AMD Ryzen is going, going, gone from Amazon's website. The company previously sold all its pre-order stock of the 1800X--which we reviewed--before restocking the processor. Now the 1800X is once again sold out on Amazon, and so are its companions, the 1700 and 1700X.
Other retailers have also failed to keep Ryzen in stock for its official launch today. Best Buy was supposed to stock the lineup but merely offers pre-built rigs made with the processors; Newegg still lists the 1800X as out of stock; and Fry's says the entire Ryzen lineup is sold out. With the exception of Newegg, which said it expects to have more 1800X units around March 10, none have said when they expect to stock back up on the new CPUs.
Ryzen's popularity comes as no surprise. AMD opened pre-orders on February 22, the same day it finally revealed more information about the lineup and its pricing, and the new chips quickly rose to the top of Amazon's list of best-selling CPUs. (The top spots are mostly taken up by Intel now, though Amazon's fluctuating stock of Ryzen probably limited the series' ability to climb back up the rankings.) The hype train has gone full steam ahead.
Things hit a bump when we discovered that Ryzen motherboards could "pose a potential problem with some of the announced CPU cooling solutions" because of "the backplates designed to secure the heatsink on the processors." We confirmed the issue in our review of the 1800X:
One of the hardware components that’s seen some changes is the AM4 motherboard’s backplate. It’s different in two very significant ways: The distance between the wholes has changed, and the threaded pins are longer. Even though AMD seems to have informed manufacturers of the first change, they apparently forgot about the second one. We asked the manufacturers, and they confirmed that this is what happened. This means that if the original motherboard backplate’s used in conjunction with longer screws, then the cooler might not be held against the processor tightly enough.
The fix is simple--adding the necessary millimeter via thick ring washers or the proper nuts--but it's something to be aware of as you think about how Ryzen might fit into your rig. Assuming, that is, that you're able to buy the processor you want even though they all keep selling out left and right.
