Jumping into the new year, we've got looming hardware announcements at CES and cool-down from last week's sales, so things are finally slowing down for a moment. The calm before the storm, as it were. Regardless, for our regular weekend sales round-up, we've spotted some good sales -- including a $130 8-core CPU, SSDs, and video cards.
PNY GTX 770 2GB GPU ($310): I was somewhat shocked to see this one. This is one of Newegg's "add to cart to see the price" deals, and when I checked, the retail price was set to $350 with a $40 MIR, making this card $310. Given that the GTX 770 is one of the best-performing cards in the mid-range market right now, and that a GTX 760 is just slightly cheaper than this sale, it's a good buy for mid-range system builders.
ADATA SP900 128GB SSD ($75): ADATA's Premier Pro SP900 SSD 128GB SSD is a SandForce-controlled SSD with MLC NAND, priced at $75 after discounts/rebates right now. If you're looking for an affordable SSD at a pretty damn low price, this is one of the best values right now. It doesn't quite push the performance of, say, a Vector or 840 Pro, but it's fast enough that the difference will be unnoticeable in mainstream and gaming applications.
ASUS 24" 2ms LCD LED Display ($160): This is one of the highest-reviewed displays in the $100-$200 range on most retail websites. The 24" ASUS unit has a 2ms GTG response time, which is good for gaming (and is really only beaten-out by some BenQ monitors), standard 1080p support, and a 50-76Hz refresh rate. It's mostly standard-issue equipment, but the price is good for a 24" unit.
Deal of the Week
AMD FX-8320 8-Core CPU ($130): After an instant promo code for $30 off (NAFYREND50), AMD's eight-core FX-8320 CPU is one of the best CPU purchases possible at the price right now. Seriously, it's the same price as a six-core 6350 and outperforms it handily, so the choice is pretty easy. The 8320 will handle any gaming tasks readily and can be put to good use in rendering/encoding applications that are heavily multithreaded, making this a good choice for anyone building a budget or mid-range system.
Let us know if you need any help shopping for PC hardware!
- Steve "Lelldorianx" Burke.