It’s official. AMD has raised the prices of its new Zen 5-based Ryzen 9000 CPUs. And you won’t believe it: They are actually cheaper than the outgoing Ryzen 7000 series.
More specifically, they are cheaper than the Ryzen 7000 launch prices two years ago. Most Ryzen 7000 models are now available for significantly less than the 2022 launch prices.
In other words, for each new Ryzen 9000 CPU, you’ll pay more than for its predecessor, the Ryzen 7000, depending on the model. But in a world where GPU prices seem to rise exponentially with each new generation, that has to be good news.
| Header cell – column 0 | Ryzen 7000 | Cores and threads | Introductory price | Ryzen 9000 | Cores and threads | Introductory price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | Ryzen 9 7950X | 16 cores, 32 threads | 699 $ | Ryzen 9 9950X | 16 cores, 32 threads | 649 $ |
| Row 1 – Cell 0 | Ryzen 9 7900X | 12 cores, 24 threads | 549 $ | Ryzen 9 9900X | 12 cores, 24 threads | $499 |
| Row 2 – Cell 0 | Ryzen 7 7700X | 8 cores, 16 threads | 399$ | Ryzen 7 9700X | 8 cores, 16 threads | $359 |
| Row 3 – Cell 0 | Ryzen 5 7600X | 6 cores, 12 threads | $299 | Ryzen 5 9600X | 6 cores, 12 threads | $279 |
This means that the new chips will launch at prices between $20 and $50 lower than the original Ryzen 7000 series prices. Inevitably, it’s the higher-end chips that will get the bigger discounts.
As mentioned, current prices for various Ryzen 7000 models have of course dropped since launch. Currently, a Ryzen 5 7600X costs around $200, a Ryzen 7 7700X costs $295, a Ryzen 9 7900X costs $360, and a Ryzen 9 7950X costs $525.
So the new chips are quite a bit more expensive than current 7000 series prices. But Ryzen 9000 prices will likely drop over time, so the trend line is heading in the right direction.
Still, we don’t have to wait long to find out what you get for your money with AMD’s latest CPU designs. Our full reviews of the new chips will be out soon.
Highlights include the aforementioned Zen 5 architecture, with an average 16% increase in IPC, or instructions processed per clock cycle. The number of cores remains the same, but clock speeds are slightly higher on some models.
We’re not expecting a performance revolution from these new chips, but they should be noticeably faster. AMD claims performance increases of up to 23% by some metrics. But we’ll judge that in our upcoming tests. Stay tuned.
