WTF happened to Microcenters prices?

[v8envy]

Sad thing is, I *would* have picked up a board and RAM from them if they had the one I wanted even if the end result was $40 + tax over what I wound up paying. Sometimes convenience and instant gratification > savings.

Unfortunately, my wife was the one doing the pickup and the salesguy was pushing $350 motherboards and $200 RAM (not to mention junk $100 PSUs), so I just told her to grab the CPU and GTFO.

 

[ExcaliburMM]

At the Microcenter I went to in Patterson NJ, the guys were really nice, helpful, friendly, and tech geeky and I felt right at home. They didn't push anything and got me my 920 D0 quick and both the guy who got the CPU out of the case and the cashier were telling me about their own 920 OCs. It is now my favorite store.

 

[justinm]

Kinda funny how you looked at the same ones I did.

I7 750 $190 this one used to float from 150-160 back and forth

I7 920 $230 was always 199

Guess they missed the i860 as it's still the same 229

Why bother changing that price when it was higher then the others to begin with. Newegg still wants $280 for it, so it's still a good deal.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

MicroCenter helped keep my i7 Rig2 platform upgrade to a hair over 500$ Thanks MicroCenter.

The second D0 I bought from them is very close to the batch they used in the Anandtech i7 920 & 760 A1 Classified review

and I think I bought 3 Q9550 CPUs from them.

 

[Golgatha]

Anybody else notice Microcenter jacked up the prices on cpu's

They match Newegg.com once every couple of weeks and re-adjust the pricing.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-041-_-Product


Microcenter's prices are pretty comparable to Online, except for cables and such, which I get from Monoprice.com. Unfortunately for Newegg.com, I rarely buy from them anymore since they no longer have a pricing advantage. In fact, normally they're middle of the road when it comes to pricing anymore.

 

[Axon]

Since I have the Paterson and Westbury locations within a half-hour drive, it's still worth it to buy there. Still, those deals were ridiculous, you have to give them credit for running them at that price for that long. I know I got my i7 920 there, and if they had the motherboard I wanted, I would have grabbed that as well.

 

[Keysplayr]

Every time I go to MC, the place is pretty packed, and their not just hovering around the CPU cabinets. Trust me, they do pretty well regardless of their higher prices compared to online. There are still a lot of people who are more comfortable walking into an actual store and see what they are buying. And having the option to return right away if they need to.
MC is the "Home Depot" of the computer world.

 

[RaistlinZ]

Still a deal compared to online prices. They can price them at $250 and still sell them out.

Anyone else feel like supply is being limited on pretty much all CPU components on purpose? CPU'S, video cards, motherboards, SSD's... they're all overpriced. How can supplies be so low on everything especially considering we've been going through a recession for the past year? You'd think there'd be a backlog of supply since people have been spending less. :hmm:

Or maybe they all realized that everyone on ATOT makes 6-figures and they're trying to squeeze us dry.

 

[nyker96]

MC's prices are NOT regular prices!! they are heavily discounted prices for cpu only. you are too used to paying 200 buck for i7 920s while rest the world is paying like 270. well even after the adjustments they still better than most online retailers.

 

[Golgatha]

Since I have the Paterson and Westbury locations within a half-hour drive, it's still worth it to buy there. Still, those deals were ridiculous, you have to give them credit for running them at that price for that long. I know I got my i7 920 there, and if they had the motherboard I wanted, I would have grabbed that as well.

Heck, they've had some good deals this year. I bought my i7 920, 2x 275 GTX video cards, an ASUS P6T, a networked HP printer (for a job, not myself), an Intel X-18 SSD kit, and a Zalman HSF unit there within the last 12 months. Each purchase was typically at or below what I could get Online price wise. The only thing I "overpaid" for was the ASUS P6T, but that was like $30 extra and I wanted it right then. I had also read Online about some cold boot problems with that board, so I figured if I needed to RMA, there would be most of my savings lost anyway. Thankfully, everything I've purchased and put together from there has worked out smoothly.

 

[Golgatha]

Still a deal compared to online prices. They can price them at $250 and still sell them out.

Anyone else feel like supply is being limited on pretty much all CPU components on purpose? CPU'S, video cards, motherboards, SSD's... they're all overpriced. How can supplies be so low on everything especially considering we've been going through a recession for the past year? You'd think there'd be a backlog of supply since people have been spending less. :hmm:

Or maybe they all realized that everyone on ATOT makes 6-figures and they're trying to squeeze us dry.

Recession = low (anticipated) demand = cut production = temporarily higher prices when demand picks up

 

[modelCS118]

I noticed and I'm annoyed as I wouldn't think this new i5/i3 launch would cause this price reset. They had to do it though probably on the 750 because the higher i3 is listed at $144, and no one would buy it if they could get the i750 for $150.
But the 860 is still $229--better than most places.
I have a P55 board waiting for a $149 750. The holidays are just around the corner.

 

[Magusigne]

Anyone know how much a Q9550 or I920 cost is?

I'd like to know the profit margins on those..

I know that it would vary upon quantity purchased.

 

[manimal]

Those aren't very good any more, either, unfortunately.

Thats not exactly true. People forget that black friday - Jan 1st are the Drive times for retail and the crucial 4th quarter so prices-esp frys prices- are the best they will be all year. This year I got 4 $80 dollar PH2810s, UD3R P55 w/i750 for $199, D0 920 w/matx msi board for $299 and a $29 sempron bundle.


Now if you refer to the Omar days at frys with collusion and price fixing then yes prices are higher now

 

[mav451]

I noticed and I'm annoyed as I wouldn't think this new i5/i3 launch would cause this price reset. They had to do it though probably on the 750 because the higher i3 is listed at $144, and no one would buy it if they could get the i750 for $150.
But the 860 is still $229--better than most places.
I have a P55 board waiting for a $149 750. The holidays are just around the corner.

I really doubt the 750 will be that cheap again. Intel's new i3/i5 chips are filling in the low-end gap now so if you need to build, I would pick up the 860 before that returns to normal pricing as well.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

the MC near me has been doing a "build your own computer" sale pretty regularly every February the past couple of years, so here's to hoping they drop CPU prices that month...I have an E8400 system that could use a Q9550 to keep it going for a year or two more.

 

[douglasb]

Thats not exactly true. People forget that black friday - Jan 1st are the Drive times for retail and the crucial 4th quarter so prices-esp frys prices- are the best they will be all year. This year I got 4 $80 dollar PH2810s, UD3R P55 w/i750 for $199, D0 920 w/matx msi board for $299 and a $29 sempron bundle.


Now if you refer to the Omar days at frys with collusion and price fixing then yes prices are higher now

I was referring to their prices as a whole, not only specifically on Black Friday. Of course they're going to have good prices on that particular day.

 

[modelCS118]

the MC near me has been doing a "build your own computer" sale pretty regularly every February the past couple of years, so here's to hoping they drop CPU prices that month...I have an E8400 system that could use a Q9550 to keep it going for a year or two more.

To think that cpu was $159 a couple times last year and now...I almost went with it, probably should have since I have an E7200. I'll to keep watching the ads.

I really doubt the 750 will be that cheap again. Intel's new i3/i5 chips are filling in the low-end gap now so if you need to build, I would pick up the 860 before that returns to normal pricing as well.

Maybe but I planned out a <$300 upgrade around that chip.
To go for i860 would be out of my normal bang for buck building. I guess that's all relative.

 

[Meghan54]

Those aren't very good any more, either, unfortunately.

ORLY?


In today's Fry's ad:

---AMD Phenom x4 630 cpu/MSI 790GX-G65 ....... $139.99 after $15 MIR

Compare that to Newegg's price of $239.98 for the combo (CPU--$112.99, motherboard $119.99)

Savings from Fry's combo: $92.99 minus any sales tax. Not shabby.





----Intel Core i7 860 cpu/Biostar TP55 motherboard ..... $239.99 after $20 MIR


Compare that to Newegg's price of $399.98 for the combo (CPU--$279.99, motherboard $119.99)

Savings from Fry's combo: $159.99 minus any sales tax. Again, not too shabby.






----AMD Athlon II X2 245/Gigabyte GA-M68M-S2 motherboard .... $49.99 after $10 MIR.


Compare that to Newegg's price of $106.99 for the combo (CPU--$62.00, and for the motherboard I used the cheapest Geforce 7025 chipset mb's price on Newegg, an Asrock, due to Newegg having none of the Gigabyte boards---$44.99)

Savings from Fry's combo: $57 minus any sales tax. Again, not too shabby.



A few weeks ago I purchased a Fry's combo of an i5 750 cpu and Gigabyte P55A-UD3 motherboard for $210 AR. Separately, from Newegg the price was $190 for the cpu and $139.99 for the motherboard, giving a combo price of $330, $120 more than the Fry's combo price.

Say what you will, the combo prices are pretty much just like they've always been.....cpu for below Newegg's price and the mb for free. It's just the el cheapo ECS combos are gone, but in their place are much better motherboards. True the prices are a tad higher now, but the mb quality is also higher.
----

 

[mav451]

Yeah Fry's has some ludicrous deals - the P55A boards from Gigabyte especially - that is a LEGIT board. It's too bad they aren't any on the East Coast.

 

[Exeodus]

WHEW!! I just picked up my i5 750 for $150 two weeks ago. :thumbsup: The price jack doesn't surprise me though. I wouldn't buy anything else from them as their prices are far over what I could get online, I imagine lots of other people were abusing the low price in the same manner.

You guys do know that in many cases, they will price match with other places like Newegg.

I almost never pay their price, I have it matched to Newegg.

 

[vshah]

I bought a 920 D0 from them and I have and will buy other things from them again. Last thing I bought was a laser printer, which they price matched against a good Newegg price that had free shipping.

they actually pricematched to newegg? that is pretty cool...