AMD Promises More Ryzen 7 9800X3D Supply Soon As Scalpers Pounce
Have you been trying unsuccessfully to score AMD's fancy new Ryzen 7 9800X3D processors with a heap of extra L3 cache for gaming workloads? You're not alone—it remains sold out at every reputable retailer we checked. You might not find any solace in not being alone (misery loves company, right?), but a recent statement by AMD might cheer you up.
As we approach the end of the year, the question about supply of AMD's first consumer Zen 5 product to sport 3D V-Cache was proposed by the folks at Tom's Hardware, and the answer can be seen as a positive one.
"We are working diligently to get as much supply to market as soon as possible, with more processors being shipped every week. We expect availability to get better as shipments ramp throughout the quarter," an AMD representative stated.
Taken at face value, that suggests to us that we could see some stock replenishment at major retailers before the calendar flips over to 2025, and into early next year. It will also be interesting to see what other models AMD ends up releasing at or around the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January. While the Ryzen 7 9800X3D is the first Zen 5 chip with 3D V-Cache, it won't be the only one.
In our Ryzen 7 9800X3D review, we called the part "a no-compromise processor for gamers one heck of an all-around performer as well." You can sort through our benchmarks to see why we came to that conclusion, but straight to the point, it's a great CPU that's especially adept at gaming.
Part of the reason why is because AMD retooled its second-generation 3D V-Cache implementation. For this round, AMD enlarged the physical dize of the 3D V-Cache die to match the CCD, and relocated it to the bottom-side for better CPU cooling. This allowed AMD to enable full overclocking on the 9800X3D, a first for a 3D V-Cache processor.
As to the supply issue, it's not clear exactly how many units were made available at launch. What is clear, however, is that whatever the number was, it wasn't enough. At the time of this writing, all of the usual suspects show the chip as still being out of stock, including listings on Amazon and Best Buy.
The only way to get one right now is to find resort to inflated pricing by marketplace sellers and at places like eBay. We checked the auction site this morning and saw a range of recently-sold listings priced at between $600 to over $800. The MSRP is set at $479, so those are both sizable markups over retail.
As much as we like the chip, we don't recommend paying those kind of markups—don't feed the scalpers. Instead, hang tight for AMD get a handle on supply.
