Update 9/28/2019 6:00am PT: AMD responded and confirmed that it hasn't raised the official pricing for the Ryzen 9 3900X, meaning that these price hikes are solely at the discretion of retailers.
Original article 9/27/2019 11:14am PT:
AMD's Ryzen 9 3900X processor, which debuted in July with a $499 MSRP, is now selling for $569.99 at Amazon and Micro Center and as high as $579.99 at Newegg.
Computer hardware, like any other consumer product, conforms to the law of supply and demand. What's pretty intriguing is that the Ryzen 9 3900X has gone up in price in a little more than three month's time since the chip's release, and though we've already seen extreme price gouging on eBay and other third-party sellers, now retail outlets have also raised prices. It looks like AMD's supply of Ryzen 9 3900X is starting to run dry, which is evident since the 12-core part is practically out of stock at the majority of the major retailers. With TSMC's recent struggles to meet the high 7nm demands, it's probably going to take some time before the Ryzen 9 3900X's price starts to stabilize.
At this moment, the prices for the Ryzen 9 3900X are all over the place. Amazon (opens in new tab) and even Microcenter, who is known to sell processors at lower prices than the competition, list the Ryzen 9 3900X with a $569.99 price tag, which is $70.99 over its MSRP. This works out to a 14.22% increase in price. Newegg (opens in new tab) has the Ryzen 9 3900X at $579.99 while B&H Photo Video (opens in new tab) is rolling with $529.99. Best Buy (opens in new tab) is the only retailer to maintain AMD's recommended pricing for the 12-core, 24-thread processor, but it's possible the retailer hasn't updated the pricing yet.
Retailer | Pricing | % Increase Over MSRP |
Newegg | $579.99 | 16.23% |
Amazon, Micro Center | $569.99 | 14.22% |
B&H Photo Video | $529.99 | 6.21% |
Best Buy | $499.99 | - |
There are two possible explanations for the price discrepancy between the different retailers. Either the retailers are increasing their prices to take advantage of the high demand and very low supply, or AMD has secretly raised the MSRP for the Ryzen 9 3900X. Historically, AMD hasn't always publicly announced pricing updates for its products. When it does, it's usually a price cut.
We've reached out to AMD for comment and will update the article when the chipmaker gets back to us.