Central Computers East Bay

Great place to find electronic/PC parts with knowledgable and friendly staff! I came looking for a custom mechanical keyboard base and keycaps a while back. Talking with the staff, they were able to find the specific model in stock in the back and opened it to allow me to take a look/demo like the ones they have on display. Friendly and easy to talk to for your needs. Prices would be retail, but if its available you can take a look and pick up immediately instead of waiting for delivery without seeing the product.

There is plenty of parking in the area, though the location is not so obvious to find.

I think they did an excellent job of diagnosing my failing system, and did a very good job of building the new system...

Context: I had a 10-year-old machine that I had upgraded to a modern AMD Ryzen motherboard and CPU, two years ago... over the years, virtually *everything* in the machine had been upgraded, except for the case and power supply (PSU). The PSU was a 750W unit. Everything was fine until I decided to upgrade my GTX 1070ti video card with a GTX 2080ti, which uses far more power... the machine booted successfully after the upgrade - *once* !! The second time that I tried to boot it, it just lagged and wouldn't boot... LSS, it never booted again, even with the old video card... I tried various things to fix the issue, but couldn't get it to work, so I decided to see what Central Computers could do...

I dropped the machine off with them, described the problem, and asked them to not only fix the machine but get the new video card working as well...

Okay, here's an overview of the results: their diagnostics were quick and effective, they verified that all of the hardware except the motherboard, were working fine. Motherboard was dead, and PSU was not functioning to spec. They upgraded PSU and tried again, motherboard was dead...

Beyond this, let me summarize results:
1. (problem 1) When they reported the dead motherboard, they recommended a replacement board which was *not* equivalent to my previous board - in particular, the second M.2 drive slot was not Gen4, which would have been unfortunate for me, since that was my 4TB gaming SSD; I'm a little disappointed that they didn't do better research on that.

However, *I* double-checked their data, found the error, contacted my support person there, and we selected an appropriate replacement board that fit all of my requirements.

2. (good) They ultimately delivered a system that worked beautifully!! Their ability to diagnose the issues were excellent. Their ability to build the new system and get all the components working, was as ideal as I could request!! They apparently did a better job than I was able to do, in applying cooling paste, because both CPU and GPU are running at roughly 37C at idle, and not heating up much even under heavy gaming!! This was definitely professional work!!

3. (problem 2) They left out *one* cable in the system... there is a USB cable that needs to run from the AIO cooler block to a USB connector, so that Corsair's iCue software can monitor temperatures and manage fan speeds - they did *not* install that cable, so iCue current doesn't know I have any hardware installed... this is actually a rather odd oversight, because the cable was already installed on the system that I handed to them...

My opinion about this oversight: if you have to miss something, this is possibly the least-problematic one to miss!! I have ordered a replacement cable from Amazon; undoubtedly I could have taken the machine back to them, and they would have dealt with it with no problem, but I had everything hooked up to all of my endless cables, and didn't want to take it apart again, just for a USB cable, so I'll do that myself.

4. (good) One of the big challenges for a support person, is dealing with someone who keeps calling up and wanting more tweaks, while they are trying to get the original issues dealt with... yep, that user was me!!

4a. I had taken all of my spare drives out of the machine before I gave it to them... "could I drop off my other drives and have you install them, so everything gets tested before you declare it done??" NO PROBLEM!!

4b. "Could you upgrade the CPU from my current (working, already tested by them) unit to a higher-end CPU?? NO PROBLEM (yes, I paid for the CPU, but they didn't charge extra for the additional efforts).

TL;DR - They did a superb job of diagnosis, the person working on my machine was *very* professional... the two small issues that I discussed previously, were very minor, and my tech was quite prepared to deal with whatever issues came up. Installation was superb.

I'm looking forward to dealing with Central Computer again in the future, if I have any further issues.

I went to this store to get help removing a stripped screw on my laptop. They told me they may need to use a drill to remove the stripped screw but they did not have the right drill bit so I would need to leave my laptop and come back the next day to get it when it was done. At no point in time was I made aware that this process would destroy my laptop screw hole and essentially make my laptop unable to be flush with the bottom base panel. Also now there is this hole at the bottom since no screw can be placed in the hole. If this was something that could not be done without damaging my laptop then I should have been told.

I came in with a few minor problems and looking to get my PC cleaned up a bit both physically and virtually with my drives. I had the pleasure of having Damien work on my PC and he was super helpful and friendly. He took care of all the problems I came in with and then some. On top of that he made sure to help me out with some precautions in case I ran into any issues again by providing me with links and steps on how to approach these problems in the future. Sensational Customer Service!

As Fry's is no longer around...gosh I'm still not over being one of the last people to review Fry's just a day before it shut down. Still feeling the guilt folks.

Anyways, my bf needed a motherboard and they were the only place that had it in stock in person. So off we went to Central Computers East Bay.

I've grown up in the area and I've seen this building basically my whole life and I never stepped foot in it until this day. I didn't know what to expect but when I stepped in, it was like a small Frys without the fluff and focused on just electronic goods and parts. We didn't stay for long as we knew exactly what to get and we paid and left immediately. But it looked pretty stocked up and kind of old school Radio Shack and of course Frys. I think I may try to find out if they have a power source for my old hard drive as I seemed to have misplaced mine and I'd really like to see what's on it.

There's a small parking lot that's shared with a few other restaurants and shops but we easily found a spot directly in front.

It's nice to have a place like this as it's hard to find a computer store these days that hold specific peripherals or internals without having to just order online and wait for shipping. MicroCenter and Frys are out. So let's just make sure this place stays in business folks. Come visit and peruse the aisles.

customer service is 10/10, the manager right there is very good in all terms,. i recommend buying from them. oh btw the monitor that i bought from them is really really good the pg248qp.

I have purchased two tp-link 16-port network switches. Prices are reasonable and the product met our purposes.
I came by today to investigate Enterprise hard drives. Jason was very helpful in explaining the appropriate SATA/SAS cables and hard drives. He even blew out the dust from my server. The customer service here is great.

I gave my Samsung laptop for screen replacement. They took one month only to say that parts are not available. Not a good experience with this shop.

AVOID THEIR REPAIR SERVICES! I've come to this location twice for repairs. The first time they told me I needed a large power supply than what my tower had and said I didn't have any more issues. The second time I came in for repairs I told them I was seeing the same pre-failure signs I had before I came in the first time. I told them my fan was shutting off twice on startup as before. I told them my concerns were another power failure issue. They told me they "stress tested" the computer and recommended a fan replacement. I accepted their diagnosis and they charged me for a new fan + install. I'm in the middle of moving to the east coast & booted my PC up to see if they fixed my problem. They did not. Fan still shuts off exactly how I showed them at drop-off. My computer was NOT fixed & my problems continue yet now I'm scammed out almost another hundred $. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!

I've passed by Central Computers so many times in Newark, CA but never had the urge to stop in. This is all pretty much changed when the GPU shortage hit and I was trying to buy a Nvidia RTX Card. With Central Computers, you can sign up for notifications and buy stand-alone RTX cards without competing with bots or paying outrageous prices to scalpers. They also put a limit on how many GPU's you can purchase (one every 30 days) Really appreciate them trying their best to counter the GPU shortage.

Also shoutout to the amazing staff at Central Computers. They were all really nice and seem passionate about tech/computers which made chatting with them extra fun because you can really geek out on tech related news, your build, etc.

The location is right off the 880 freeway on Mowry so it's relatively convenient. The plaza is half paved in asphalt while the other side is in rock which makes it seem kind of ghetto but other than that, it was nice.

I will definitely be back as I have now found my local PC store that is not a big chain such as Best Buy and Fry's (RIP).