Micro Center Cuts PowerSpec G538 Gaming PC to $1,099
The PowerSpec G538 is on sale at Micro Center for $1,099, roughly $600 below its usual price of around $1,699. The limited-time, in-store offer includes a Ryzen 5 7500X3D processor, Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB graphics card, 16 GB of DDR5-6000 memory and a 1 TB NVMe SSD.
Layla Haddad
Priced below three of its main components
According to Wccftech, buying the G538's CPU, graphics card and SSD separately would cost more than $1,100 combined, exceeding the sale price of the complete system. The outlet puts current prices for the RX 9060 XT 16 GB alone at $600-$700.
That graphics card originally carried a much lower price. VideoCardz reports that AMD announced the RX 9060 XT at Computex 2025 and launched it on June 5, 2025, with MSRPs of $349 for the 16 GB model and $299 for the 8 GB version.
Wccftech describes the G538 as one of the month's best deals for budget-conscious gamers, though buyers must visit a Micro Center store to get it. The outlet had also reported a Micro Center offer on an RX 9070 XT-based gaming PC for around $2,000 the previous day.
The CPU and GPU specifications
The G538's Ryzen 5 7500X3D has six cores and 12 threads. TechPowerUp's CPU Database lists its launch date as November 12, 2025, with a $269 MSRP. The Socket AM5 processor uses AMD's Zen 4 architecture, code-named Raphael, and combines 32 MB of on-die L3 cache with 64 MB of 3D V-Cache for 96 MB in total. Its base clock is 4.0 GHz, its maximum boost clock is 4.5 GHz, and its TDP is 65 W.
AMD's specifications for the Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB list 32 compute units and 2,048 stream processors. The RDNA 4 card, based on Navi 44, uses 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, providing up to 320 GB/s of bandwidth.
The graphics card has a PCIe 5.0 x16 interface and a typical board power of 160 W. AMD recommends a power supply rated for at least 450 W.
Memory costs weigh on DIY builds
Wccftech says an RX 9060 XT 16 GB-based PC could previously be built for about $1,000, but that matching that budget with separately purchased parts has become nearly impossible amid the memory shortage known as the "RAMpocalypse."
A July 2026 report from Tom's Hardware provides context for those costs: a 16 GB DDR5 kit was going for $209, while 32 GB could not be bought for less than $379. The outlet described the 16 GB price as more than twice the cost for half the capacity available a year earlier and attributed the shortage to AI demand.
Tom's Hardware also reported that pre-built gaming PCs tended to offer better value than DIY systems in 2026. RAM prices had climbed 400-600% in some cases, while prices for complete PCs had risen by much less.
The report cited Micron's December 2025 announcement as a key development in the shortage. Micron said it was winding down its entire Crucial consumer memory and SSD business to shift resources toward enterprise DRAM and SSDs.
