guy 2 are both less than the best, but the difference is, guy 2 has $344.00 more dollars in his pocket. Add these savings up over successive computer purchases and it really adds up. Don't get swept up in having the newest thing. Try really hard to be objective and take a step back from all purchases. The difference between both builds really isn't all that much in the grand scheme of things.



Most of you know the obvious, but this one is for the newbies. Overclocking saves money because I can buy a 3700+ and overclock it faster than an FX-55, but I've saved 500 dollars by going with the 3700+. Read all you can and ask questions about everything. There's always someone willing to help on overclock.net




Make a spreadsheet in Excel(or any similar program) and keep track of everything. In mine I keep track of:
-Item Name
-Price
-Shipping
-Tax (If Applicable)
-Site to buy from
-When Purchased
-When Arrived
-Total Price
Making a spreadsheet shows where all of the money is going. When I made mine I saw that a disproportional amount of money was going toward my processor and speaker systems. So, I replaced the FX-53 with a 3700+ and the 7.1 Gigaworks s750 with the 5.1 Creative Z-5500s.



Does your girlfriend's brother have a wholesale license? Does your boss have a Dell discount? Ask around a little and see if you can get these people to help save a few $100. One of the best connections I would recommend to everyone is MonarchJoe, a resident of the AnandTech forums and representative of www.monarchcomputer.com. I was ordering my processor, motherboard, and ram anyway, but I didn't want to buy the heatsink that came with a special deal being offered. I PMed him and he did the following:
-Eliminated my shipping cost
-Upgraded my shipping to FedEx 2-day for free
-Gave me the special deal I didn't really qualify for (free Far Cry, Half Life 2, and 4 Mo. Napster Subscription)
-Gave me a free T-shirt
-Got free AMD case badges that I would not have gotten if I had gone with the original bundle deal (You only get them if you buy the AMD CPu seperately).

That is an incredible deal, and incredible customer service. He said he does it to keep people coming back. He certainly knows good business and I highly recommend Monarch because of him.



I was searching for the best price for a Vapochill LS**, and everywhere had them for $889.00 except for one site, www.jab-tech.com, which had them for $819.00. When I originally constructed my PC build spreadsheet they were in stock, but when I checked again they were sold out and wouldn't receive any more for 3.5 weeks. Too long! I emailed a couple of vendors offering them my business for a pricematch, and sure enough one of them emailed me back saying they would gladly pricematch. i saved 60 dollars! Good businesses will do what it takes to get your business. Take advantage of that.
**I know a Vapochill LS seems out of place for this FAQ, but I wanted phase change and when it comes to phase change there is no way not to splurge... all I could do is try to find the best price for it.



Buying a few things from one site instead of a few things from multiple sites could benefit the overall cost and buying experience. Fewer sites means lower odds of one of them messing up the order, and, if done right, could save on shipping costs. Regardless of my attempt to do this I am still ordering from 13 different sites for the sake of the best deal ^_^'. Monarch is my one exception due to their impeccable customer service.

Many of these concepts can carry over into all purchases. Patience, research, spreadsheets, etc. All of these can save big bucks in the long run. Try hard to avoid the impulse buy and spend as much time as you need to find the best product for the best deal. But beware, for foolish purchases will anger the George.

DO NOT ANGER THE GEORGE!!!!


All images made in Photoshop
Font used in text is Palatino Linotype
The font in the images is Tube Station found on www.acidfonts.com

xie67

dammn war and peace size FAQ
but i read it an enjoyed it, i like personal accounts of stuff ,good-o

JBD1986

i was reading the faw, and alot of stuff is good, however picking PC3200 RAM over PC4000 Ram because it's cheaper isn't a good idea if you're seriously overclocking.

TheInformationator

It can depend on your setup, but the main purpose of that was to illustrate how widely prices can vary when the performance difference is minor.

VX3200 can be overclocked very close, if not to the same level as, VX4000. I wouldn't recommend 3200 over 4000 necessarily, but I was thinking of overclockability when I posted that. The difference between the overclockability shouldn't be very large. Heh, I ended up changing my ram to 4800 Platinum anyway because I realized it was stupid to get RAM that maxed at around 260-270 FSB, when I was using Phase Change.

Mr. Mumbles

Nice FAQ =) I made a spreadsheet too lol

I reseached my pc in Jan, feb, and beginning of march, and bought at the end of March :)

XgamerGt04

very nice, will help me save some money, I shall not anger the george, he looks evil

Phoenix_Master

Thanks dude, nice write up.

somody

this is an awesome faq...i love the headings and subheadings, they are superbly done, great job rep++

Tango

Nice faq man. :)

Octapus

damn i wish i could get some sweet hook-ups like that.