AMD Ryzen prices are falling – should Intel be concerned?

Time to grab yourself a bargain

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AMD’s Ryzen CPUshave been scarce over the last few months after a rapid rise in popularity and demand dried up available inventory. If you’ve been trying to get your hands on one then we have great news – not only are they readily available across most of the global retailers we checked, many sites have also applied a generous discount to the most of the Zen 3 line-up.

A report conducted byOverclock3Dthat focused on the UK market reveals that coveted products like theAMDRyzen 9 5900X have dropped from £530 ($730 / AU$990) to £450 ($620 / AU$840).

VideoCardzreports that the same CPU actually got a bit more expensive in the US market, sitting at around $590-610 from the initial launch RRP of $549, but the rest of the Ryzen 5000 series is, on average, 12% cheaper in the US, 18% in the UK and 16% in EU.

Red Ryzen hot deals

Overclock3D also pulled some pricing examples fromAmazon, but it’s important to remember that a conversion from the UK pricing doesn’t necessarily reflect the MSRP of other regions.

It’s likely that an announcement is coming from both Team Red and Team Blue within the next few months to officially introduce the next generation of CPU architecture, so is it worth snapping up a deal on the current gen offerings? We certainly think so.

It’s completely unnecessary to upgrade your CPU for every generation released (unless you have some serious cash to burn), so if you’ve been looking for an opportunity to grab a good deal then the available stock and lower prices we’re seeing are as good a time as any.

With anongoing chip shortage, it’s also a gamble if the current generation ofInteland AMD CPUs will see stock levels and prices remain appealing to consumers, especially with production planned (and likely prioritized) for new architecture. There’s a good chance that prices will fall further after the release ofAlder Lakeand theZen 3 refresh, but the current market is anyone’s guess so we could also find ourselves looking at hiked prices again in the coming months.

Analysis: Should you switch to AMD?

With theAlder Lake processorson the horizon, (and leaks suggesting greatpromise in terms of the performance) upcoming hardware could be a lifeline for Team Blue against AMD. Even with the above discounts, Intel processors are a more affordable option right now for many and previous reports have shown that the market share between both companies is starting to balance out.

The Zen 4Ryzen CPUs aren’t expected until towards the end of 2022andIntel has previously cited supply issues, which leaves plenty of time for folk to snap up these cheaper AMD deals, and for further reductions to be made.

Ultimately, the processor brand you choose is either going to be down to personal preference on optimizations, or whichever product best suites your budget and existing system.

If you’re unsure, you can check out our guide onAMD vs Intelto see which team you should be siding with, but remember - both companies have their respective pros and cons.

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Jess is a former TechRadar Computing writer, where she covered all aspects of Mac and PC hardware, including PC gaming and peripherals. She has been interviewed as an industry expert for the BBC, and while her educational background was in prosthetics and model-making, her true love is in tech and she has built numerous desktop computers over the last 10 years for gaming and content creation. Jess is now a journalist at The Verge.

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