Microcenter Prebuilts

[rkunati]

Budget (including currency): 1250 USD

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Arkham Series, God of War, Halo Master Chief Collection, Jedi Fallen Order

Other details: At my local Microcenter (Denver), there are currently a couple open box prebuilds for sale. They all look like they are the same to me, not sure why they are varying prices so much?

No matter which system, I will be upgrading the ram could you give recommendations for 32 GB. Should I buy more of the existing, or is 2666 too low?

1) $986.86 USD for open box and $1099 for New

• AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7GHz Processor
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB GDDR6
• 16GB DDR4-2666 RAM
• 500GB Solid State Drive
• Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
• 10/100/1000 Network
• 802.11ac Wireless
• Bluetooth 4.2

2) $799 USD for Open box, no new ones available

• Intel Core i5 12th Gen 12400F 2.5GHz Processor
• AMD Radeon RX 6600 8GB GDDR6
• 16GB DDR4-2666 RAM
• 1TB Solid State Drive
• Microsoft Windows 11 Home
• 10/100/1000 Network
• 802.11ac Wireless
• Bluetooth 4.2

3) $899 USD for Open box and $999 for new

• AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 3.9GHz Processor
• AMD Radeon RX 6600XT 8GB GDDR6
• 16GB DDR4-2666 RAM
• 500GB Solid State Drive
• Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
• 10/100/1000 Network
• 802.11ac Wireless
• Bluetooth 4.2

 

[Dedayog]

#1, Open Box please.  Open Box rules are 100% fine for me.

[mdtaUK]

33 minutes ago, rkunati said:

1) $986.86 USD for open box and $1099 for New

• AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7GHz Processor
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB GDDR6
• 16GB DDR4-2666 RAM
• 500GB Solid State Drive
• Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
• 10/100/1000 Network
• 802.11ac Wireless
• Bluetooth 4.2

 

The fact this has an Nvidia card, with a 3.7 Ghz processor is probably the cause of this highest price.  Factor in the Pro version of Windows also.

 

33 minutes ago, rkunati said:

2) $799 USD for Open box, no new ones available

• Intel Core i5 12th Gen 12400F 2.5GHz Processor
• AMD Radeon RX 6600 8GB GDDR6
• 16GB DDR4-2666 RAM
• 1TB Solid State Drive
• Microsoft Windows 11 Home
• 10/100/1000 Network
• 802.11ac Wireless
• Bluetooth 4.2
   

2.5 Ghz put this as the slower.  It comes with Windows Home edition, and a Radeon 6600.  On the pro side, it includes a 1TB drive.

 

 

33 minutes ago, rkunati said:

3) $899 USD for Open box and $999 for new

• AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 3.9GHz Processor
• AMD Radeon RX 6600XT 8GB GDDR6
• 16GB DDR4-2666 RAM
• 500GB Solid State Drive
• Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
• 10/100/1000 Network
• 802.11ac Wireless
• Bluetooth 4.2

 

 

As a mid ranger, it has a faster processor of the 3 options.  Pro version of Windows, but 500GB drive.  That and only an 8GB version of the RX 6600 - would account for this being on the cheaper end.

Do you need to factor in the cost of a case for this at all?

Adding the same RAM again to the machine may be enough.  I know the ideal is to buy a kit with the amount of RAM you need - but when budgets are tight, if you can be confident in getting the same version, timings, brand, DRAM Sticks, then it would save more money.

[KaitouX]

23 minutes ago, mdtaUK said:

...

The 12400F and 5600X are about the same performance, both faster than the 5600G.

RX 6600 =/= RX 6600XT, the XT is about 15% faster.

 

Out of the three systems the Intel one is the best value. The 5600X system is slightly faster but a lot more expensive, and the 5600G system is faster in GPU bound tasks, but slower in CPU bound ones.

I would probably look around for better alternatives first though, ideally you would get something with a 3060Ti and 5600X/12400F for not much more than what these are, but something with a 6600XT and 5600X/12400F would already be better than the options listed.

[rkunati]

1 hour ago, mdtaUK said:

Do you need to factor in the cost of a case for this at all?

Adding the same RAM again to the machine may be enough.  I know the ideal is to buy a kit with the amount of RAM you need - but when budgets are tight, if you can be confident in getting the same version, timings, brand, DRAM Sticks, then it would save more money.

These are all prebuilds, so that includes the case. As for the ram, would it be possible to mix and match?

[GeorgeMKane]

8 minutes ago, rkunati said:

These are all prebuilds, so that includes the case. As for the ram, would it be possible to mix and match?

In some cases, you can mix and match brands. You never want to mix and match speed and timings though. They can cause issues with setting the speed, in the BIOS, and can also cause issues with the motherboard. Crucial would be the best brand RAM to get, or whatever comes with the prebuilt.

[mdtaUK]

45 minutes ago, rkunati said:

These are all prebuilds, so that includes the case. As for the ram, would it be possible to mix and match?

Not from the US, so haven't had the experience of visiting a Micro Centre.