The major retailers want you to buy stuff. Actually, all retailers do. And they'd prefer you do it before end of year. We're really not revealing news here – but there are a couple of good sales leading into the year's final stretch. Logitech's G602 wireless mouse – one that we use internally – is about half off, an 80 Plus Platinum 750W PSU is available at $110, and there's an i7-4790K for $300.

Graphics vendor nVidia today announced its plans for an upgrade program, active through December 4. The program is in partnership with system integrators (“SIs”) who sell pre-built, user-specified gaming PCs. We've reviewed a few, including one from CyberPower and one from iBUYPOWER, for the curious.

The limited step-up program, which is not open to DIY builders at this time, upgrades any GTX 750 Ti-equipped systems to a GTX 950. There is no additional cost for the upgrade.

In the calm between the storms – Black Friday and Cyber Monday – a few hangers-on have remained on sale through the weekend. Granted, “sale” is almost meaningless at this point; there's a near-perpetual discount on PC hardware through various vendors, but that's good news for system builders. This weekend, we found a 960GB SSD for $270 (or $200 via Newegg), 500GB SSD for $140, Corsair 200R for $46, and Logitech G910 for $160.

Winter is coming – and so is Black Friday, as “Black November” before it. And “Black February” (anyone remember that?). Look, the point is that this holiday – Black Friday, that is, not Thanksgiving – has expanded without hesitance. Current sales include Intel CPUs (like the 4790K), GTX 960 discounts to below $200, an NZXT Phantom, and a Samsung display.

Black Friday isn't far off now, and the timing couldn't be better in coordination with the games industry: Call of Duty, Fallout 4, and Battlefront are all rolling forward, full-steam ahead, and are ready to make use of modern gaming hardware. This week, we found a GTX 980 Ti discounted to $600, an R9 380, and a pair of GTX 970s.