AMD's Ryzen 5000 (Vermeer) processors are two years old, but the Zen 3 chips are still among some of the best CPUs on the market. If you're looking for your next upgrade, U.S. retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, Micro Center, and Newegg, are currently selling the Ryzen 5000 lineup at reduced prices.
The Ryzen 5000 price cuts are probably an answer to the recently released Intel 12th Generation Alder Lake product stack that has helped Intel recover market share in the Japanese and German markets. While Ryzen 5000 still dominates the list of best-selling processors on Amazon and Newegg, Alder Lake has been creeping up to the Zen 3 parts. For example, the Core i7-12700KF is the seventh best-selling chip on Amazon, whereas the Core i7-12700K is in the third spot on Newegg's charts. Moreover, it's that time of the year when retailers start making space for the next wave of processors.
AMD has already confirmed that Ryzen 7000 (Raphael), Ryzen 5000's successor, will hit the market in the second half of the year, so retailers have likely started to offload Ryzen 5000 parts. Ryzen 7000 lives on the completely new AM5 platform with PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 support. The transition to the AM5 socket means consumers will have to invest in a new motherboard, although the topic of the memory remains in the air. Intel's Alder Lake supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory modules, but AMD hasn't confirmed if Ryzen 7000 will also have hybrid memory support.
AMD Ryzen 5000 Pricing
| Processor | Amazon Pricing | RCP (MSRP) | Cores / Threads | Base / Boost Clock (GHz) | TDP (W) | L3 Cache (MB) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 9 5950X | $599 | $799 | 16 / 32 | 3.4 / 4.9 | 105 | 64 |
| Ryzen 9 5900X | $448 | $549 | 12 / 24 | 3.7 / 4.8 | 105 | 64 |
| Ryzen 7 5800X | $349 | $449 | 8 / 16 | 3.8 / 4.7 | 105 | 32 |
| Ryzen 5 5600X | $234 | $299 | 6 / 12 | 3.7 / 4.6 | 65 | 32 |
| Ryzen 7 5700G | $294 | $359 | 8 / 16 | 3.8 / 4.6 | 65 | 16 |
| Ryzen 5 5600G | $218 | $259 | 6 / 12 | 3.9 / 4.4 | 65 | 16 |
The flagship Ryzen 9 5950X had debuted at $799, but it's now available on Amazon for $599.99, a sweet 25% in savings. If you don't need all the firepower, the Ryzen 9 5900X is currently selling for $448.99, $121 off Amazon's regular price.
Despite not receiving the love that it deserves, the Ryzen 7 5800X is a competent mainstream processor. While it usually goes for $449, Amazon has it up for sale at $349.95, making it 22% more friendly on your pocket. Although the Ryzen 5 5600X doesn't boast insane core counts, Zen 3 offers you the best bang for your buck. It's hard to ignore the chip at $234.99 since you'll be saving up to $74 off its retail price.
The Ryzen 7 5700G and Ryzen 5 5600G APUs also carry excellent discounts. For example, the Ryzen 7 5700G, which generally retails for $359, only costs $294.84 now, an 18% price reduction. Meanwhile, we usually find the Ryzen 5 5600G for $259, but it now has a new price tag of $218.98 for a 15% saving.
If you're lucky enough to live near a Micro Center, you can get AMD's Ryzen 5000 chips at even lower prices, such as the Ryzen 7 5800X for $299.99 or the Ryzen 7 5700G for $249.99.
