AMD Ryzen 9000 Pricing Could Be Much Lower Than Ryzen 7000

Ryzen 9000

Credit: AMD

Ryzen 9000

AMD is about to launch its first batch of Zen 5 desktop CPUs this month, and we still don't know how much they will cost, as AMD has yet to reveal that information. However, an online retailer in Slovenia has put all four CPUs up for pre-order, indicating what we can expect here in the States. Though we can't draw a 1:1 comparison between European prices and those in America, the listed prices are aggressive—good news for potential upgraders.

As a brief refresher, AMD is launching four new Zen 5 CPUs this month: Ryzen 9950X, 9900X, 9700X, and 9600X. These are 16, 12, 8, and 6-core CPUs with two-thread per core, so these four CPUs cover everything from the high-end to the midrange. Over in Slovenia, all four CPUs have gone up for pre-order, according to HotHardware, and they are all significantly less expensive than the Ryzen 7000 series at launch, which occurred in 2022. As you may recall, that was seen as a tricky launch for AMD as its Zen 4 CPUs arrived at high prices, and they required pricey DDR5 memory and a new AM5 motherboard. The upgrade experience back then was painfully expensive, which likely impacted AMD's sales in a big way.

Ryzen 9000 pricing

Pre-order pricing for Zen 5 seems quite reasonable, which is a reversal from the exorbitant pricing of Zen 4 at launch. Credit: Funtech

AMD seems to have learned its lesson from that launch, as these CPUs are heavily discounted compared with their Zen 4 predecessors. Starting at the top, the 16-core Ryzen 9 9950X is listed at €659, versus €859 for the Ryzen 9 7950X two years ago. AMD famously dropped that chip's price by €200 in just two months, to €649, so it looks like it's skipping right to the normal price this time.

The 12-core, 24-thread Ryzen 9 9900X is listed at €499 compared with €649, with the eight-core Ryzen 7 9700X going for €399 versus €479. Finally, the mainstream six-core CPU, the Ryzen 7 7600X, is up for pre-order at €309 compared with €359 in 2022.

For its previous generations of products, including Zen 4 CPUs and RDNA 3 GPUs, AMD appeared to have set prices a bit too high at launch for some products, which it eventually lowered significantly. We're talking about its high-end CPUs and GPUs, which all saw sizable price cuts. This time around, AMD appears to be hoping to avoid that scenario by just making its chips more affordable out of the gate.

However, these chips won't necessarily be competing with Zen 4 per se, but Zen 4 with 3D V-Cache, as those are the highest-performing CPUs from the previous generation. AMD's regular chips, without V-Cache, also face the predicament of buyers waiting to see what the V-Cache versions will offer in price and performance. Getting people to buy a non-V-Cache AMD CPU at launch can be a heavy lift. However, AMD is aware of that situation and is apparently hoping to tempt upgraders with quite rational prices at launch this time. We'll find out soon enough as AMD will have to reveal its US pricing soon, as these CPUs are expected to launch later this month.