The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D drops to an all-time low pricing — the fastest CPU for gaming goes on sale

[Admin]

You can find the AMD Ryzen7 9800X3D gaming CPU at both Newegg and Amazon for just $451—its lowest price to date.

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D drops to an all-time low pricing — the fastest CPU for gaming goes on sale : Read more

 

[aberkae]

Was $379 at microcenter few weeks back with membership discount. FYI.

 

[Ap3xLyfe]

I got it from Best Buy last week for $399

 

[thekingofALLmonkz]

You keep writing entire articles about unimpressive discounts, just log out mate

 

[MoxNix]

Wow, Tom's used to be good years ago but it's gotten so bad now we can't believe anything they say anymore.

Try hiring writers that actually know what they're talking about.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

That maybe an all time low for Ash, the writer but I picked up several months ago the 9800X3D directly from Amazon for $443 and as others have noted, it has been cheaper at Microcenter.

 

[nogaard777]

$450 for an 8 core in 2025 is a rip off. Period. I find it hilarious that for over a decade AMD fanboys called Intel a rip off for being faster in gaming when AMD was just as good at far less cost, and faster in multicore. But now that the tables have turned and AMD leads in gaming with a 5090 at 1080p that no 5090 owner is playing at it's magically "worth it" when AMD is the one ripping you off.

You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain.

 

[Daniel15]

It's $429 at Microcenter right now. $451 isn't a deal.

 

[Daniel15]

$450 for an 8 core in 2025 is a rip off. Period

It's a CPU that's primarily designed for gaming, with high base clock and a large amount of L3 cache. That's what the "X3D" means - it has 3D V-cache. The 9800X3D has 96MB of L3 cache, compared to 32MB in higher-end Intel CPUs.

It's rare for games to rely on more than 8 cores, since that's also the number of cores on the Xbox Series X and PS5. Games benefit more from faster cores rather than a higher number of them, and the 9800X3D has a 4.7Ghz base clock.

If you care about core count, get a non-X3D CPU, like a 7950X.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

It's a CPU that's primarily designed for gaming, with high base clock and a large amount of L3 cache. That's what the "X3D" means - it has 3D V-cache. The 9800X3D has 96MB of L3 cache, compared to 32MB in higher-end Intel CPUs.

It's rare for games to rely on more than 8 cores, since that's also the number of cores on the Xbox Series X and PS5. Games benefit more from faster cores rather than a higher number of them, and the 9800X3D has a 4.7Ghz base clock.

If you care about core count, get a non-X3D CPU, like a 7950X.

You nailed it!

When HP released the HP Omen 45L with a 5090. I could have bought that for $4200 plus tax. I decided against it because they decided to go with the Ultra9 285K. It is a multipurpose CPU. I wanted a CPU that was tailored specifically for gaming. I also decided against the Alienware Area 51 for the same reason.

I also considered that the 9800X3D handily beats Intel's current best in gaming, which is the 285K. What made my decision even easier was Intel's "crashgate" and in the past I always went with Intel.

AMD got my money this time. Intel needs to up their game, "no pun intended".

 

[umeng2002_2]

It's a deal when Toms makes some money on referral links.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

It's a deal when Toms makes some money on referral links.

Tom's is mild in comparison to 9to5mac. One of their writers posted an article giving reasons why you should buy the AirPods Pro 2 right now while in another article it said how the AirPods Pro 3's were just a few months away and would have better features and specs vs the Pro 2's. That takes serious balls.

 

[Loadedaxe]

If it ever gets to $299 maybe, over $400 is not worth it since in productivity it cant beat core or a 14700k not to mention a good board to support it is over $350.

AMD has become the new intel at pricing.

 

[Daniel15]

not to mention a good board to support it is over $350.

I recently used an ASUS ROG Strix B650E-I in a SFF build with this CPU, and it was $229. You can likely find cheaper boards in a standard ATX form factor.

in productivity it cant beat core or a 14700k

It's designed for gaming, not productivity. The description on AMD's site is:

Harness the ultimate gaming edge with AMD Ryzen™ 7 9800X3D Processor. Enjoy faster gaming with 2nd gen AMD 3D V-Cache™ technology for low latency.

 

[Proroblox]

Where is the Ryzen 9 9950x3D

 

[Paul Alcorn]

Hi folks, thanks for the feedback. As I am sure many are aware, Microcenter is a pick-up only store, and most of the population does not have access to one. I would have to drive about 4 hours to the nearest one in Kansas myself. As such, our deal statements apply to items that are widely available to all - i.e., items that can be shipped to your door. For the 9800X3D, we reference the price tracking from PCPartpicker.com, which I have embedded an image of below:


Edit: ....and now I have learned that we missed the fact that this sold for $10 cheaper at Amazon back in June. Apparently, we missed the step of double-checking with Camelcamelcamel.com. As such, I have corrected the title and text. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[spongiemaster]

It's designed for gaming, not productivity. The description on AMD's site is:

For low resolution gaming. Spending $450 on that makes no sense. There is no reason for anyone but 5090 owners to buy this CPU. Almost everyone else, except heavy simulations fans, are better off spending more on a GPU.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

For low resolution gaming. Spending $450 on that makes no sense. There is no reason for anyone but 5090 owners to buy this CPU. Almost everyone else, except heavy simulations fans, are better off spending more on a GPU.

Me thinks the push is for 4K gaming or at bare minimum, 2K. You can now buy 4K TV's or monitors, dirt cheap. I have an aging Alienware R10 with an Alienware 25" FHD monitor and I rarely turn it on anymore. I now view it as butt-ugly.

If I was looking for an all-around CPU i.e. productivity/gaming, I would make the 9950X3D my only choice. Intel CPU's run hotter and I would not touch a 13th or 14th gen CPU (crashgate). That's why as an Intel guy for decades, I only considered the 9800X3D in my latest DIY build.

 

[Denoloco1]

''Ultra rare discount''

- Turns out to be a mere 10%.

OK TM...

 

[Daniel15]

For low resolution gaming.

Why would you need a high-end CPU for low-res gaming? Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but that doesn't make sense. For low-res gaming, the $180 Ryzen 7600 would often be more than sufficient, depending on what you're playing. There's also the $300 7600X3D. (Microcenter prices - will be higher elsewhere)

There are improvements between the 7000 series X3D and the 9000 series, though. AMD moved the 3D v-cache from above the CCD to below it, which improves thermal efficiency. The 9800X3D runs cooler than the 7800X3D even though it's more powerful. That's a consideration for things like SFF PCs where you can't install a lot of cooling.

I got the 9800X3D for a recent SFF build because I don't want to upgrade the CPU for a long time. I'd rather pay once now than get a cheaper one and have to upgrade later.

 

[Neilbob]

Why would you need a high-end CPU for low-res gaming? Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but that doesn't make sense. For low-res gaming, the $180 Ryzen 7600 would often be more than sufficient, depending on what you're playing. There's also the $300 7600X3D. (Microcenter prices - will be higher elsewhere)

This is something that many people often get wrong: at low resolution, the GPU typically can only go as fast as the CPU, so the faster CPU the better (which is why something like the 9800X3D is so popular for e-sports and things like CS:GO).

But at higher resolution, the CPU can only go as fast as the GPU, and even the 5090 can become heavily limited as we approach 4K. At that point, even ancient CPUs end up being precisely as fast as the 9800X3D. It's even more apparent if the GPU is something more 'mainstream' like a 60 or 70 series. Though it can also depend on the game too.

For regular gamers aiming for high resolution, there really isn't much point splurging the money needed for this CPU other than the need to have the absolute best component in any given category. Same goes for the 5090 to be fair; absolutely not worth the money (only in my opinion, mind).

It's why the CPU benchmarks are almost always primarily at 1920x1080, as unrealistic a scenario as that is, but doing so is the only way to highlight performance differences between CPUs.

 

[Alvar "Miles" Udell]

The probem is that to upgrade to this CPU from any other socket you're looking at the better part of $1000 unless you cut corners with things like a feature limited motherboard, and if you're rocking anything weaker than a 4070 you're going to get far more bang for your buck by just getting a 5070 or 5070ti or Radeon equivalent, even if you're using a Zen 3 CPU, and especially if you're gaming at 2560x1440 or above where the CPU has much less of an impact.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

No disrespect to anyone who's posting here, but beating up on Toms because they write these articles, and/or promote products for sale, and that they get an 'affiliate fee' or whatever you want to call from the articles - I mean, what do you expect?

Would you prefer that they didn't do that, and potentially fold because they don't earn enough money to run the site? In this day and age, running something as substantial as Toms costs money. It's really simple.

I have no idea how much Toms makes from the advertising and promotes, however, if it means they can stay afloat and keep providing high quality tech news, then I'm all for it.

And as for 9800x3d not being a good multitasker, and/or beneficial to a 5090 rig, or 1080p gaming or whatever, we've heard this a hundred times. We know that.

The simple facts of the matter are, that the 9800x3d is the fastest gaming CPU, whatever way you cut it. It's also fact that the author/Toms are stating that it's at one of it's lowest price points. Yes, maybe not the lowest, but still.

 

[umeng2002_2]

It's not really news when it's not even the biggest discount over the past year. It's just advertising.

 

[Daniel15]

It's also fact that the author/Toms are stating that it's at one of it's lowest price points. Yes, maybe not the lowest, but still.

They initially said that it was the "lowest price to date", which is easily disproven by looking on CamelCamelCamel or comparing to Microcenter. I know Microcenter doesn't have many locations, but they do still have this CPU for cheaper. Right now it's $399 for members (membership is free until next year).

and/or promote products for sale, and that they get an 'affiliate fee' or whatever you want to call from the articles

This is fine with me, as long as the promoted products are promoted because they're good (which is the case for this post), not just because they pay the highest commissions. Plenty of "review" sites only promote products that pay high commissions.

For regular gamers aiming for high resolution, there really isn't much point splurging the money needed for this CPU

I like spending a bit more on the CPU if it means you don't need to upgrade for a while. I keep my systems for a long time though - I guess this is not as useful for people that sell their system and build a new one every few years.

The probem is that to upgrade to this CPU from any other socket you're looking at the better part of $1000 unless you cut corners with things like a feature limited motherboard

Isn't that the case with any switch from one socket to another? Is there something specific about the AM5 socket?
I used an ASUS ROG Strix B650E-I motherboard in my SFF build, which is $219 at the moment. I haven't felt like I've missed out on any major features with the B650 chipset. Are there particular features you usually look for?