The internet isn’t the best place for finding PC components to upgrade your computer — brick-and-mortar stores still reign supreme thanks to bundled deals
The rising costs of components have led to a crisis in the consumer PC market. Prices on standard kits of DDR5 are through the roof, NVMe SSD prices are higher than ever, and worst of all, GPUs are also affected by the AI-driven onslaught. But when shopping around for reasonable prices, there might be a better solution than Newegg, Amazon, and Best Buy if you're lucky enough to live near (or are willing to drive to) one of Micro Center's 30 U.S. locations.
In the current climate, choice has been severely limited when it comes to upgrading or building a new PC. You can't just pick the best components to build a high-powered gaming rig, as many components are out of stock or at eye-watering prices. The same goes for trying to construct a budget PC build, as there just aren't any cheap components anymore, apart from certain parts like AM4 CPUs, which are tied to limited upgrade paths. Just take a look at the price and availability of Nvidia's RTX 5090, for example; at the time of writing, the cheapest RTX 5090 gaming GPU available online is $6,549.99, and that's from a third-party seller on Amazon, not directly from a large first-party retailer or manufacturer. There are even reports that the RTX 5090 has been effectively discontinued in favor of making AI GPUs, which means pricing will only get worse over the coming months.
If you're anything like me, when I'm even remotely considering spending that kind of money, I'm not willing to risk buying from a suspicious retailer or a seller that can't refund or replace the product should there be a fault, or if it gets damaged in transit. The original MSRP for the RTX 5090 at launch was just $1999.99. I remember balking at that price; now I wish I'd made the leap, as the next generation of GPUs is likely not coming before 2028, discounting pricing and availability.
So, where does that leave us, in a climate that feels actively hostile to enthusiasts? There is one place that seems to be a small bastion of defiance amongst the doom and gloom of the price-rising apocalypse, and that's Micro Center. Should you be lucky enough to live near a store, or at least within driving distance, then you have another option open to you for finding PC components at prices that are often much cheaper than both Amazon and Newegg. Unfortunately, apart from a small marketplace storefront on Amazon, Micro Center does not do business online.
Having a quick look at some in-store offerings at one particular store location, I can find several RTX 5090s: the Asus GeForce RTX 5090 ROG Astral and MSI GeForce RTX 5090 Suprim, both priced at $5,029.99, over $1,500 cheaper than the cheapest available RTX 5090 found online at Amazon. That's a considerable difference, but again, these prices are only available to those willing to make the trek to their local Micro Center store, and that's a major caveat for the majority of Americans.
It's not just the RTX 5090 either. I check for the best prices and deals on tech products daily, often finding some of the best value in component bundles from Newegg, where the high prices of RAM and SSD storage can be offset against the savings you typically make from bundling a bunch of deals together. Micro Center often undercuts these bundles with similar offerings at a significantly reduced price, but the issue is the ability to take advantage of the deal. The reason I don't just highlight Micro Center deals more often is the limited availability to the majority of our readers.
Bundle breakdownLet's break down an example of one of Micro Center's DDR5 component bundles. This gaming-oriented bundle features an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor, an MSI B850 Gaming Pro WiFi6E AM5 motherboard, and 32GB of G.Skill Flare X5 Series DDR5-6000 memory. The total for these three components in a bundle is $899.99, with the cheapest price listed on PC Part Picker for the 9800X3D at $449, the MSI B850 Gaming Pro WiFi6E listed as $189, and the 32GB of G.Skill RAM costing $479 for a combined total of $1,117.
How much is a similar component bundle from Newegg? Well, the closest comparable combo bundle on offer features the same 9800X3D processor, a slightly better Asus TUF Gaming X870E-Plus WIFI7 motherboard, and the same amount of memory with very similar speeds from Corsair. The total for this bundle is $1,109.
Comparing the two bundles directly, even with a slight difference in components, there is a large $200 price difference. Some of that is tied up in the higher-tier motherboard, but even taking that into account, Micro Center's price is still lower. So it's definitely worth exploring the idea of heading to a brick-and-mortar store over simply buying online. Just remember to factor in the price of the gas, and your time, on your way there.
Micro CenterComponent | Micro Center List Price | PC Part Picker List Price | Micro Center Bundle Price |
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D | $479 | $449 | |
MSI B850 Gaming Pro WiFi6E | $189 | $189 | |
G.Skill Flare X5 Series DDR5-6000 32GB | $599 | $479 | |
$1,267 | $1,117 | $899 |
Component | Newegg List Price | PC Part Picker List Price | Newegg Bundle Price |
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D | $469 | $449 | |
Asus TUF Gaming X870E-Plus WiFi7 | $289 | $234 | |
Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-6000 32GB | $499 | $499 | |
$1,257 | $1,182 | $1109 |
Even with Micro Center managing to offer consumers another choice in the PC component landscape and undercutting the pricing of the bigger retailers, the underlying problem of PC component prices skyrocketing remains. Memory and NAND prices continue to rise with no end in sight; major component manufacturers like Micron, which owns the Crucial brand, have pulled out of the consumer market, meaning even less choice in stores and ending any ongoing support for consumers who have purchased products previously. Stock is running low or has expired on the best-value products, and consumer choice is being strangled.
If you currently own a DDR4 system, the cost of upgrading to DDR5 is astronomical; the same goes for upgrading your graphics card to the latest Nvidia 50-series GPUs. Nothing is available anywhere near the original MSRP launch prices, and the more affordable budget-to mid-range card SKUs only offer 8GB of VRAM, which is not great for modern gaming, as resolutions over 1080p can easily demand more. So, if you're near a Micro Center location and you want an upgrade, they are more than likely going to offer you the best value for money in the current market. For the rest of us who don't live near a Micro Center, keep checking our coverage for the best possible prices on PC components.