While there’s an undeniable appeal to the shiny and new, AMD has suddenly given us the gift of affordable parts to upgrade the PC you may already have. Hardware upgrades can be better for wallet, overall performance, and the environment (to minimize eWaste). Is it time to raid your parts drawer? It certainly feels like the right time to us.
It’s a bizarrely fantastic time for Ryzen 9 on AM4. Throughout much of pandemic, many parts have been out of budgetary reach, but suddenly we’re seeing potential over-supply of Ryzen 9 at super-low prices.
Ryzen 9 5900X and 3900X are both listed at $349 right now. That’s $200 and $250 below MSRP for a 12-core part. Both list 25+ in stock with a 1 per customer limit. This is an historic low for this part and it should be ideal for a workstation or gaming rig. This is the sort of CPU that could easily keep you going for 3-7 years and for users with an AM4 motherboard, it drops into an existing build without other additional hardware. Wow, that’s a great option!
And AMD’s Ryzen 9 5950X is listed for $479 for the 16-core version. That’s $320 below MSRP with 25+ in stock. This is an incredible deal for this part and a historically low price. The 8-core 5800X was $449 only a few months ago, assuming it was in stock when you wanted it.
Although AMD’s AM5 platform is on the way, AM4 continues to offer exceptional value. From its launch in 2016, AMD’s dedication to AM4 has been valuable to power users and those looking to minimize eWaste as we build and upgrade. In the span of the AM4 era, Intel has cycled through LGA 1151, LGA 2066, LGA 1200, and now LGA 1700. For a full list, pack a lunch and check out the Wikipedia page for CPU sockets. While DDR5 is incredibly exciting, many of us may want to build one final configuration to squeeze the life from our last DDR4 sticks and AM4 motherboards are ideal for maximizing the life of those older parts from previous builds.
Remember, many benchmarks of the AMD 5000 series are comparing Intel to 5800x and 5800x3D. Now that the prices are lower on 5900X and 5950X, these two CPUs are now less expensive than Intel’s i9 12900K. And that’s before you factor in DDR5 and the LGA 1700 motherboard. For those already on the AM4 platform, there’s tremendous monetary reward for sticking with AM4 in terms of required parts.
Our advice: B550 and X570 motherboards should pair nicely with these multi-core beasts. For those on older Intel platforms, AM4 boards are quite cost-effective and plentiful. Keep your DDR4, storage, and existing case and take the money you’d save (over 12th gen Intel / LGA 1700 board / DDR5) to buy a beefier power supply and/or GPU. Oh yeah, and did we mention GPUs are suddenly plentiful, too? Can you handle the power?