this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2024
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It's been awhile since I looked into building a PC, so I'm not sure what some of the better stores may be, or which may have swapped hands/changed approaches and aren't as reliable as they once were.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions/advice!

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[–] bobsuruncle 45 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Try using pcpartpicker.com. You can do your build on the site and it will list the best deals for the components you choose. As a bonus it will check to see if there are some glaring incompatibilities at the same time.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

I love this site so much. As someone who's not got much of a tech backgroung, it's been massively helpful in building and upgrading my PCs.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

As a bonus it will check to see if there are some glaring incompatibilities at the same time.

I'd heard of the site but for some reason I'd forgotten this part. I'll definitely use it for that at a minimum (and maybe for sourcing parts as well depending!), as I have a habit of missing some tiny detail that happens to relate to compatibility.

[–] jordanlund 29 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Watching this thread. I've been LOST ever since Fry's fell apart. :(

[–] Thermal_shocked 26 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Microcenter is great, especially for nerds. Sucks if one isn't close, but they ship.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

They don't ship anything that matters. Key parts like CPU's, GPU's, mobos, hard nope.

[–] shyguyblue 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Yup. 30 something processors in the website, 3 available in store. I love that microcenter has replaced Fry's (smaller stores that i don't get an anxiety attack going to) but the shipping is crap and you have to wait for parts to come back in stock.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I really wish that there wasn't just the one in Tustin for the entire state of California. The Bay Area would seem like a no-brainer for a Micro Center but no such luck.

[–] Thermal_shocked 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

that sucks. there is one 20 min from me, the the second is roughly 45 min. east coast baby!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I don't think there's one in my entire state

[–] Ghostalmedia 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

My best buys were always at fry’s.

[–] CatZoomies 4 points 11 months ago

And if you wanted delicious fries, your best buy was not at Best Buy but rather Five Guys Burgers and Fries.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

The last computer I built (not for me) was a mix of Amazon, Memory Express and Canada Computers (got the list from PC PartPicker).

Amazon had the memory and CPU I wanted; MemEx had the mobo, PSU and case; and CC had the monitor. I tried to get everything from MemEx though, but they just didn't have everything I needed.

May be worth mentioning that NewEgg is now hellah anti-consumer. I would avoid them at all costs.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Pre-2014 or so I was 85% Newegg or more.

Post, I've been 85%+ Amazon. I buy from B&H when I can, but honestly Amazon tends to dominate the PC partlicker list.

To clarify - I removed Newegg from the vendor list. Won't even look at them.

[–] jqubed 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I haven’t been able to leave them entirely, but I try to avoid B&H as much as I can. They were sued by the federal government twice over civil rights violations, particularly for their treatment of Hispanic employees. It wasn’t just stuff like not promoting employees and paying them less, but Jim Crow-era stuff like not allowing them to use certain bathrooms, as recently as the past decade. Once I could’ve written off as some bad manager, but the Feds sued them again a decade later and it was basically all the same stuff, so to me that’s a cultural problem.

I also worked at a manufacturer where they were by far our biggest reseller, larger than everyone else combined including our own direct sales. They were a giant pain to work with; every interaction felt like they were flipping us a giant middle finger. Our accounting team especially hated dealing with them; we got some new people in who figured out they were always trying to claim discounts and refunds they weren’t entitled to. If our people pushed back and could show they weren’t allowed they would cave, but it took a lot of their time every month. I try now to buy from their smaller rivals like Adorama or AbelCine even if it might cost a little more; most of them were so much nicer to work with.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Oh jeez! Good to know.

Amazon is no saint either, obviously; it's getting hard to buy from anyone if you learn too much about them!

[–] jqubed 1 points 11 months ago

That’s for sure!

[–] HurlingDurling 15 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'm trying to hold off as a new microcenter will open this year in town

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Charlotte gang

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Newegg, Amazon, BestBuy. Every so often one or the other will come out with a great price on a component. I keep my ear to the ground on Slickdeals and /r/buildapcsales and cherry pick anything that sounds good.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Can I have some of those negative downvotes?

spoiler

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

This took me a minute to see what was wrong here, but that's really strange, isn't it?

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[–] waz 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I built a computer last year. Parts were sourced from Newegg, microcenter, and Amazon.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

I did this exact same combo. PCpartspicker helped find best deal for each component between the three.

[–] toasteecup 8 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Microcenter is my 1st priority, I've heard of Fry's on the west Coast.

After that, Newegg

[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

Newegg has really gone downhill since 2016.

[–] ExtraMedicated 4 points 11 months ago

I can still get great shipping times if I get stuff that's "shipped by Newegg" but the selection is incredibly limited.

[–] toasteecup 1 points 11 months ago

Yeah that's fair and they aren't my first choice but I trust them to be reliable. If they have what I need then I know I can buy the product and receive it.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] shyguyblue 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

What pissed me off the most about that: they just closed the stores without any "going out of world sale"

That being said, when i last visited Fry's, about 6 months before they shut down, there was nothing worth buying. They were putting gamer chairs(tm) everywhere, because they had an overstock. Printer paper, ink cartridges, canned air dusters and gamer chairs on every isle.

[–] robolemmy 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The company had moved to a model where the vendors owned the stock, for the most part. That's why they had no going out of business sale and it's also why they never had a damned thing in stock, since very few vendors seemed to be interested in doing business (with Fry's) that way.

This is just speculation, but the last 5-10 years of Fry's lifespan felt kinda like some kind of money laundering scheme. There's no way in hell they were making any money on retail sales, so something else was keeping the zombie alive.

[–] shyguyblue 3 points 11 months ago

That makes sense, i definitely got a "mattress store under new management" vibe, so you're probably on to something...

[–] BallShapedMan 7 points 11 months ago

I cheat and drive to Microcenter. It's about an hour south and worth it.

They sell online and I'd try that if I lived too far away to drive.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

Memory express and Canada computers

[–] tartan 6 points 11 months ago

B&H in New York has some pretty good inventory, usually. I’ve bought a lot of stuff from them through the years.

[–] protokaiser 6 points 11 months ago

Depends on my laziness. I just bought parts for my new rig on Newegg. I was going to do microcenter, but they didn't have everything I wanted.

[–] weeeeum 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I usually buy used refurbished components from reputable stores. Likely eBay too. Being in the tech industry I realized how mind bogglingly cheap even slightly "old" hardware is. If you want an entry level/mid tier you can buy a used office PC with an i7 8700k or something (make sure that specific model has GPU power overhead) and buy a refurbished gtx 1080 ti. Make sure to add an SSD if it doesn't have one already. In fact skip the HDD and buy a high capacity SSD, they are cheap nowadays.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Just got a 2t Samsung ssd for well under 100 bucks. Good stuff.

[–] weeeeum 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I die a little inside whenever I see someone clueless buy a 1000$ computer with an HDD, and expect it to be way faster. And I die a little more inside when my work's laptop, selling for 120$, with SSD and upgraded ram remain unsold for months.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

Microcenter, Newegg, Scamazon. In that order.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

Since Fry's closed only Amazon and Newegg remain as primary part sources, both of which are shitty companies. Closest Microcenter is ~500 miles away.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Mostly Amazon, myself.

If one wants an occasional old gizmo that's no longer made, eBay can be helpful.

Specifically for cables -- which aren't that pricy relative to other items people buy, and are often marked up a lot by retailers -- I've gone to Monoprice for quite some years. Useful if getting a bunch of cables.

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[–] Just_Pizza_Crust 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Probably not for everyone, but Facebook marketplace with local pickup is really good for some parts. YMMV

I was planning on buying an RX 6700XT from Newegg for $450ish, but instead managed to get a 6600 (non XT) for $80. I then found a 6700XT a month later for $300, bought it, and gave the 6600 to my cousin's kid.

I also bought a shitbox I turned into a Plex server for $75.

[–] AlphaOmega 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Depends on what you want. Newegg, eBay, Amazon, Jawa.gg, Liquidation.com, Shopgoodwill.com, FB Marketplace, Craigslist, Garage sales, Auctions

I get computer parts from all these sources.

[–] rockandsock 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I usually walk into Best Buy or order from B and H photo video.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I'm from the UK and ordered a GPU from B&H as they had a sale on and as a result it was a bunch cheaper - there was a some confusion on the billing address (mine doesn't fit nicely in a US format & so got messed up when they tried to store it or something along those lines) but they were great to deal with about it so I'd definitely recommend them also

[–] TheFeatureCreature 2 points 11 months ago

Canada Computers and sometimes Memory Express.

[–] Ep1cFac3pa1m 2 points 11 months ago

Most of the parts for my last 2 builds have been from Micro Center, but if I’m just buying one or two components I hit up my local Best Buy first, and then Newegg if Best Buy doesn’t have what I want.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Usually Newegg and Amazon, sometimes NextWarehouse for things I'm not in a rush for (they do a lot of drop shipping from the distributors/manufactures themselves so it's sometimes cheaper but also slower). B&H is also worth a look, sometimes they do price drops on things & end up being cheaper than the other places.

There's a local Best Buy near me that's in a special tax district (lower sales tax) so I could try checking them out but usually the prices there are marked up so much that it's not worth it IMO.

There aren't any Micro Centers near me, it'd take a fair amount of travel to get to one.

[–] hal_5700X 2 points 11 months ago

Newegg or Amazon.

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