A Discussion on Microcenter In Pricing Comparisons

[AdamK47]

This threads irrelevance is relevant.

 

[grkM3]

Lets not take the MC bundle deals,

from newegg,

AMD FX8120 ($199,99) + Heat-sink ($29,99) + Motherboard ($59,99)= $289,97

I could use a cheaper motherboard as well, also i could use the AMD heat-sink that comes with the CPU and OC the FX8120 up to 4GHz easily.

Intel Core i5 2500K (224,99) + Heat-sink (29,99)+ Motherboard (84,99) = $339,97

We need a P67 or Z68 motherboard in order to be able to OC the Intel CPU. I have used the cheapest Z68 board and the same heatsink as before.



So, FX8120 is $50 cheaper. If we are in a tight budget then that $50 can be put for more ram, an SSD or even a better GPU.

So for a gamer (1080p and above) that Overclocks and on a strict budget i will say that the FX8120 is better.
If you can spend $50 more buy the 2500K but at 1080p and above (with the same GPU) you will not see any performance difference between those two CPUs when both are Overclocked

The 2500k is 210 shipped at newegg,there is a promo code even in your add.So if you think saving 35 bucks vs the huge performance the 2500k has over the BD I dont know what to tell ya.Dont forget that the 2500k has a gpu in it and will get you up and running if you want to build a system and wait for a better gpu to come out(gtx690 etc)

you can also buy a cheaper 2500 and just overclock it a few bins higher than stock but you cant force a fan boy to buy a cpu from a company that they hate.Even if the price was a wash and cost the same you would buy the amd.You seem to think for some reason that the 35 dollar price is not justified by its better performance over the BD.

using your same way of thinking why in gods earth would you buy a BD over a older x6 cpu when it costs less and will beat the BD in games.

You can also minus the 30 dollar heat sink from the intel setup since sandys run ice cold and will easily hit 4.2-4.4 ghz on the stock cooler.

Its not intels fault that you need a bigger heatsink to overclock that BD so minus the 30 and guess what? hmm a 2500k setup would cost you 5-10 bucks more than a BD and the board on the intel setup has more features and also has a free gpu built into the chip.

 

[philipma1957]

I completly agree with OP.

If MC sold these deals online and would ship international i could see the point but the simple truth is only a small fraction of the US can take advantage of these deals. It would be the same thing as saying well I can get a XYZ cpu for $100 because i work at a computer wholesaler and get parts at cost, so it blows away XYZ#2 CPU because its so much cheaper and better, while thats great for me but not the vast majority of posters on this forum, and would be a unfair comparison.

When comparing any hardware you should be comparing street prices anyone can get from any store(usually close to suggested retail) with performance, not some exclusive deal only a small fraction of forum members can get. If you happen to be able to take advantage of any deal like MC then its a bonus but should not be used to compare hardware on a international forum.

the mc in patterson nj has 30 million people less then 90 minutes away.

plus sales tax is 3.5 percent.


I would venture to say the mc serves 150 million people in under a 90 minute ride.

SO WHAT I AM SAYING IS HALF THE COUNTRY CAN GO TO THEM WITH JUST A LITTLE BIT OF PLANNING I DISAGREE WITH THE OP AND RIFTER A SMALL FRACTION OF PEOPLE IS NOT TRUE

IF you go with 2 people and buy 2 combos then sell one on ebay the gas is free.

So if half the country can do it that is good enough for me.

BTW I drove the 66 miles each way to get an intel 2500k and mobo at a 105 dollar discount. Made a day of it went with my wife we grabbed some great pastries at a mid-eastern bakery and ice cream from an second store.

Then we took a few dozen photos of the waterfalls in paterson.

 

[frostedflakes]

The 2500k is 210 shipped at newegg,there is a promo code even in your add.So if you think saving 35 bucks vs the huge performance the 2500k has over the BD I dont know what to tell ya.Dont forget that the 2500k has a gpu in it and will get you up and running if you want to build a system and wait for a better gpu to come out(gtx690 etc)

you can also buy a cheaper 2500 and just overclock it a few bins higher than stock but you cant force a fan boy to buy a cpu from a company that they hate.Even if the price was a wash and cost the same you would buy the amd.You seem to think for some reason that the 35 dollar price is not justified by its better performance over the BD.

using your same way of thinking why in gods earth would you buy a BD over a older x6 cpu when it costs less and will beat the BD in games.

You can also minus the 30 dollar heat sink from the intel setup since sandys run ice cold and will easily hit 4.2-4.4 ghz on the stock cooler.

Its not intels fault that you need a bigger heatsink to overclock that BD so minus the 30 and guess what? hmm a 2500k setup would cost you 5-10 bucks more than a BD and the board on the intel setup has more features and also has a free gpu built into the chip.

$200 shipped currently at NCIX US.

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=57962&vpn=BX80623I52500K&manufacture=Intel&promoid=1078

I've heard some people have been able to successfully price match with the $180 in-store price at Micro Center as well. YMwillprobablyV, though.

Also, I wouldn't expect to do any serious overclocking on that mATX ASRock board. FX-8120 sucks down a ton of power at higher overclocks, probably a good way to make the 4+1 phase power circuitry on that ASRock board burst into flames. With Bulldozer (at least the 8 core chips) you really do need to spend a bit more on a nice board with 8+2 power, whereas that Z68 board should be able to handle a 2500K overclock with ease.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

I haven't been to a MC yet, it's about a 1.5-2hr drive from my place but I do plan on checking them out and maybe picking up a 2600k/mobo combo.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Newegg is selling the 2500k for $210 shipped now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

not bad but "210$" is on a promo code deal in a limited window of time

 

[grkM3]

the mc in patterson nj has 30 million people less then 90 minutes away.

plus sales tax is 3.5 percent.


I would venture to say the mc serves 150 million people in under a 90 minute ride.

SO WHAT I AM SAYING IS HALF THE COUNTRY CAN GO TO THEM WITH JUST A LITTLE BIT OF PLANNING I DISAGREE WITH THE OP AND RIFTER A SMALL FRACTION OF PEOPLE IS NOT TRUE

IF you go with 2 people and buy 2 combos then sell one on ebay the gas is free.

So if half the country can do it that is good enough for me.

BTW I drove the 66 miles each way to get an intel 2500k and mobo at a 105 dollar discount. Made a day of it went with my wife we grabbed some great pastries at a mid-eastern bakery and ice cream from an second store.

Then we took a few dozen photos of the waterfalls in paterson.

ohhh thats fantastic

everyone if you really want a good deal you must plan a day with your wife to drive 2 hours,waste about 35 bucks in fuel and plan a whole day of festivities! now thats fine and since there is 90 million people within a 4-10 hour drive to most microcenters you can compare that walkin price to real world msrp and once you do all this you can compare it to sandy bridge cpus in price vs performance.

you completely missed the whole point of my thread.

Hey I can do a european delivery of my benz and make a trip out of it and save about 5 grand but you dont see me saying x car costs this much if Igo to germany and pick it up in person.

and the canadians that want our prices you can grab your pass port and come check out new york city while you save 60 bucks on that BD combo deal!!!

 

[BallaTheFeared]

I don't see a problem with referencing MC prices if the person can logically benefit from them.

Just like I don't see a problem with noting serial based warranty products like cpus/boards/gpus that are used with heavy discounts.

 

[Piano Man]

Well there is price/performance, but that doesn't mean much. The lowest of the low end usually has the best price/peformance, but there also needs to be a minimum level of acceptable performance that gets factored in as well, which differs from setup to setup and person to person.

Also, I'm not going to do the math, but I bet about 50% of the US population lives within 1-2 hours of a MC if they're covering most of the major metro areas.

 

[exar333]

I think it's fair.

When SB initially was released, I generally suggested those close to a MC to grab a 2500K + MB deal ~$250. Otherwise, a PhII X6 + MB could be had for a similar price, and I recommended that for those not near a MC.

To be honest, it's not that different now with the great 8120 deal. If you are near a MC (read: many major US cities) that deal is VERY hard to beat. Im pretty down on BD myself, but for less than $200 getting a solid CPU + very good MB is a steal. If you are not near a MC, then BD is much less interesting IMHO (except for fanboys, the curious, or the ignorant).

As long as MC prices are not the end-all-be-all of a person's price/performance opinion, it is 100% fair to reference.

I am planning to head out there in April, around the time of the IB release, so anyone feel free to PM me if you want me to grab you one because you are not close by a MC. I don't have an issue with that...

 

[frostedflakes]

I think it's fair.

When SB initially was released, I generally suggested those close to a MC to grab a 2500K + MB deal ~$250. Otherwise, a PhII X6 + MB could be had for a similar price, and I recommended that for those not near a MC.

To be honest, it's not that different now with the great 8120 deal. If you are near a MC (read: many major US cities) that deal is VERY hard to beat. Im pretty down on BD myself, but for less than $200 getting a solid CPU + very good MB is a steal. If you are not near a MC, then BD is much less interesting IMHO (except for fanboys, the curious, or the ignorant).

As long as MC prices are not the end-all-be-all of a person's price/performance opinion, it is 100% fair to reference.

I am planning to head out there in April, around the time of the IB release, so anyone feel free to PM me if you want me to grab you one because you are not close by a MC. I don't have an issue with that...

Basically my feelings on the matter. As others have pointed out, although MC only has a few dozen locations, they are all in population centers, so they reach a large chunk of the population. That's probably how they are able to keep their costs and prices low, by not being in every little podunk town like Walmart, Best Buy, and other big chains but by concentrating their retail presence in as few stores in as high of population areas as possible. I have one about 2 hours away, for example. Obviously it isn't worth driving there just to save $50-100 or whatever on some computer parts, but I make my way up to Kansas City occasionally for other reasons and would definitely consider picking up one of those combo deals they have if I was in the market for a new CPU and motherboard. The deals are definitely worth mentioning for the people who do have a MC close by.

 

[blckgrffn]

I think it's fair.

When SB initially was released, I generally suggested those close to a MC to grab a 2500K + MB deal ~$250. Otherwise, a PhII X6 + MB could be had for a similar price, and I recommended that for those not near a MC.

To be honest, it's not that different now with the great 8120 deal. If you are near a MC (read: many major US cities) that deal is VERY hard to beat. Im pretty down on BD myself, but for less than $200 getting a solid CPU + very good MB is a steal. If you are not near a MC, then BD is much less interesting IMHO (except for fanboys, the curious, or the ignorant).

As long as MC prices are not the end-all-be-all of a person's price/performance opinion, it is 100% fair to reference.

I am planning to head out there in April, around the time of the IB release, so anyone feel free to PM me if you want me to grab you one because you are not close by a MC. I don't have an issue with that...

Yup and ditto.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

ahhh microcenter how I love thee let me count the ways :wub:

1 dollar saved
2 dollars saved
3 dollars spent on frivolous but amusing parts
4 dollars for charity to send to some poor OP with an axe to grind

 

[Tsaar]

I work on Power's Ferry in Atlanta not 3 minutes from the Microcenter.

I used to pass Microcenter and never give it a second thought during college. Then when I got into system building I realized how lucky I was to have one nearby. I do feel bad for all those on here without them since their deals are so sweet.

 

[AtenRa]

The 2500k is 210 shipped at newegg,there is a promo code even in your add.So if you think saving 35 bucks vs the huge performance the 2500k has over the BD I dont know what to tell ya.Dont forget that the 2500k has a gpu in it and will get you up and running if you want to build a system and wait for a better gpu to come out(gtx690 etc)

Even in default frequencies the FX 8120 is faster than 2500K in multithreaded apps and it is $35 cheaper. And the 880G motherboard do have an integrated GPU.

you can also buy a cheaper 2500 and just overclock it a few bins higher than stock but you cant force a fan boy to buy a cpu from a company that they hate.Even if the price was a wash and cost the same you would buy the amd.You seem to think for some reason that the 35 dollar price is not justified by its better performance over the BD.

Then when both CPUs will be overclocked the 2500 will loose, it takes a 5GHz Core i5 2500K to win in multithreaded apps aganst a 4.8GHz 8-core FX CPU.

Now, let's clear this one up once and for all, Im not an AMD, Intel or NV fanboy. Just because a person disagrees with you about a CPU or a GPU etc doesnt make him/her a fan boy.

I dont believe that FX sucks, perhaps the FX8150 is not suited for enthusiast and Overclockers but up to FX8120 they are very competitive in price per performance against Intel's offering when Overclocked. FX do give you a better multithreaded performance at the same price vs Core i CPUs and up to the $200 mark they are very compatitive in performance.

I could call you a fan boy because you dont realize that at a cheaper or lets say equal priced FX8120 can be competitive against Core i5 2500K. It looses in some and wins in others. Does that make it sucks ?? NO. Did i called you a fan boy before ?? NO.

Have i ever said that FX CPUs are Superior ?? NO
Have i ever recommended the FX8150 ??? NO.

Not everyone can or willing to spend $1K-2K for their PCs. On a tight budget $35-50 can give you something more. So yes i believe that $35 in savings here, another $35 from a different component can make a difference for a lot of people. If that wasnt the case, everyone would be buying the same CPU, AMD and Intel would only produce a single CPU for everyone

using your same way of thinking why in gods earth would you buy a BD over a older x6 cpu when it costs less and will beat the BD in games.

I dont know what happens in the US, but in the rest of the world the AMD Phenoms are EOL and cant be purchased anymore. Plus, FX has lower power usage(stock speeds), plus more ISA's (AVX etc).

You can also minus the 30 dollar heat sink from the intel setup since sandys run ice cold and will easily hit 4.2-4.4 ghz on the stock cooler.

Its not intels fault that you need a bigger heatsink to overclock that BD so minus the 30 and guess what? hmm a 2500k setup would cost you 5-10 bucks more than a BD and the board on the intel setup has more features and also has a free gpu built into the chip.

I havent used the default FX heat-sink to find out the maximum OC of the FX8150 but from what i read from others they can reach 4-4.2GHz with 1.33-1.35V. But even if you use the Intel heat-sink and only OC 2500K to 4.2-4.4GHz, then again 2500K will loose in multithreaded apps against a 4.7-4.8GHz 8-core FX. Not to mention at the same price point.

My belief is that FX CPUs are price/performance competitive when OCed up to $200 mark. Now, i dont say they are the better choice for everyone, but they simple dont suck

 

[VirtualLarry]

Does anyone else find it a tad strange, that the OP's concern over the usage of Microcenter deals on this forum, seems to be limited to being opinionated against the use of MC deals specifically to argue AMD and BD price/performance.

Can you people that come here time and time again that try to use microcenter as the basis of your argument towards amd having a better price/performance deal vs intel just stop.

Like in most of the threads where price vs performance comes in is that micro deal with the BD 8 core and mother board for free for 189.

you cant compare that pirce combo and say the amd setup is better than intel because its not something most people can buy.

Now its 100% fine to say that you can get a good deal like that but thread after thread that combo deal comes up vs price/performance to an intel setup.

Im not worked up at all,I think its halarious as chiro just used the combo deal in another thread about 15 min ago lol

This was just posted by him lol


Originally Posted by Chiropteran
Huh, $260, I guess that is pretty cheap. Not unlike the $189 deals you can get for FX-8120...

I guess you are ignorant enough to ridicule and berate others for not caring about power usage, but when proven guilty of doing the same yourself you resort to emoticons.

and the canadians that want our prices you can grab your pass port and come check out new york city while you save 60 bucks on that BD combo deal!!!

 

[thilanliyan]

And I thought the VC&G forum was bad lol.

 

[Chiropteran]

Does anyone else find it a tad strange, that the OP's concern over the usage of Microcenter deals on this forum, seems to be limited to being opinionated against the use of MC deals specifically to argue AMD and BD price/performance.

Yeah, he doesn't seem to get it.

I guess he is trying to argue that BD is a terrible deal if you pay full retail and don't get in on any deal, and I don't think anyone would argue with him- BD is pretty terrible in that case.

But most people do have access to a Microcenter, and if you do the FX-8120+MB $189 deal is something worth considering (as are the other deals).

 

[Exeodus]

GOTCHA!!!!

Can you people that come here time and time again that try to use microcenter as the basis of your argument towards amd having a better price/performance deal vs intel just stop.

Here is all 23 microcenters in the usa....now how many people can actually get those prices?

No "gotcha" threads. Please use a proper title
-ViRGE

I can, actually, I have 2 of them locally. Plus the Tigerdirect warehouse and Frys.

 

[Edrick]

I guess he is trying to argue that BD is a terrible deal if you pay full retail and don't get in on any deal, and I don't think anyone would argue with him- BD is pretty terrible in that case.

Is it true that AMD is lowering the prices again? I read this yestrday but not sure if true. If it is true, then th FX chips become even more of a bargain.

Also, is it true that some of the 6 core FX cpus are priced lower than the older Phenom x6 cpus? I do not follow AMD pricing that closely and when I saw the price matrix yesterday I was a little surprised.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Also, is it true that some of the 6 core FX cpus are priced lower than the older Phenom x6 cpus? I do not follow AMD pricing that closely and when I saw the price matrix yesterday I was a little surprised.

They should be - they are slower than the Phenom X6 CPUs. They only have three FPUs, versus six for the X6.

 

[Edrick]

Does anyone else find it a tad strange, that the OP's concern over the usage of Microcenter deals on this forum, seems to be limited to being opinionated against the use of MC deals specifically to argue AMD and BD price/performance.

I do agree with the OP that we should not use 1 specific store's promotional sale to dictate the price/performance of 2 CPUs worldwide. That goes with any store in any country, not just MC.

But as per my earlier post, I feel this price/performance arguements are just silly. AMD and Intel position their CPUs in the market based on how they perform, so generally price/performance is where it should be in most cases. I have to believe that the Intel and AMD marketing teams know a little more than we do

 

[grkM3]

Yeah, he doesn't seem to get it.

I guess he is trying to argue that BD is a terrible deal if you pay full retail and don't get in on any deal, and I don't think anyone would argue with him- BD is pretty terrible in that case.

But most people do have access to a Microcenter, and if you do the FX-8120+MB $189 deal is something worth considering (as are the other deals).

OMG he finally gets it!!!! You yourself have mentioned that price without even saying its a micro deal like its a normal msrp price and use that to compare it to sandy bridge systems

This whole thread is about using that combo deal larry.

and to atrena now you are bringing up multy threads when you were talking about the guy saving money to get a better gaming card.

If you want to compare multy threading you can buy a sandy xeon with 8 threads for 238 at newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115083

 

[Jman13]

Well, I did some quick math. Just looking at the defined metropolitan area stats for the Cities with Microcenters (not even counting those within an hours drive that aren't in the metro area), there are 76.7 million people with a Microcenter in their metro area, which is a 45 minute drive or less for almost everyone in that metro area, with most people much closer.

The US Population as of the 2010 census is 308M...so 25% of the US population has a Microcenter in their city. Expand that to people who are within easy reach of those locations, and I'd bet a good 40% of the US population can get to a Microcenter pretty easily. It's not a majority, but it sure as heck isn't a 'tiny percentage.'

 

[Chiropteran]

Is it true that AMD is lowering the prices again? I read this yestrday but not sure if true. If it is true, then th FX chips become even more of a bargain.

Also, is it true that some of the 6 core FX cpus are priced lower than the older Phenom x6 cpus? I do not follow AMD pricing that closely and when I saw the price matrix yesterday I was a little surprised.

I heard that too but I think the MC change from $199 to $189 for the deal may be the extent of the price drop for now.

The 6 core Phenom 2 are getting harder and harder to find, but if the higher end versions (1100T or 1090T) were in stock they were typically priced higher than the FX-6100. They performed better too though, so the pricing is not all that strange.