Micro Center
Ogden, Westmont, IL

Micro Center Reviews

4.6 stars based on 3814 reviews

Featured Comments:

• J

  Jim Manley

  5.0

  Great place to go and browse laptops, computers, cool electronics and components. The new curved monitors are awesome and good to have a place to go and see them before you buy. Also great to have a place for components to build your own and upgrade your computer. Friendly and helpful staff.

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  Response from the owner

  Thank you for your positive feedback, Jim! We greatly appreciate it and hope to see you again soon!

• D

  Danny Marcano (ShockyZulu)

  3.0

  Nov 8, 2021 began the worst PC experience I've ever faced in the 20 years I've been building PCs. I showed up at the Westmont location an hour before they opened hoping they had a GPU in stock. They did have some GPUs in stock but they had designated those GPUs to Only be available for people who built their entire PC through them. This PC was for a client of mine and he was excited at the opportunity to get an RTX 3080 so he went for it. Their employee Ian helped me along through the entire process, was Very friendly and knowledgeable, and assisted me in getting all the price matches I could find on the parts. The problem began when I learned that I not only had to buy all the parts from them, I also had to pay for them to build the PC. This is where I was Extremely reluctant. Every PC I've come across that was pre-built, or put together by a store has had some sort of issue, improper bios setting, RAM not running at the proper speed, parts selected not the best for the particular setup, etc. But, there was only one way to get the GPU so I went the lowest priced option where they just put the parts together, called the "Build 1 Retail Custom Build-Tier 1" on the invoice, for $149.99. I had to get a CPU I didn't want because they didn't have the Ryzen 5800X in stock, I was told once it came in stock I could exchange it. This was where I noticed the first problem. After getting the 5800X I began to swap out the CPU and noticed that the Tech who built the PC used almost the entire tube of thermal compound on the CPU. There was so much thermal compound it was dripping all around the CPU and onto the motherboard. I contacted management and they were 100% wiling to help correct the issue. They had me bring the PC back in, swapped out the mobo, swapped out the old CPU for the new one, and I went on my way. When I got the PC home I began testing it out by playing the main game my client wanted the PC for and began to encounter some BSODs. I benchedmarked all the parts I could and made some adjustments to the RAM and it seemed stable so I shipped it. Unfortunately the BSODs returned after the client received the system. I did all I could to alleviate the issue but could not resolve the BSODs while gaming so the client sent the system back. Since then I've slowly swapped out Every part and have found the CPU to be the culprit. This makes sense since the BSODs didn't begin until they swapped out the parts due to the thermal paste issue and installed the new CPU in the process. I have NEVER lost money on a PC build until now, and I can't tell you how many PCs, in particular PCs dedicated to gaming, I've built, too many to keep track of. The employees stated that their technician who first built the PC was "their best" tech. So it was their "Best" tech who put so much thermal compound on the CPU they had to swap out the mobo for a new one. I would also like to point out that while I was there for the mobo swap, another customer was there because his newly built PC was experiencing BSODs. In his case they had set his bios to CSM mode, even though he had All modern components with Windows 10 running. His issue was that when he learned his mobo bios should be in UEFI mode, he changed the setting, and since Windows had been installed on CSM mode, they just changed it back to CSM and the system became stable again. But there was no reason for it to be in CSM mode in the first place. I would like to point out that Every employee I encountered was Extremely friendly, and in my opinion did their best to assist me. Because of that I do recommend Micro Center as a place to shop at, BUT I can NOT recommend it as a place to build or work on your PC. If you absolutely need a local place to build your PC I would say to either try to find someone knowledgeable to build it for you, or if it must be Micro Center my recommendation would be to Only allow them to build it if you've purchased their in-store protection plan on your parts. Issues don't always pop up right away and if you're beyond their in-store return time, like I am, you're screwed

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  Response from the owner

  Hello, Danny. This is unfortunate to hear. We apologize that our service department did not meet your expectations. We are pleased to hear that our associates have attempted to make this right for you and your client. We are very appreciative of you for taking the time to share your experience with us. We are always looking to improve our methods and will share your experience as an opportunity to grow.

• J

  Joshua Cherian

  5.0

  Excellent source for gamers. I purchased a pre built PowerSpec desktop from here and the staff was excellent with explaining any and all questions I had. Yes I'm a pleb who buys prebuilts, I have built my own in the past but I just don't have time for it now and Micro Center made it so much easier.

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  Response from the owner

  This is great to hear! Kudos to the associates who were able to be of assistance. Thank you for sharing your feedback with us and we hope you enjoy your new PC!

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