AMD Ryzen 9000 Zen 5 CPU Series Pricing Revealed By Major US Retailers
Outside of real-world performance metrics, there's not a whole lot left to reveal about AMD's upcoming desktop Ryzen 9000 series processors that are based on the company's Zen 5 architecture. That's perhaps even more true now that a couple of big retailers, Best Buy and Newegg, flipped the switch on next-gen Ryzen CPU listings that seemingly reveal final retail pricing.
The standard caveats apply here—since the Ryzen 9000 stack is not yet launched to retail (soon, following a short delay that might have been caused by a chip typo) and there's no confirmation from AMD regarding the MSRPs, there's a chance that these could be placeholder values. That doesn't seem likely, though, as the prices from top to bottom don't really bring any major surprises or wild curve balls.
Here's how it breaks down, based in the early retail listings...
- Ryzen 9 9950X (16C/32T, 4.2GHz-5.3GHz, 64MB L3 cache, 170W): $599
- Ryzen 9 9900X (12C/24T, 4.4GHz-5.6GHz, 64MB L3 cache, 120W): $449
- Ryzen 7 9700X (8C/16T, 3.8GHz-5.5GHz, 32MB L3 cache, 65W): $359
- Ryzen 5 9600X (6C/12T, 3.9GHz-5.4GHz, 32MB L3 cache, 65W): $279
As points of reference, here's how pricing compares to the current going rate for AMD's Ryzen 7000 series based on Zen 4...
- Ryzen 9 7950X (16C/32T, 4.5GHz-5.7GHz, 64MB L3 cache, 170W): $549.99 (down from $699.99)
- Ryzen 9 7900X (12C/24T, 4.7GHz-5.6GHz, 64MB L3 cache, 170W): $399 (down from $549.99)
- Ryzen 7 7700X (8C/16T, 4.5GHz-5.4GHz, 32MB L3 cache, 105W): $329.99 (down from $399.99)
- Ryzen 5 7600X (6C/12T, 4.7GHz-5.3GHz, 32MB L3 cache, 105W): $229.99 (down from $299.99)
If the early Ryzen 9000 listings are accurate, then AMD's pricing on Zen 5 silicon in the desktop segment will align more closely with current street pricing for the Ryzen 7000 series, rather than the Zen 4's launch MSRPs. There's only a $50 premium on three of the four upcoming CPUs, and a $30 premium on the Ryzen 7 9700X.
In the past, AMD has traditionally priced its new CPUs a little higher and then marked them down not terribly long after launch. This time around, it appears AMD will come out more aggressive from the get-go. It will be interesting to see if Ryzen 7000 series prices fall even further once the Ryzen 9000 series is made available, as a $30-$50 premium for the newer silicon and architecture makes them the obvious choice, barring any unforeseen performance snags.
It will also be interesting to see how the Ryzen 9000 series stacks up to the Ryzen 7000X3D lineup. For example, the Ryzen 9 7950X3D currently sells for $599 (down from $699) and boasts 128MB of L3 cache to throw at gaming workloads. Meanwhile, the Ryzen 9 7900X3D with 128MB of L3 cache sells for $400.37 (down from $599), and the Ryzen 7 7800X3D with 96MB of L3 cache goes for $381.58 (down from $449).
Newegg also went early with Ryzen 9000 series listings, as spotted by @momomo_us on X/Twitter. Given that the prices align between the two major retailers, it seems likely that these are not simply placeholders, but actual MSRPs ahead of launch. We'll find out soon enough, as AMD plans on releasing the Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X on August 8th, followed by the Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X on August 15th.
