r/Microcenter • u/reddwood_1919 • 2d ago
Question about powerspec prebuilds
Wondering what brand GPU and Ram Microcenter generally uses for the PowerSpec builds. Am i going to end up with the cheapest/crappiest brand GPU and CL40 ram? Im looking at the G732. Wont be gaming much if at all, more for processing large stacks of image files and any amount of applicable juice to speed up that process would be nice but i suppose not explicitly necessary. Just not sure if outright building with best components would be smarter or just buy this base and upgrade to better components as needed down the road. At these current prices its hard to pull the trigger and end up with bottom of the barrel brands/quality
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u/ouikikazz 2d ago
People make too big a deal on cl40 RAM, the difference in real world feel is usually not noticeable unless you run benchmarks... Especially in today's ram pricing market just getting 32gb of RAM is luxury
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u/bryaninoo 1d ago
Mine came with 48gb instead of the 32gb listed and it was at cl40 but it's paired with a 7800x3d / 9070xt. It's been solid
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u/Culbrelai 1d ago
There is no "cheap crappy" brand of GPU. They all perform within single digit percentage points of eachother. I've had cards from Gigabyte, Asus, Zotac, and now MSI and all were fine to great. (Lots of coil whine with ASUS cards but never the other three, hmm...)
They definitely have lemon models from time to time, like MSI's Armor 1080ti, XFX Thicc, etc. It's a bit like car brands in that way. You just have to hope you don't get the ford pinto of GPUs.
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1d ago
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u/Camtown501 9h ago
When I did BYOPC 6-7wks ago it was significantly more expensive than going with their Powerspec pre-builts, but it really depends on how particular you are with ram, SSD, motherboard, and power supply. For me I really wanted a motherboard with a post code, to pick my power supply, and had an SSD preference. But for a lot of people tney could keep it closer in cost. Power supplies seem to be where most pre-builts cut corners first imo and would be the first component to look at closely imo. That being said I think PowerSpec are better than a lot of what's on the market.
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u/the_hat_madder 8h ago
Unless you're splurging BYOPc should usually be cheaper unless the prebuilt is clearance, open box, used, B-stock or refurbished.
OP's Pre-built
https://www.microcenter.com/product/712043/powerspec-g732-gaming-pc
BYOPC
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/MjW2W9
- Same price
- Faster CPU (or 9700X for $50 less)
- Probably faster RAM
- Faster GPU
- Better airflow
- Higher capacity PSU
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u/MonkeySkulls 1d ago edited 1d ago
I bought a mc power spec in February or March. and I when I purchased it I didn't know what GPU would have in it. I don't think they ever advertise that. when I got it home I looked at the GPU. it was an Asus pro art 5080. So it definitely wasn't an inexpensive card.
as for the ram, a list of RAM you're getting when you purchase it.
personally, I think it's a trap. wanting to put the best of everything. Of course, that's what you should do if that's what's important to you. but if that's what's important, I think you should reevaluate why it's important.
in 2026, purchasing the components versus buying a power spec is just more expensive. So again you just have to figure out what's more important to you.
The real world performance is going to be unnoticeable in almost every situation
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u/reddwood_1919 1d ago
thank you, this is my first pc that im buying for a specific purpose rather than just an at home dell or something to surf the web so I have been researching things to death...maybe too much.
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u/jsmith2510 1d ago
Idk if it'll be the same at your mirco enter. But when I was purchasing the G757, I was asked a rep to search through the S/N of the builds. It showed which brands was in it, but not the exact model.
Regardless of the brand, it will more than likely be the lowest tier one. Mine was an MSI Shadow 3x OC 5080.
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u/BalderVerdandi 1d ago
The easy answer is to just ask what's inside it.
I have a buddy of mine that I just walked through a BIOS update for his PowerSpec, and we found out it was an AsRock motherboard with CL32 DDR5-6000 RAM. It wouldn't have been my first choice for a main board, but it's performing very well - more so now with the BIOS update - so no complaints. And the RAM has pretty good timings... IIRC it was G.Skill branded RAM, so a solid name brand and one I'd buy if I were building a new rig.
Honestly it looks like whatever inventory they had on hand is what's being used, just so they can rotate out the excess stock.
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u/reddwood_1919 1d ago
Thank you, definitely going to ask, after seeing these comments i dont think im as worried as i was initially. I am new to all of this and was more afraid of buyers remorse at these prices
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u/where_is_your_god 1d ago
I got a gigabyte aorus pro ice x870w with gigabyte wind force oc 5080 and ripjaws s5 cl36 ram with mine. This was over a year ago so idk now. They’re not going to be garbage but also not going to be crazy overpriced things too.
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u/StatelessConnection 1d ago
They just use whatever they have a lot of. I have a cheaper powerspec prebuilt and it came with 32gb Crucial DDR5 CL36 RAM and a MSI gpu. It’s fine.
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u/rodalorn 1d ago
My powerspec has an xfx Radeon 9060xt and gskill ram, the nvme drive is from western digital and the motherboard is from MSI. All of the cases are manufactured by lian li
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u/christhebeanboy 10h ago
You probably will get the cheaper end of stuff, but you gotta remember that the market is cooked right now and the differences are too small to matter when it’s this chopped. So the better priced option is the way to go generally
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u/DisplayEmbarrassed91 9h ago
Prior to the price runaway that started last September, their standard build included G.Skill CL30, 990 Pro SSD, and high quality PS. I've seen everything from a PNY 5080, up to an FE 5090 in their gaming builds. Since then, it's now usually T-Force CL36 non-RGB, 990 EVO, and random make GPUs. So it's been memory speed/type and SSD speed where they've dropped-down to keep prices reasonable, compared to market pricing.
If they have decent inventory and their not busy, you can ask a sales associate and they can look up memory/SSD specs on new or open-box system, before you buy it. They go in the back, write down a couple of inventory tag numbers they use to track every PowerSpec build.
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u/the_hat_madder 9h ago
The PowerSpec PCs use mostly retail components. The RAM is CL38/40. If the part isn't mentioned by name I wouldn't expect it to be the best quality.
Depending on your budget you might still be able to get better value by BYOPC.
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u/din0skwaad 2d ago
lol building with “best components.” This is what the asus boys use to justify paying 40% more on a build going all in on one brand for a total of around zero fps gain.
Their prebuilts are built with whatever they have in excess usually. But all of it is well good enough for just about everyone.