Image: Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry
When the first Ryzen 9000X chips launched, received tepid reviews, and then proceeded to stick around on retailer shelves even with immediate discounts, a lot of us thought buyers might be holding off for the X3D versions to come out.
It looks like we were right! (Not that it was an earth-shattering achievement of prognostication, to be fair.) As it turns out, AMD’s Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a smash hit right out of the gate, and nearly every major US retailer that sells it — including Amazon, Newegg, Best Buy, and Micro Center — is out of stock one day after the CPU’s launch.
There might be a few of the gaming-focused chips still hanging around physical retailers, but it looks like everything online is gone right away. It’s a similar situation in Europe and in countries where the 9800X3D debuted yesterday, .
The X3D variant family, which punches up Ryzen chips’ performance for video games and other visual rendering with an extra helping of V-cache, has been extremely popular ever since it launched with the Ryzen 5000 series. It sits at the top of recommendations for desktop gaming builds (and in fact I’m typing this on a desktop with a 7800X3D!), and it’s driving a shift upwards in market share that AMD has been waiting on for years.
AMD senior vice president Jack Huynh to show off lines forming at retailers around the world. “So pumped to see the global excitement for the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D launch!” he wrote, above a collage of lines forming outside of Micro Center and other retailers.
There are several factors leading to the immediate sellout, and AMD probably wouldn’t like to highlight all of them. First, the 9000 series uses the same AM5 motherboard socket as the very popular 7000 series, so upgrades are super-easy. And as I’ve already said, this year’s Ryzen 9000X (without 3D V-cache) landed with a thud, partially thanks to an alleged error in testing methodology that made AMD’s own publicized performance numbers look a lot higher than initial reviews. So, once again, it seems likely that even AMD mega-fans were waiting on the X3D versions of those chips before putting down their money.
That would explain why the 9800X3D arrived much sooner (and as a single chip launch) compared to the 7000X3D series. My tech writer senses tell me that AMD wanted a hit before the holidays to calm the fears of shareholders. But a rushed launch with a single SKU might also mean a very limited fabrication run, so the number of 9800X3D chips available might be very low compared to previous generations.
And I’m sure you know what comes next. With high demand and low stock, those who did manage to get their hands on a 9800X3D are going to the secondary market. eBay sellers are asking for as much as $999 for the chip, which sells for $479 at retail. This might seem like a somewhat ambitious “buy it now” price, but eBay’s history of sold items depressingly shows that at least a few people really did pay that price. That said, most are trending in the $650 to $750 range.
The 9800X3D really is all that and a bag of silicon chips. PCWorld’s CPU experts said that it “obliterates Intel’s best” for both gaming and productivity. According to initial testing, it’s the most capable chip on the market for gaming. It beats out far more expensive AMD and Intel chips thanks to that extra V-cache, and it’s only a hair behind them in non-gaming tasks, too.
Is it worth paying double the retail price to get one right now on the secondary market? Well, that’s for you to decide. Caveat emptor.
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer, PCWorld
Michael is a 10-year veteran of technology journalism, covering everything from Apple to ZTE. On PCWorld he’s the resident keyboard nut, always using a new one for a review and building a new mechanical board or expanding his desktop “battlestation” in his off hours. Michael’s previous bylines include Android Police, Digital Trends, Wired, Lifehacker, and How-To Geek, and he’s covered events like CES and Mobile World Congress live. Michael lives in Pennsylvania where he’s always looking forward to his next kayaking trip.
