Pro Tip for Microcenter fans. If you are unsure about the MB bios being able to support the CPU out of the box, after you make your purchase bring them over to the tech crew there. Super friendly and they will test bench the cpu for you and also flash the bios for you if needed. You can do this after the visit but they may apply a charge, but from my experience they consider this part of the sale and will often times not charge you. Been a Microcenter regular since the early to mid 90's and will never shop anywhere else. Super friendly and Super helpful this store has outlasted every competitor that has come in to the area, Fry's, Comp USA, you name it Microcenter has beaten them all.
And for o-rings. And for CPU fan clips. I made 2 entire CPU fan mounts from screws and metal bands from hardware store for my 2 xeons on RD450X, for 5$ (40C under load btw)
Open Box is fantastic if you know what you’re getting (or if you’re just gonna gamble). My Z690 TUF was from a MCenter and was returned 4 times. It’s been running strong with no issues for a year now. I’m betting that people kept returning it because the BIOS wasn’t updated to support 13th gen lol
Took open box Aorus Master 6900XT for 650usd back in late 2022 when brand new still was 1100usd, only thing was it had bent IO bracket everything else was in the box and even plastic peel was on, it had 3 month warranty but been working since then
@@100500daniel Not at that point ask if they could update the BIOS for a few bucks? Is not like you are not going to microcenter again to do the return.
I gambled bought a used gigabyte aorus RTX 3080ti on Ebay for $600 And it was very clean also and no dust no problems And I was kind of worried because there was no return policy with this seller
I used to work in the repair department at microcenter…every Monday I would sit in front of a magnifying glass with tweezers and bend pins on motherboards…then test the ones that didn’t break…and the testing was, minimal necessary…if you buy a used LGA motherboard from Microcenter, start by testing it with one stick of ram and move it to each slot and make sure each slot works, then check each and every nvme/pcie slot that is connected to the CPU, because the repair department in the warehouse, doesn’t barely do shit to check em.
I am going to say, "results vary by location". I had to upgrade my son's PC. I go to the Chicago location and bought the open boxed Powercolor Fighter rx7600. Figured it was a great price because all he really plays is Roblox and Fortnite at 1080p. When I asked the associate to open the box so I can see the card, they would NOT let me hold it to look at it closely. The associate had to handle it. Besides some finger prints, it looked alright so I bought it to try. When I got it back and installed, it would not run anything without crashing. He would get maybe 10-15 minutes in and game would crash to desktop. Temps were fine, fans were spinning, DDU'ed the drivers, turned settings down to low and lower resolutions, even tried a different system and powersupply, nothing worked. The card was not stable even at desktop with youtube in Firefox. So i returned it to another location (yes, i live between 2 microcenters, worship me). I explained that the card was broken and would constantly crash. They accepted the return, i got a new ASrock phantom rx7600 instead. Worked flawlessly in anything we threw at it. The other opened box card was a broken card. And because they didnt have that card previously at the returned location, they did have it listed on their website under the store's inventory the next day. So I assumed they just put it back on the shelf. So im going to call bullshit that they test everything. Maybe it depends on the location, or they just check that it posts, but that card had issues and they just resold it. Granted, there is a possibilty that it *was* a different card, but I highly doubt it.
He clearly states in the video that they don't test anything. Now hearing that there was a crashing issue with the card I agree they shouldn't put it back on the shelf, but I've also worked in retail long enough to know that the customer is almost always lying to you about there being a problem with something. So I'm willing to bet they are waiting to get it back a 2nd time with the same reported issue before sending the card back to the manufacturer.
I loved this video. I recently did the same thing to assemble my PC, but you are creating a doubt for me regarding software and if it is worth buying Windows 11 and Office?
@@sirmonkey1985 Frys was so much fun. Did yours have a theme? Down here in Los Angeles, our Frys was Alice in Wonderland themed. Going to Frys was dangerous. It was like letting your wife go into Target.
I bought a 3060 ti for $189 open box last year and it was in perfect condition. Not the best card in the universe but saving $75~ was a lifesaver for someone very strapped on cash.
shiiii this made me wanna slide on a microcenter and do a build and sell it at cost on facebook because I got that itch to source and build. Nobody is going to buy a pc at sticker price from a john doe so this way I get to have fun and not lose money.
i bought an open box tv from best buy a few years ago. still works great. only things missing was one of the screws for the feet (i wall mounted it) and the paper manual, it has a digital one.
BestBuy open box is really nice. They massively discount because they want it out of the store. I got $400 165Hz 1440p monitor for ~$200 before tax. Got multiple TV's from them in the same fashion over the years.
I also got an open box tv from Best Buy. Same as yours, missing the feet and no remote. I just use the LG app and wall mounted it. Saved $1000 and I’ve used it daily for the last 5 years 👍🏻
Took a huge risk with doing am open box purchase of a Z790 motherboard at a local Microcenter last year. The better Z790 boards were very hard to come by early on & they had one on the better boards available but as an open box. The entire experience was excellent. They had no issue testing the board with no guarantee that I was going to purchase it. Ended up saving around $80 from the MSRP of the board if it was purchased new.
I bought an open box Noctua cooler once to save a few bucks, an NH-U14S, coincidentally from MicroCenter. The person who returned it had only used it to use the thermal paste that it came with. That's right, they took (i.e. stole) the Noctua thermal paste, used it in whatever they were building, put the cap back on, boxed it all back up and returned it. The syringe was mostly pressed in, and there was just BARELY enough paste left in the tube for me to do my build. Everything was present and functional, so I wasn't going to bother with an exchange, but still. Someone used the return policy to steal thermal paste
I love microcenter. About 3 years ago was the first time I went to one. I bought a motherboard, cpu and ram. I later found out that a deal for a better chip and mobo for about the same price. Now I was already using these parts and it was after 2 months at this point, I called them and asked if I could return them for store credit and they were willing to do it no questions asked. Ever since then Ill only buy pc parts from them.
Micro Center is a rare unicorn, and I love it. My only problem with open box is the cost at some places. If a new product is $100 the open box version should cost $70, not $95. That and some products will not honor the year(s) long warranty if it's an open box purchase.
oh so there is some catch after all... well warranty is 2 years either way, question is more like if Micro Center will deal with it themselves or you have to, since you live in America don't see how doing it yourself would be complicated, then again never dealt with warranty stuff, maybe transportation is truly that costly even in US. As Linus once open my eyes a bit... "customer support isn't making any money for the company" and so is RMAing stuff... just loss and when you send 100 dollar item to repair for 40 dollars, yeah... :/ almost not worth it.
I bought an open box LG 32" 4K 165Hz HDR monitor at Micro Center several months ago for less than half of the sticker price. It had been sitting and the store was doing inventory, so it was drastically marked down. The manager told me that the guy who bought it had bought three of them, and his girlfriend/wife made him return one of them. I brought it home and turned it on and it only showed 30 hours of power-on time logged. The picture is amazing and I've had absolutely zero issues with it. Probably one of the best deals I've ever gotten.
When I got all my parts for my 4090 build at micro center they had an open box deal for the Alienware AW3423DW 34" and it was $800 loving it and no problems after a month
Bought many open box items including my Moza R5 bundle for like 65% original price and have never had any problems. Been going to my local Cincinnati store for 25 years and love it. Their headquarters are in Columbus Ohio.
MicroCenter would probably consider their store as "near" me, even if getting to the store is absolutely horrible, and the traffic there is even worse. I went there *ONCE* and will never go there again.
Thanks Jay for keeping us budget people in mind with your content! Those $8 here and $20 there add up FAST for those of us who just want to save up what we can then treat ourselves to a new gaming rig, or anything else for that matter. That was A LOT of money you saved. It's fantastic MicroCenter has such great deals!
e-tailers are a whole different risk but you just need to educate yourself on what to look for. but if getting screwed on a deal is the difference between paying rent/bills or not then don't do it.
I live 10 minutes from micro center and I buy open box stuff all the time I literally go there once a week just to see what deals I can find. Definitely thankful for the open box stuff 👌🏻
I found an open box alienware r15 w/ rtx4080, retails around $2700, walked out the door with it for $1390. only thing missing were the wifi antennas, so found a pair on amazon for $8. also snagged a couple open box tvs. dont forget they will price-match amazon and newegg. Love MC!
I'm gonna say upwards of 5, or 6 depending on the size of the state, as I'm about 3 1/2 hours from the Atlanta location, then add in the extra time for horrible Atlanta traffic, my gas cost, food stops, etc.. then it ends up being a full day trip to risk the gamble of finding anything good, and maybe not saving that much money, vs. just ordering it online, or picking it up from a store like Best Buy that's 30 mins away, or their really fast sometime free shipping till they go out of business.
@@spankbuda3769 I'm sure you're not one of us that have would have to make an entire day trip, and use a full tank of gas to get to one of their stores am I'm correct? there should be enough Micro Center locations to where the majority of people don't have to drive more than an hour, or so to get to one, otherwise their in store deals, and saving aren't worth a damn, or they could just start selling more of their products online like most retailers, but as is, Micro Center is worthless to a vast majority of the country!!
If it's an open item, don't you risk losing out on any manufacturers warranty? I thought once you're a 2nd-hand buyer you can only get whatever coverage the seller offers and the manufacturers warranty is void?
Built my current computer as an open box special for less than $600 (at the same store in Tustin). 5600x bundle added open box ram matched to what came in the bundle and added an open box RX 6600($150). Then i slowly upgraded it and flipped all the parts over to my nephew for his first PC. Currently upgraded it to a 5800x3d and a 7900 GRE. Best thing about PCs, you can upgrade it as you go.
I cant count how many times ive almost pulled the trigger on a open box monitor or GPU to save a few hundred but just worried about getting someones broken return so I never have.
I've probably bought 4 or 5 open box CPU's, 3 motherboards and at least as many GPU's over the years. The only time I'll buy open box is the store has a return / exchange policy for defective items. I've even bought open box and registered the original warranty all but one time where the original buyer has registered it, but Gigabyte still allowed RMA as long as I showed the store receipt proving I bought as open box. Most computer parts can be safely purchased open box as long as you can visually inspect for abuse / missing parts / bent pins and make sure that you can return to store if it was DOA so you're not stuck having to deal with OEM RMA (I'm looking at you Asus!)
Ive gotten so many open box items over the years and have never been burned by it yet, but I do go over the items thoroughly before I get them and inspect at the store. if they wont let me then I wont buy it
Open box deals are incredible if you search hard enough. My local Micro Center stores usually let me test out MB/CPU/RAM bundles and other parts before I take them home. It's a nice perk for being a former service technician for them. They let me use their test PSUs and a monitor that isn't being used. I dunno any other store that is that generous. This is one of the reasons I keep coming back to their stores.
Never shopped at Frys as I was told early on that they simply throw returns back on the shelves, then again the only used item i've ever purchased was a gtx 550 back in the day for half the retail price that worked flawlessly until i replaced with a 1080ti, tossing the 550 simply because it was an old outdated power hog.
I drove 5 hours to buy a Powerspec PC open box at Microcenter Detroit December 2021. I got an awesome deal on it and still use it to this day and love it.
My last 3 builds were built with open box motherboards from NewEgg, all $200+ boards when new, 2 bought for less than $100 and one for $109 or so, all work absolutely fine.
@@kevinerbs2778 i have a gaming rig at work and at home. already had the home 4090 and i was shopping 4080s for the work pc when i found the OB 4090. no brainer.
Yes dude. I'm on the 3rd iteration of my PC, and it's 90% open box from microcenter. Literally only ever had 1 item out of dozens that didn't work, RAM, and that return was no problem! Great deals!!!
We have similar stores here but some year ago amazon came here, priced pretty much everything at 2/3 of all other stores just because they can and now the local stores are struggling. Amazon pretty much kills the competition and quality stores.
@@lidororiI've had great customer service at the Mass Microcenter and pricing is fine. Their prices are generally the same as Newegg and Amazon within a small percentage.
Just did this exercise myself. I put together a parts list with an Intel i7 13700 with 32 GB ddr5 ram and 1 TB M2 drive. I put my own NVidia 3080 Ti in the build. Total price would have been $1480, build it myself. I went to Microcenter here in Dallas, and they had almost the same build in the PowerSpec pre-built. Bonus Intel i9 14900, 64 GB ddr5, and a 2 TB M2 drive. I install the latest BOIS from ASUS with the microcode patch and my graphics card. The system runs like a champ. Microcenter's price $1489 all in. I added the $200 return to store for any reason warranty. I cannot complain, beautiful looking system.
Always worth a try if it has free returns. I just bought a new gpu water block from Amazon that was Used Like New, and everything was good to go! Saved me almost $100
When I bought mine the only ones with a solid side panel were basic office ones with bad airflow, I ended up getting the cheapest one with proper airflow and even then it has tempered glass, by how cheap it was I'm shocked that it's not even acrylic, my pc is to my left side I can't even see it lol. There's no running from the glass side panel!
@@brenomedeiros8460 That is kind of how the market has been lately unfortunately. Fractal Design and Be-Quiet! still make mid-high end cases with solid panels. And if you like SFF nearly all of them have mesh panels. There is also the option of just going with an older case from back when they were more popular, like some models of phanteks enthoo that are still for sale.
I bought my current AMD RX 6750XT as an open box and got it from the Denver Tech Center MicroCenter. Got it about 8 months ago for $325, Works just fine when AMD can get their drivers to work. But that's another story. The card was at the time priced at $425. So a win win
Jay, a few videos ago, you asked your viewers if they would like videos subjects of this type. Yep - GOOD stuff, and very interesting. You walked through your purchases and explained your reasoning in why you chose the items you did. Now, I just wish that Microcenter would open a store in Central Florida. It's been many years since we've had a PC equipment store like Microcenter here (Best Buy doesn't count!). Makes me want to build again... 😛😛😛
Microcenter here in KC has been awesome, I built an amazing PC a few years ago and bought most of my stuff Open Box. My motherboard ended up having issues with the CPU socket which sucked cause it was a Tai Chi board and I wanted it, but they took it back and I replaced it no problem. Another thing is that I was looking for a Ryzen 9-3900X and they went to the back to get me one. The employee brought me back an Open Box one which saved me a good deal of money and worked flawlessly! I'm not sure how their sales commission works but it's epic that they care about their customers wallets! This is only one instance of my open box successes though, I go back all the time and that's typically the first place I look for things I need
Jay I've followed you for many many years, since the GTX 970 was the new kid in town if I remember. All that to say I'm glad I'm still watching. Thanks man. Thanks to both you and your team.
i built a open box pc from amazon last year for $900 with a 6700xt, 5700x, b550 strix mobo, 360 aio, 2 1tb m.2, and a 750w psu. the gpu, mobo, and cpu were all used/open box. thats the best way to stretch you money when building a budget system.
In my experience with the Microcenter I shop at, the associates have always offered to open the box up and look at it together before purchase. They also test every item that is returned before they let it be sold. They are very open about missing items and any issues with open-box items as well.
On the one hand if I understand correctly in USA this (open box / return policy) is a must have otherwise consumers will not buy things. On the other hand it creates a lot of "waste" - logistics, parts (not in this case) being thrown out etc. Overall very nice to hear yet another good thing about microcenter. Almost makes me wonder how such positive business can even exist in times where everyone seems to be scheming, lying about something, doing marketing tricks and what not. E.g. in my country businesses that sell hardware would probably go extra mile and fake some box stickers and what not to avoid providing discounted product on the market, rather risk being sued for selling "opened / used" products as new.
I have brought open boxed from Micro Center and for the most part it was a fantastic experience. While the part in question (motherboard) wasn't functioning I was easily able to come back in and exchange it no problem.
Back in 2017 I got an open box H110 motherboard to use with a G4560 for $35 from MicroCenter. The board still works flawlessly. Even got a bios update to support faster ram.
I've bought many many open box parts from Microcenter over the years and never had a problem. I have found several MBs with bent pins that I have taken to the staff to remove. Always look things over.
I bought open box hardware online in the past and had no problem with it. However, before I bought it I contracted the manufacturer of said product and told them what I was planning on doing. They ended up telling me I would have a warranty even though it was open box. I ended up buying a motherboard that came with a 5 year warranty and after owning it for like 3 years had to RMA it and they honored it.
I live in Charlotte which just opened a MicroCenter and I met the manager. He said Jay will be visiting the store later this year. I'll get to see him in person! Thanks for the Open Box vid. It gave me several good ideas.
Helped my younger brother build his first pc earlier this year. We took a trip to Microcenter. I convinced him to save himself some money and get a msi z690-a wifi ddr4 open box. When we got home I discovered thermal paste on some pins, a couple of slightly bent pins, and the pci-e locking mechanism for the gpu was broken off. Lil bro was furious. I cleaned off the thermal paste by drowning it in 91% alcohol, bent a couple of pins back into place. Mobo works fine even 10 months later. We live like an hour away from MicroCenter so I wanted to atleast check if I could save myself 2 hours of driving lol. Moral of the story, I wish I would have thought about asking to see the actual mobo first. Make sure yall inspect open box items!!
Only got one thing open box from MC before, a 77" Sony oled TV. It was over 1000$ off! Back then they were selling 2700$ new and I got mine for 1100$. Amazing deal and still using it every day 4 years later.
On my latest build I got 2 open box items in like new condition, a LG OLED monitor and a Powercolor Hellhound 7900XT. Saved a hundred at least on each one. Parts have been working great.
Yup! I traded in a gpu, benched it, gave me the thumbs up and I used the credit for an open box 7900xtx. Been a win win for me! Mileage may vary but their return/exchange is awesome (for those who dont abuse it)
I have been waiting for years for someone to do a video about Microcenter Open Box. I am especially glad it's Jay. I still buy parts from their open box section to this day.
I'm building my sons first gaming PC for his bday. I priced everything off Amazon and was able to get an RX7600 GPU for $209 open box. Everything else was new. Ryzen 5600X, B550M, EVGA 650w, Tforce ddr4, MSI Spatial M.2 1TB, ect... came in at $680 before taxes. Super stoked not only for the build price but for him to enjoy some really nice 1080p PC gaming.
I got an open box squared if you will recently from MC (refurbed RTX 3090 FE that was returned) and it's been going strong with no issues and no ram overheat.
I recently bought a bunch of stuff to build several PCs at Microcenter. A few of the things that I bought literally didn't fit, or were wrong. They traded everything out and made my day. I've been a loyal customer for over 30 years now and I assure you that I have returned much less than I have spent over the years. They are my go to for PC building every time.
the laptop im using rn was open box from best buy, got 1k off and its still serving me well 5 years later other than the battery, gone through4 of those but thats a razer design issue not cus it was open box
Had to replace my old 2011 Mac laptop and went with a PC setup. We don't have Micro Centers in the PNW, but managed to get a high-end Lenovo laptop at Best Buy normally priced at $650, for more than $300 off due to it being a return. Only thing wrong with it was a cosmetic nick on one corner. Otherwise, it's been excellent. Thanks for putting videos like this together, because there are definite deals to be found, but it's key to know what to look for and look out for.
@23:33 you can see the board has the power and current limits above 'intel default', no surprises, you can also see it's actually _under_volting (CPU Lite Load Mode 9) which is what caused some of the instability on chips that were more sensitive to that, and the reason Intel defaults made a lot of chips hotter.
Damnit Jay, I make a pretty decent side hustle selling Micro Center liquidation, now everyone is going to buy it in store. Seriously though, there are some great deals, but open them there and check against the parts list if you can. The most common items missing in my purchases are WiFi Dongles, and the bridge for CPU coolers. If you're not an RGB fanatic, you can get a lot of great deals because one color on one LED array is not working.
I've bought a lot of open box items form MicroCenter, that's the first place I go to when I go to the one here is the clearance and open box stuff. But sometimes the mark down price isn't much better than new, they have had this 1050watt inland PSU missing all the cables for only 20 bucks cheaper than the same PSU new, its been on that shelf for the last 3 months.
Sometimes the little things are so helpful. I had been trying to think of a way to mount my noctua fan on an old thermaltake CPU cooler for months. Your zip tie trick worked like magic and looks very nice. Thanks so much!
At my local Microcenter, I got a (compleate) open box EK velocity 2 CPU water block that was open box, but only to the extent that the outer packaging was opened like was mentioned here. All the other packaging inside was still intact with factory seal on the plastic bag that surrounds the cpu block. Literally was as new/unused as it could be while still being open box. Definitely a case of it was bought and they returned it because they couldnt afford it/or it didnt fit or match. End price I paid was right about $100 dollars marked down from $140. Was going to get a corsair block untill I found this (which worked out better because it matches the Vector 2 GPU block I already had much better than the corsair block would have )
Used some open box items when building my brother's computer earlier this year. Some of them did, some of them didn't. But the ones that didn't were no issue to return.
Ive been doing well on open box stuff. My moto edge+ 2023 250 off, 4070ti for 669(normal msrp 900+), and my latest pickup s24 ultra for 900$. Everything has been great! All purchased through best buy.
Great Video. I bought almost all of my most recent system with open box parts. Looking back, I might've fallen victim to the CPU issue as its unreliable at full RAM speed, but the money I saved more than made up for clocking my RAM from 6000 to 5800.
Every PC part I've ever bought, outside of storage, has been open box from Micro Center. Maybe my locations in Chicago are just super thorough with testing post-return, but I've never had an issue with anything except one kit of memory that they were very quick and happy to swap out with a brand new kit for the same price. Can't swear by MC's Open-Box program enough
I used to work at Fry's electronics in the 90s when the 486DX4 was THE SHIT. We did open box all the time and this was true even back then. This feels like a walk down memory lane, glad to see computer stores are still a thing!
Got burned on an open box Asus motherboard from there... which had been marked down once and then again after it got put in a clearance bin. It was dirt cheap at that point and I didn't sweat the 'L'. I also got an great Asus wireless router for a song and a dance that was guaranteed by MC for the next 3 years for an additional $20. Not only was that well worth it but I used that thing for many more years beyond that reliably. I *love* Micro Center but I guess my advice is that you really still need to consider what you're buying as well as taking the time to check out as much of it physically as you can whether it's there or anywhere else.
The one thing i love about microcenter'd open box motherboards is you can pull them out of the box to literally check on things like number of pcie slots, m2 slots and positions, where things are located on the board. lots of that stuff is hard to find online
Bought a open box MB at MicroCenter. Was able to save good money. I think person who bought it couldn’t update the firmware without a CPU. Have to format a usb drive with fat32 for the firmware file. It was tricky but I was able to update it to use the new Ryzen processor. Works great 😊
I agree with the comments that you are exposing what many of us have used for years to get the best bang for our buck. Microcenter open box items are always a good deal. As you stated if something is not working (motherboards mainly) you can return if for a refund to select another item. I have used open box items for years, and love them.
No, you can only really buy PC parts online, where occasionally you might be sent some open box stuff for the full price (they gamble that you will keep it if it works rather than go through the hassle of returning)
bought an open box 3 pack of lian li SL 120 V2 fans open box complete for 22$ from micro-center down from 89$ and they work perfectly. I have no issue going open box
@11:10 What is meant by "they don't do open box DRAM"? Does it mean they don't accept returns? (Seems unlikely) Or does it mean that they accept returns but there's no discount on returned items?
Absolutely worth it. What I personally do when it’s time to upgrade is buy used last gen GPUs on eBay that were used for like test benches or something like that. For example, I bought a 3070 right before the 4070 cards came out. It was way cheaper and it still runs amazing a year and a half later
Last summer I got an Open box B450 Strix board for the equivalent of $60, after I added a brand new R5-3600 that included a $20 off coupon for any AMD mobo purchase... That CPU was also on sale for $80. Walked out with both for under $150 tax included! And yes the board was probably an RMA return but it still works flawlessly.
I brought the nzxt h5 elite from Best Buy open box and I believe it’s around $140 something USD brand new and now $120 something USD and it was shipped with plastic bags of screws instead of what nzxt would ship with which is no big deal since I also have my own set of screws
I just got a Z790 MAG Tomahawk wifi DDR5 open box for $171 with a two year warranty through micro center. They said if I had any issues, they would give me a NEW unit. Pretty good
U can get amazing deals for open box. 6 months ago I got a open box lg c3 48 inch for $800 from bestbuy. Perfect condition no damage and still had its stickers to pull off. Kingpin is back.
i love open box items from retailers, usually a good discount on new and usually from the places i buy from have a minimum 30 day warranty, some have 12mths and i get to pay with my credit card and that adds its own purchase protections
Here in the UK, open Box still carries the 12-month Manufacture's Guarantee, which is the responsibility of the retailer to deal with online or shop. Certified refurbished, which means it must be done by a qualified person within the field it's from, either a retailer (must be qualified, not just an electrician) or manufacture, again comes with a standard 12 months manufacture's guarantee (Warranty in the USA) Under the law, the customer is reasonable well protected. Nice video guys. More lie this.
why do i feel like this is an excuse to hang out in microcenter
I'd hang around there for less of an excuse heh.
Im the same
Of course it isn't.
You don't need an excuse to hang out in microcenter :D
i go there once a month to check on open box stuff =)
At least the wife knows where he is spending his time, and who with.
Pro Tip for Microcenter fans. If you are unsure about the MB bios being able to support the CPU out of the box, after you make your purchase bring them over to the tech crew there. Super friendly and they will test bench the cpu for you and also flash the bios for you if needed. You can do this after the visit but they may apply a charge, but from my experience they consider this part of the sale and will often times not charge you.
Been a Microcenter regular since the early to mid 90's and will never shop anywhere else. Super friendly and Super helpful this store has outlasted every competitor that has come in to the area, Fry's, Comp USA, you name it Microcenter has beaten them all.
it's the last bastion of retail stores that are worth going into, much less driving hours to go to.
Pro tip: for M3 and M4 screws, check out your local hobby shops... A lot of R/C cars use M3 and M4 hardware, if you can't wait to order them
Also places like Digikey and RS have truckloads....
@@RamonInNZ yep, but sometimes you don't want to wait, lol.
And for o-rings. And for CPU fan clips.
I made 2 entire CPU fan mounts from screws and metal bands from hardware store for my 2 xeons on RD450X, for 5$ (40C under load btw)
Or even ace hardware
Ace Hardware has every bolt, nut and unique fastener design, size and composition you can think of if you have one nearby!
Every computer geek needs to atleast once in their life, Make a journey to a MicroCenter. Its a beautiful experience.
Open Box is fantastic if you know what you’re getting (or if you’re just gonna gamble). My Z690 TUF was from a MCenter and was returned 4 times. It’s been running strong with no issues for a year now. I’m betting that people kept returning it because the BIOS wasn’t updated to support 13th gen lol
I had one msi board that would not even power on let alone post with known good parts. So mileage may vary. But microcenter took it back no problem.
Took open box Aorus Master 6900XT for 650usd back in late 2022 when brand new still was 1100usd, only thing was it had bent IO bracket everything else was in the box and even plastic peel was on, it had 3 month warranty but been working since then
The amount of AM4 boards I've seen returned due to people pairing them with 5000 series CPU with an older unsupported bios is mind boggling 😂
@@100500daniel Not at that point ask if they could update the BIOS for a few bucks? Is not like you are not going to microcenter again to do the return.
I gambled bought a used gigabyte aorus RTX 3080ti on Ebay for $600 And it was very clean also and no dust no problems And I was kind of worried because there was no return policy with this seller
I used to work in the repair department at microcenter…every Monday I would sit in front of a magnifying glass with tweezers and bend pins on motherboards…then test the ones that didn’t break…and the testing was, minimal necessary…if you buy a used LGA motherboard from Microcenter, start by testing it with one stick of ram and move it to each slot and make sure each slot works, then check each and every nvme/pcie slot that is connected to the CPU, because the repair department in the warehouse, doesn’t barely do shit to check em.
So Jay was got tricked into believing MC tests all their open box stuff and benchmarks them?
@@pepedeltoro6647 Jay is a well known shill I don’t think he gets paid for it he just does it unintentionally
@@pepedeltoro6647 only gpus get tested bud, he said that in the video
I am going to say, "results vary by location". I had to upgrade my son's PC. I go to the Chicago location and bought the open boxed Powercolor Fighter rx7600. Figured it was a great price because all he really plays is Roblox and Fortnite at 1080p. When I asked the associate to open the box so I can see the card, they would NOT let me hold it to look at it closely. The associate had to handle it. Besides some finger prints, it looked alright so I bought it to try. When I got it back and installed, it would not run anything without crashing. He would get maybe 10-15 minutes in and game would crash to desktop. Temps were fine, fans were spinning, DDU'ed the drivers, turned settings down to low and lower resolutions, even tried a different system and powersupply, nothing worked. The card was not stable even at desktop with youtube in Firefox.
So i returned it to another location (yes, i live between 2 microcenters, worship me). I explained that the card was broken and would constantly crash. They accepted the return, i got a new ASrock phantom rx7600 instead. Worked flawlessly in anything we threw at it. The other opened box card was a broken card.
And because they didnt have that card previously at the returned location, they did have it listed on their website under the store's inventory the next day. So I assumed they just put it back on the shelf. So im going to call bullshit that they test everything. Maybe it depends on the location, or they just check that it posts, but that card had issues and they just resold it. Granted, there is a possibilty that it *was* a different card, but I highly doubt it.
How dare you live by two. I'm in Wisconsin and it sucks!!!!
I live in Sweden, that sucks way more....
I also live between 2 MC, almost exactly between them. Takes me an hour to each location. Life is good.
LOL. I'm almost midway between three (Brooklyn, N. Jersey and PA St. Davids.
He clearly states in the video that they don't test anything. Now hearing that there was a crashing issue with the card I agree they shouldn't put it back on the shelf, but I've also worked in retail long enough to know that the customer is almost always lying to you about there being a problem with something. So I'm willing to bet they are waiting to get it back a 2nd time with the same reported issue before sending the card back to the manufacturer.
I loved this video. I recently did the same thing to assemble my PC, but you are creating a doubt for me regarding software and if it is worth buying Windows 11 and Office?
In my humble opinion, if you already spend money on a good PC, then it is better to have everything legal and without any restrictions.
I think it's the best, right? And if you can tell me how you bought it?
If it's better, it's always better and good websites that are dedicated to that. In my experience, BNH software worked for me.
I will continue spending money on the PC hahahahaha thanks for your time
At your service, my friend, I hope everything goes well for you.
I bought my EVGA 960 as an open box from Frys Electronics. That was in 2014. It still works.
Sad my frys here in wilsonville, OR closed down a number of yrs ago. It was always a fun trip.
Frys😓
The frys by indianapolis closed like 5 years ago
yup when i was younger i always dug through the open box items at the concord and sacramento fry's.. found some gems for dirt cheap.
@@sirmonkey1985 Frys was so much fun. Did yours have a theme? Down here in Los Angeles, our Frys was Alice in Wonderland themed. Going to Frys was dangerous. It was like letting your wife go into Target.
I bought a 3060 ti for $189 open box last year and it was in perfect condition. Not the best card in the universe but saving $75~ was a lifesaver for someone very strapped on cash.
Listen take this down I don’t want them to know my secrets
I already know about this, it's too late. 😀🤡
Perhaps this is best called an _open_ secret. . .
I agree, if everyone stops being scared of perfectly fine products. I won't be able to get my amazing deals 😂
shiiii this made me wanna slide on a microcenter and do a build and sell it at cost on facebook because I got that itch to source and build. Nobody is going to buy a pc at sticker price from a john doe so this way I get to have fun and not lose money.
Who's them lol
@@summitmax224 Mannnn shit you got a solid point. I might have to get in on that
I picked up a refurb 4090 for $1299 a few months ago. It came in the original box and all the plastic on it 👌🏻 it’s been a great card
i bought an open box tv from best buy a few years ago. still works great. only things missing was one of the screws for the feet (i wall mounted it) and the paper manual, it has a digital one.
I bought a toshiba 46" LED that was the display model from best buy. 14yrs later it still works fine
BestBuy open box is really nice. They massively discount because they want it out of the store. I got $400 165Hz 1440p monitor for ~$200 before tax. Got multiple TV's from them in the same fashion over the years.
I also got an open box tv from Best Buy. Same as yours, missing the feet and no remote. I just use the LG app and wall mounted it. Saved $1000 and I’ve used it daily for the last 5 years 👍🏻
Took a huge risk with doing am open box purchase of a Z790 motherboard at a local Microcenter last year. The better Z790 boards were very hard to come by early on & they had one on the better boards available but as an open box. The entire experience was excellent. They had no issue testing the board with no guarantee that I was going to purchase it. Ended up saving around $80 from the MSRP of the board if it was purchased new.
I bought an open box Noctua cooler once to save a few bucks, an NH-U14S, coincidentally from MicroCenter. The person who returned it had only used it to use the thermal paste that it came with. That's right, they took (i.e. stole) the Noctua thermal paste, used it in whatever they were building, put the cap back on, boxed it all back up and returned it. The syringe was mostly pressed in, and there was just BARELY enough paste left in the tube for me to do my build. Everything was present and functional, so I wasn't going to bother with an exchange, but still. Someone used the return policy to steal thermal paste
I love microcenter. About 3 years ago was the first time I went to one. I bought a motherboard, cpu and ram. I later found out that a deal for a better chip and mobo for about the same price. Now I was already using these parts and it was after 2 months at this point, I called them and asked if I could return them for store credit and they were willing to do it no questions asked. Ever since then Ill only buy pc parts from them.
Love the PGA icon on the pin difference explanation, gave me a laugh
Ahh how I wish we had a microcenter here in our country, in that way sellers won't sell used pc parts like they were brand new
Micro Center is a rare unicorn, and I love it. My only problem with open box is the cost at some places. If a new product is $100 the open box version should cost $70, not $95. That and some products will not honor the year(s) long warranty if it's an open box purchase.
oh so there is some catch after all... well warranty is 2 years either way, question is more like if Micro Center will deal with it themselves or you have to, since you live in America don't see how doing it yourself would be complicated, then again never dealt with warranty stuff, maybe transportation is truly that costly even in US.
As Linus once open my eyes a bit... "customer support isn't making any money for the company" and so is RMAing stuff... just loss and when you send 100 dollar item to repair for 40 dollars, yeah... :/ almost not worth it.
oh I've saw laptops that were selling for say $699 but the open box one was like $799, like why?! lol
Yep no discussion of manufacturer warranty is pretty glaring
I bought an open box LG 32" 4K 165Hz HDR monitor at Micro Center several months ago for less than half of the sticker price. It had been sitting and the store was doing inventory, so it was drastically marked down. The manager told me that the guy who bought it had bought three of them, and his girlfriend/wife made him return one of them. I brought it home and turned it on and it only showed 30 hours of power-on time logged. The picture is amazing and I've had absolutely zero issues with it. Probably one of the best deals I've ever gotten.
When I got all my parts for my 4090 build at micro center they had an open box deal for the Alienware AW3423DW 34" and it was $800 loving it and no problems after a month
Bought many open box items including my Moza R5 bundle for like 65% original price and have never had any problems. Been going to my local Cincinnati store for 25 years and love it. Their headquarters are in Columbus Ohio.
Too bad there's no Micro Center near me. 🙁
There isn't one near most people - it's big enough tho that it can be worth a 2-4hr trip, especially to get deals during a full build.
@@reptilez13 i drive three hours sometimes to get to the one closest to me lol
MicroCenter would probably consider their store as "near" me, even if getting to the store is absolutely horrible, and the traffic there is even worse. I went there *ONCE* and will never go there again.
The Miami one just opened and it's 4 hours from me. I'll make the drove when I've got the cash to drop.
@@reptilez13 Closest one to me is like 14 hrs away lol...
Thanks Jay for keeping us budget people in mind with your content! Those $8 here and $20 there add up FAST for those of us who just want to save up what we can then treat ourselves to a new gaming rig, or anything else for that matter. That was A LOT of money you saved. It's fantastic MicroCenter has such great deals!
Careful with the Openbox from other shops though. Specially Newegg
e-tailers are a whole different risk but you just need to educate yourself on what to look for. but if getting screwed on a deal is the difference between paying rent/bills or not then don't do it.
I live 10 minutes from micro center and I buy open box stuff all the time I literally go there once a week just to see what deals I can find. Definitely thankful for the open box stuff 👌🏻
I’ve recently discovered my Microcenter is barely 20 min away. I’ve been there thrice in the past week lol
I found an open box alienware r15 w/ rtx4080, retails around $2700, walked out the door with it for $1390. only thing missing were the wifi antennas, so found a pair on amazon for $8. also snagged a couple open box tvs. dont forget they will price-match amazon and newegg. Love MC!
every state needs 2-4 microcenters
I'm gonna say upwards of 5, or 6 depending on the size of the state, as I'm about 3 1/2 hours from the Atlanta location, then add in the extra time for horrible Atlanta traffic, my gas cost, food stops, etc.. then it ends up being a full day trip to risk the gamble of finding anything good, and maybe not saving that much money, vs. just ordering it online, or picking it up from a store like Best Buy that's 30 mins away, or their really fast sometime free shipping till they go out of business.
Sure, if you want them to go out of business.
I'd go with a single one per major city, don't need them trying to eat each other's lunch.
No! Microcenter limited stores is just fine the way it is.
@@spankbuda3769 I'm sure you're not one of us that have would have to make an entire day trip, and use a full tank of gas to get to one of their stores am I'm correct? there should be enough Micro Center locations to where the majority of people don't have to drive more than an hour, or so to get to one, otherwise their in store deals, and saving aren't worth a damn, or they could just start selling more of their products online like most retailers, but as is, Micro Center is worthless to a vast majority of the country!!
If it's an open item, don't you risk losing out on any manufacturers warranty? I thought once you're a 2nd-hand buyer you can only get whatever coverage the seller offers and the manufacturers warranty is void?
I was in Dallas recently and made a pilgrimage to Micro Center. It was a religious experience. I wish I had one near me.
such wonderful pilgrimage x) wished I could do the same far away in Asia xD
anyone who says they made a pilgrimage to Micro Center...legit needs to touch grass, smell the roses, and ...just be alive in general...
A church for hardware nerds. 😂
@@itwasntmebro2669says the guy with that pfp
@@itwasntmebro2669cringe
Built my current computer as an open box special for less than $600 (at the same store in Tustin). 5600x bundle added open box ram matched to what came in the bundle and added an open box RX 6600($150).
Then i slowly upgraded it and flipped all the parts over to my nephew for his first PC.
Currently upgraded it to a 5800x3d and a 7900 GRE. Best thing about PCs, you can upgrade it as you go.
I cant count how many times ive almost pulled the trigger on a open box monitor or GPU to save a few hundred but just worried about getting someones broken return so I never have.
I've probably bought 4 or 5 open box CPU's, 3 motherboards and at least as many GPU's over the years. The only time I'll buy open box is the store has a return / exchange policy for defective items. I've even bought open box and registered the original warranty all but one time where the original buyer has registered it, but Gigabyte still allowed RMA as long as I showed the store receipt proving I bought as open box.
Most computer parts can be safely purchased open box as long as you can visually inspect for abuse / missing parts / bent pins and make sure that you can return to store if it was DOA so you're not stuck having to deal with OEM RMA (I'm looking at you Asus!)
I bought an open box Alienware monitor this year and it has been perfect
@@harleyhines7085 awesome.
@@racerex340 ya the solid return policy for things like that is a must!
Ive gotten so many open box items over the years and have never been burned by it yet, but I do go over the items thoroughly before I get them and inspect at the store. if they wont let me then I wont buy it
Open box deals are incredible if you search hard enough.
My local Micro Center stores usually let me test out MB/CPU/RAM bundles and other parts before I take them home. It's a nice perk for being a former service technician for them. They let me use their test PSUs and a monitor that isn't being used. I dunno any other store that is that generous. This is one of the reasons I keep coming back to their stores.
One of the scariest sights in all of PC building used to be the discounted returned merchandise tags at Frys. If you know, you know.
Never shopped at Frys as I was told early on that they simply throw returns back on the shelves, then again the only used item i've ever purchased was a gtx 550 back in the day for half the retail price that worked flawlessly until i replaced with a 1080ti, tossing the 550 simply because it was an old outdated power hog.
Still have nightmares.
Open box Monitors? also what's your opinion on display models being sold.
I have definitely bought some great open box items at Microcenter
I drove 5 hours to buy a Powerspec PC open box at Microcenter Detroit December 2021. I got an awesome deal on it and still use it to this day and love it.
Ackshully, it is Madison Heights 🤓
My last 3 builds were built with open box motherboards from NewEgg, all $200+ boards when new, 2 bought for less than $100 and one for $109 or so, all work absolutely fine.
one of my 4090s was $976 open box from amazon... killer deals can be had open box.
wtf
Why do you more than one?
yep! got a $300+ motherboard for my sister for only $99 open box on amazon
@@MaskedChief damn
@@kevinerbs2778 i have a gaming rig at work and at home. already had the home 4090 and i was shopping 4080s for the work pc when i found the OB 4090. no brainer.
Yes dude. I'm on the 3rd iteration of my PC, and it's 90% open box from microcenter. Literally only ever had 1 item out of dozens that didn't work, RAM, and that return was no problem! Great deals!!!
I wish in my country something like Micro Center existed.
We have similar stores here but some year ago amazon came here, priced pretty much everything at 2/3 of all other stores just because they can and now the local stores are struggling. Amazon pretty much kills the competition and quality stores.
@@lidororiI've had great customer service at the Mass Microcenter and pricing is fine. Their prices are generally the same as Newegg and Amazon within a small percentage.
Wait? Amazon has physical electronics stores now?
Just did this exercise myself. I put together a parts list with an Intel i7 13700 with 32 GB ddr5 ram and 1 TB M2 drive. I put my own NVidia 3080 Ti in the build. Total price would have been $1480, build it myself. I went to Microcenter here in Dallas, and they had almost the same build in the PowerSpec pre-built. Bonus Intel i9 14900, 64 GB ddr5, and a 2 TB M2 drive. I install the latest BOIS from ASUS with the microcode patch and my graphics card. The system runs like a champ. Microcenter's price $1489 all in. I added the $200 return to store for any reason warranty. I cannot complain, beautiful looking system.
Always worth a try if it has free returns. I just bought a new gpu water block from Amazon that was Used Like New, and everything was good to go!
Saved me almost $100
@JayzTwoCents Thanks for this, man!! Was wondering if you could cover open box peripherals, (obviously beginning with monitors).
There's a simple fix for computer parts you don't like the looks of. Don't buy a case with a glass side panel.
What I always do, Solid/mesh panel FTW
When I bought mine the only ones with a solid side panel were basic office ones with bad airflow, I ended up getting the cheapest one with proper airflow and even then it has tempered glass, by how cheap it was I'm shocked that it's not even acrylic, my pc is to my left side I can't even see it lol. There's no running from the glass side panel!
@@brenomedeiros8460 That is kind of how the market has been lately unfortunately. Fractal Design and Be-Quiet! still make mid-high end cases with solid panels. And if you like SFF nearly all of them have mesh panels. There is also the option of just going with an older case from back when they were more popular, like some models of phanteks enthoo that are still for sale.
@@brenomedeiros8460the corsair 4000 series has panels you can buy online, you can get replacement glass or metal panels in either black or white :D
@brenomedeiros8460 be quiet, Silverstone, Thermaltake, and Fractal have all had solid non glass panel cases for the better part of 2 decades now...
I bought my current AMD RX 6750XT as an open box and got it from the Denver Tech Center MicroCenter.
Got it about 8 months ago for $325,
Works just fine when AMD can get their drivers to work.
But that's another story.
The card was at the time priced at $425.
So a win win
I bought an open box 7900XTX for 800 plus tax from Microcenter and they will give me 799 trade in value for it.
Jay, a few videos ago, you asked your viewers if they would like videos subjects of this type. Yep - GOOD stuff, and very interesting. You walked through your purchases and explained your reasoning in why you chose the items you did. Now, I just wish that Microcenter would open a store in Central Florida. It's been many years since we've had a PC equipment store like Microcenter here (Best Buy doesn't count!). Makes me want to build again... 😛😛😛
Microcenter here in KC has been awesome, I built an amazing PC a few years ago and bought most of my stuff Open Box. My motherboard ended up having issues with the CPU socket which sucked cause it was a Tai Chi board and I wanted it, but they took it back and I replaced it no problem.
Another thing is that I was looking for a Ryzen 9-3900X and they went to the back to get me one. The employee brought me back an Open Box one which saved me a good deal of money and worked flawlessly! I'm not sure how their sales commission works but it's epic that they care about their customers wallets!
This is only one instance of my open box successes though, I go back all the time and that's typically the first place I look for things I need
Jay I've followed you for many many years, since the GTX 970 was the new kid in town if I remember. All that to say I'm glad I'm still watching. Thanks man. Thanks to both you and your team.
i built a open box pc from amazon last year for $900 with a 6700xt, 5700x, b550 strix mobo, 360 aio, 2 1tb m.2, and a 750w psu. the gpu, mobo, and cpu were all used/open box. thats the best way to stretch you money when building a budget system.
In my experience with the Microcenter I shop at, the associates have always offered to open the box up and look at it together before purchase. They also test every item that is returned before they let it be sold. They are very open about missing items and any issues with open-box items as well.
On the one hand if I understand correctly in USA this (open box / return policy) is a must have otherwise consumers will not buy things.
On the other hand it creates a lot of "waste" - logistics, parts (not in this case) being thrown out etc.
Overall very nice to hear yet another good thing about microcenter. Almost makes me wonder how such positive business can even exist in times where everyone seems to be scheming, lying about something, doing marketing tricks and what not.
E.g. in my country businesses that sell hardware would probably go extra mile and fake some box stickers and what not to avoid providing discounted product on the market, rather risk being sued for selling "opened / used" products as new.
I have brought open boxed from Micro Center and for the most part it was a fantastic experience. While the part in question (motherboard) wasn't functioning I was easily able to come back in and exchange it no problem.
Back in 2017 I got an open box H110 motherboard to use with a G4560 for $35 from MicroCenter. The board still works flawlessly. Even got a bios update to support faster ram.
Wish there was a Micro Center near me
I've bought many many open box parts from Microcenter over the years and never had a problem. I have found several MBs with bent pins that I have taken to the staff to remove. Always look things over.
I bought open box hardware online in the past and had no problem with it. However, before I bought it I contracted the manufacturer of said product and told them what I was planning on doing. They ended up telling me I would have a warranty even though it was open box. I ended up buying a motherboard that came with a 5 year warranty and after owning it for like 3 years had to RMA it and they honored it.
I live in Charlotte which just opened a MicroCenter and I met the manager. He said Jay will be visiting the store later this year. I'll get to see him in person! Thanks for the Open Box vid. It gave me several good ideas.
Helped my younger brother build his first pc earlier this year. We took a trip to Microcenter. I convinced him to save himself some money and get a msi z690-a wifi ddr4 open box. When we got home I discovered thermal paste on some pins, a couple of slightly bent pins, and the pci-e locking mechanism for the gpu was broken off. Lil bro was furious. I cleaned off the thermal paste by drowning it in 91% alcohol, bent a couple of pins back into place. Mobo works fine even 10 months later. We live like an hour away from MicroCenter so I wanted to atleast check if I could save myself 2 hours of driving lol. Moral of the story, I wish I would have thought about asking to see the actual mobo first. Make sure yall inspect open box items!!
Only got one thing open box from MC before, a 77" Sony oled TV. It was over 1000$ off! Back then they were selling 2700$ new and I got mine for 1100$. Amazing deal and still using it every day 4 years later.
On my latest build I got 2 open box items in like new condition, a LG OLED monitor and a Powercolor Hellhound 7900XT. Saved a hundred at least on each one. Parts have been working great.
Yup! I traded in a gpu, benched it, gave me the thumbs up and I used the credit for an open box 7900xtx. Been a win win for me! Mileage may vary but their return/exchange is awesome (for those who dont abuse it)
I have been waiting for years for someone to do a video about Microcenter Open Box. I am especially glad it's Jay. I still buy parts from their open box section to this day.
I'm building my sons first gaming PC for his bday. I priced everything off Amazon and was able to get an RX7600 GPU for $209 open box. Everything else was new. Ryzen 5600X, B550M, EVGA 650w, Tforce ddr4, MSI Spatial M.2 1TB, ect... came in at $680 before taxes. Super stoked not only for the build price but for him to enjoy some really nice 1080p PC gaming.
I got an open box squared if you will recently from MC (refurbed RTX 3090 FE that was returned) and it's been going strong with no issues and no ram overheat.
I recently bought a bunch of stuff to build several PCs at Microcenter. A few of the things that I bought literally didn't fit, or were wrong. They traded everything out and made my day. I've been a loyal customer for over 30 years now and I assure you that I have returned much less than I have spent over the years. They are my go to for PC building every time.
the laptop im using rn was open box from best buy, got 1k off and its still serving me well 5 years later other than the battery, gone through4 of those but thats a razer design issue not cus it was open box
Had to replace my old 2011 Mac laptop and went with a PC setup. We don't have Micro Centers in the PNW, but managed to get a high-end Lenovo laptop at Best Buy normally priced at $650, for more than $300 off due to it being a return.
Only thing wrong with it was a cosmetic nick on one corner. Otherwise, it's been excellent.
Thanks for putting videos like this together, because there are definite deals to be found, but it's key to know what to look for and look out for.
@23:33 you can see the board has the power and current limits above 'intel default', no surprises, you can also see it's actually _under_volting (CPU Lite Load Mode 9) which is what caused some of the instability on chips that were more sensitive to that, and the reason Intel defaults made a lot of chips hotter.
Damnit Jay, I make a pretty decent side hustle selling Micro Center liquidation, now everyone is going to buy it in store. Seriously though, there are some great deals, but open them there and check against the parts list if you can. The most common items missing in my purchases are WiFi Dongles, and the bridge for CPU coolers. If you're not an RGB fanatic, you can get a lot of great deals because one color on one LED array is not working.
I've bought a lot of open box items form MicroCenter, that's the first place I go to when I go to the one here is the clearance and open box stuff. But sometimes the mark down price isn't much better than new, they have had this 1050watt inland PSU missing all the cables for only 20 bucks cheaper than the same PSU new, its been on that shelf for the last 3 months.
Sometimes the little things are so helpful. I had been trying to think of a way to mount my noctua fan on an old thermaltake CPU cooler for months. Your zip tie trick worked like magic and looks very nice. Thanks so much!
At my local Microcenter, I got a (compleate) open box EK velocity 2 CPU water block that was open box, but only to the extent that the outer packaging was opened like was mentioned here. All the other packaging inside was still intact with factory seal on the plastic bag that surrounds the cpu block. Literally was as new/unused as it could be while still being open box.
Definitely a case of it was bought and they returned it because they couldnt afford it/or it didnt fit or match.
End price I paid was right about $100 dollars marked down from $140.
Was going to get a corsair block untill I found this (which worked out better because it matches the Vector 2 GPU block I already had much better than the corsair block would have )
Used some open box items when building my brother's computer earlier this year. Some of them did, some of them didn't. But the ones that didn't were no issue to return.
Ive been doing well on open box stuff. My moto edge+ 2023 250 off, 4070ti for 669(normal msrp 900+), and my latest pickup s24 ultra for 900$. Everything has been great! All purchased through best buy.
Great Video. I bought almost all of my most recent system with open box parts. Looking back, I might've fallen victim to the CPU issue as its unreliable at full RAM speed, but the money I saved more than made up for clocking my RAM from 6000 to 5800.
Every PC part I've ever bought, outside of storage, has been open box from Micro Center. Maybe my locations in Chicago are just super thorough with testing post-return, but I've never had an issue with anything except one kit of memory that they were very quick and happy to swap out with a brand new kit for the same price. Can't swear by MC's Open-Box program enough
Micro Center please come to Arizona!
Microcenter should give you a medal of honour for this endorsement. You went above and beyond the call of duty.
I used to work at Fry's electronics in the 90s when the 486DX4 was THE SHIT. We did open box all the time and this was true even back then. This feels like a walk down memory lane, glad to see computer stores are still a thing!
Got burned on an open box Asus motherboard from there... which had been marked down once and then again after it got put in a clearance bin. It was dirt cheap at that point and I didn't sweat the 'L'. I also got an great Asus wireless router for a song and a dance that was guaranteed by MC for the next 3 years for an additional $20. Not only was that well worth it but I used that thing for many more years beyond that reliably. I *love* Micro Center but I guess my advice is that you really still need to consider what you're buying as well as taking the time to check out as much of it physically as you can whether it's there or anywhere else.
The one thing i love about microcenter'd open box motherboards is you can pull them out of the box to literally check on things like number of pcie slots, m2 slots and positions, where things are located on the board. lots of that stuff is hard to find online
I bought an open box 4090 last year from Microcenter. Zero issues at all, brand new was $1800, I got it for $1600. Now they are $1900 new!
Bought a open box MB at MicroCenter. Was able to save good money. I think person who bought it couldn’t update the firmware without a CPU. Have to format a usb drive with fat32 for the firmware file. It was tricky but I was able to update it to use the new Ryzen processor. Works great 😊
This is how I built my first PC! And watching your channel ! Keep it up guys. Love the content.
I agree with the comments that you are exposing what many of us have used for years to get the best bang for our buck. Microcenter open box items are always a good deal. As you stated if something is not working (motherboards mainly) you can return if for a refund to select another item. I have used open box items for years, and love them.
No Micro Centre in the UK ...but I have purchased an open box big TV in Currys it's great with no problems and saved me £100..
No, you can only really buy PC parts online, where occasionally you might be sent some open box stuff for the full price (they gamble that you will keep it if it works rather than go through the hassle of returning)
bought an open box 3 pack of lian li SL 120 V2 fans open box complete for 22$ from micro-center down from 89$ and they work perfectly. I have no issue going open box
@11:10 What is meant by "they don't do open box DRAM"?
Does it mean they don't accept returns? (Seems unlikely) Or does it mean that they accept returns but there's no discount on returned items?
Absolutely worth it. What I personally do when it’s time to upgrade is buy used last gen GPUs on eBay that were used for like test benches or something like that. For example, I bought a 3070 right before the 4070 cards came out. It was way cheaper and it still runs amazing a year and a half later
Last summer I got an Open box B450 Strix board for the equivalent of $60, after I added a brand new R5-3600 that included a $20 off coupon for any AMD mobo purchase... That CPU was also on sale for $80. Walked out with both for under $150 tax included!
And yes the board was probably an RMA return but it still works flawlessly.
I brought the nzxt h5 elite from Best Buy open box and I believe it’s around $140 something USD brand new and now $120 something USD and it was shipped with plastic bags of screws instead of what nzxt would ship with which is no big deal since I also have my own set of screws
I just got a Z790 MAG Tomahawk wifi DDR5 open box for $171 with a two year warranty through micro center. They said if I had any issues, they would give me a NEW unit. Pretty good
And there it goes. Jay just ruined how I get my "new" PC parts for cheaper. Thanks Jay.
😂😂
I aint shoppin open box anyway fam
U can get amazing deals for open box. 6 months ago I got a open box lg c3 48 inch for $800 from bestbuy. Perfect condition no damage and still had its stickers to pull off. Kingpin is back.
i love open box items from retailers, usually a good discount on new and usually from the places i buy from have a minimum 30 day warranty, some have 12mths and i get to pay with my credit card and that adds its own purchase protections
Here in the UK, open Box still carries the 12-month Manufacture's Guarantee, which is the responsibility of the retailer to deal with online or shop. Certified refurbished, which means it must be done by a qualified person within the field it's from, either a retailer (must be qualified, not just an electrician) or manufacture, again comes with a standard 12 months manufacture's guarantee (Warranty in the USA) Under the law, the customer is reasonable well protected. Nice video guys. More lie this.
Nice video. It was also nice running into you at checkout and getting a picture. Thanks again and take care!
The 4060 you bought is a slim, is there any cooling difference between the regular size card and that one?!?