Need advice about these Microcenter bundles
Posted by blurryfacedfugue@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 15 comments
So I was watching Vex and apparently there are some good deals on CPUs right now. I'm looking at a Ryzen 5 7600X3D for a value oriented gaming CPU.
I don't know if there are other price trackers but using Amazon I can see a precipitous price drop from around $300 bucks earlier this year in Jan to now $220. I see it is even cheaper at Microcenter for $199 but since I currently have an Intel CPU I will have to upgrade.
I was looking at their bundles and found these three: https://www.microcenter.com/endeca/CompareV2.aspx?returnUrl=L3NlYXJjaC9zZWFyY2hfcmVzdWx0cy5hc3B4P050dD1hbWQrcnl6ZW4rNSs3NjAweDNkJnBhZ2U9MQ%3D%3D (MSI B850 Gaming Pro WiFi AM5 vs MSI B850 Gaming Pro WiFi6E AM5 vs ASUS B650E MAX Gaming WiFi AM5)
I was trying to look at the differences and it seems like the two MSI models for $399 support faster memory and E key for their SATA Express. I can't really tell what else is different between these two.. The $349 Asus board has more RAID support and a few more USB ports.
I'm sure I'm missing something..is there anything noteworthy I should know? My primary use case is gaming, the only productivity I do is typing documents.
I'm currently running a MSI MS-7C79 with a Intel i7-10700CPU @ 3.8ghz with 32gigs of ram. I've got 32gb of DDR4 u/4300mhz (I know I need DDR5 with AM5 and I'll just try and deal with 16gb until prices come down--hopefully I'll be fine..?)
I'm a value oriented gamer so I'm thinking the ASUS $349 one should be fine but I'm a bit OOTL so any advice would be awesome.
Also how many watts do I need? I think I'll build a whole new PC at this point and replace the old laptop my son is gaming on. Maybe find a cheap SATA SSD for him to game on until prices for M.2 comes down.
Thanks for any thoughts!!
gamblodar@reddit
Honestly, all the bundles are fine. Hell, you can save $50 and get the $299 7500X3D bundle and be perfectly happy. https://www.microcenter.com/product/5007290/amd-ryzen-5-7500x3d,-msi-b850m-vc-pro-wifi-am5,-gskill-flare-x5-series-16gb-ddr5-6000,-computer-build-bundle
blurryfacedfugue@reddit (OP)
Hmm that is not a bad suggestion.. The two X3D CPUs seem to be nearly identical in performance, and you get a better (I assume) B850M mobo vs the $349 one that has a B650. Thanks for the suggestion!
gamblodar@reddit
Yeah B850 supports pcie 5, while B650 doesn't. The $300 bundle is microATX, but that doesnt effect performance.
blurryfacedfugue@reddit (OP)
Oh I didn't notice that. MicroATX usually have less PCI and other slots I'm assuming since they're probably small form factor? If so I think I'd like to avoid that.. I've built maybe 4 or 5 PCs thoughout my life and I remember banging my big ass hands against small cases.
gamblodar@reddit
It's not that big a difference.
https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/p7G2FT,GP7MnQ/
blurryfacedfugue@reddit (OP)
Just noticed they were out of stock at my store as well. I don't think Microcenters ship to each other?
MotherWarthog6181@reddit
I was grabbing the parts to a bundle but I didn’t like the ram offered, so I asked the sales guy if I can swap to different ram and pay the difference.
He asked which ram I’d rather purchase and then went to his computer. Came back saying I can get that ram (Corsair) a mag x670e, and a 9800x3d for a bundle price. For around $350 savings.
So now I’m pricing out the parts and doing the math before pulling the trigger. I look on the Microcenter site to see what bundle he’s talking about for better reference, but it’s not there.
I say to the sales person that I wasn’t finding that bundle online and he says “ ya that bundle isn’t listed online”
So there’s like secret bundles or something.
blurryfacedfugue@reddit (OP)
Interesting. I'll have to do something similar. My closest store is in Fairfax, VA. Wow, a 9800X3D though. Was that with 32gb of ram? And how much were they asking?
MotherWarthog6181@reddit
It was 6 months ago before the prices went all over the place. I’d have to find the recipe since i don’t remember the exact numbers.
The original bundle had those Gskill rip jaws but I was always a sucker for the Corsair vengeance.
Anyways, can’t hurt to ask if there are any bundles not advertised, since there seems to be. Especially if they are out of stock like you had mentioned, they might replace it with something else to get the sale.
PokerLawyer75@reddit
The link doesn't work. you're not going to be able to get that comparison to work on here.
blurryfacedfugue@reddit (OP)
Sorry about that, I edited it, hopefully it is working now.
Only a little bit--what should I look for in particular? I was aiming for a value oriented X3D chip. These are best slated for my use case of gaming?
PokerLawyer75@reddit
Depends on what you want out of your chipset.
The 870 series will support Wifi7 and USB4, which the 850 does not.
And I would not get a 650 if you plan on keeping the motherboard for at least one more CPU upgrade. AM4 is dead. Go for AM5.
blurryfacedfugue@reddit (OP)
Oh I didn't realize the 650 is AM4. Are you sure? The listing says AM5 and the bundle comes with DDR5 memory.
Urdnot_Flexx@reddit
The only true difference iirc between the b850 and b650 motherboards is that the b850 boards have PCie Gen 5 slots, which no GPU’s can really make use of atm. Get the $350 one.
blurryfacedfugue@reddit (OP)
Okay cool, that is an important data point. I don't think I'll get a gen5 GPU for another 4 or 5 years. I just recently upgraded from to a 9070XT from a 3080. I like to upgrade every 4 or 5 years, though I've had this one for going on 7 years now. I was going to upgrade a year ago but prices got a little crazy, but not as much as now. I had no idea Altman would pull this on the world.