Question Best AM4 prices this season? (Ryzen 3600, Ryzen 5500, Ryzen 5600)

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

I have all of the parts that I need to build an AM4 based system, except for the processor. I recently saw the Ryzen 3600 for $80 at Micro Center, but held off. Now I see the Ryzen 5 5500 for $99.
Ryzen 5 5600 is currently $130 at Micro Center, but has been as low as $125 recently.

I told my kids that we would upgrade a really old Intel I3 based desktop before the new year. Now I'm wondering - what do you think the best price the Ryzen 5 5600 will hit before the end of the year? (probably for Black Friday, I guess) I might go with the Ryzen 3600 if it hits $80 again, but also wouldn't mind the increased ability of the 5600.

Do you think it will hit $120?

 

[virvan]

5500 vs 5600 is a matter of you wanting to spend $30 extra for 5-10% extra performance.
Don't buy 3600 since it's too old at this point.

 

[Thunder 57]

The 5600 is quite a bit better than the 5500. The 5500 is really just Cezanne, a laptop chip. It has half the L3 cache of the 5600 and is limited to PCI Express 3. Check out Tomshardware's review.

I don't expect it to go much lower than $130. It might hit $120, it might not. That just over an 8% difference in price, I would just get it now and enjoy it. I don't think I would bother with a 3600, though that depends on your needs.

 

[A///]

5800x3d

 

[Thunder 57]

5800x3d

You don't even know what it will be used for and recommended a CPU that is clearly at another level of performance and price. Did you even read the OP?

 

[A///]

You don't even know what it will be used for and recommended a CPU that is clearly at another level of performance and price. Did you even read the OP?

He's looking for a cheap option. He might spring to the 5600. The 5800 will give him more flexibility and some longevity with more cores. The cache for gaming is the cherry on top.

 

[In2Photos]

He's looking for a cheap option. He might spring to the 5600. The 5800 will give him more flexibility and some longevity with more cores. The cache for gaming is the cherry on top.

Lol. He's asking if the 5600 will go any lower. Doubt he wants to spend 3 times that much all of a sudden. 😂

 

[Thunder 57]

He's looking for a cheap option. He might spring to the 5600. The 5800 will give him more flexibility and some longevity with more cores. The cache for gaming is the cherry on top.

Maybe the cheap option is the best option for what he will use it for. He's clearly looking a hex core CPU's. And he did not even mention gaming or anything that it will be used for.

 

[A///]

Maybe the cheap option is the best option for what he will use it for. He's clearly looking a hex core CPU's. And he did not even mention gaming or anything that it will be used for.

If he can spare the better next level part it's better for him. Based on his posts which I've seen before he has young kids. This is likely going to end up as a gaming machine. The 8 core will provide his children years more of entertainment than the six core non X or the 5500. There's an argument to go for the cheaper option he's looking at on the basis he can upgrade the processor later on with a used processor or new several years from now but that's based on availability. They all will likely go on sale in the next 60 days regardless of what he chooses.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

If he can spare the better next level part it's better for him. Based on his posts which I've seen before he has young kids. This is likely going to end up as a gaming machine. The 8 core will provide his children years more of entertainment than the six core non X or the 5500. There's an argument to go for the cheaper option he's looking at on the basis he can upgrade the processor later on with a used processor or new several years from now but that's based on availability. They all will likely go on sale in the next 60 days regardless of what he chooses.

Let me start by saying I agree with you. I bought a Devil's Canyon i5 and ended up regretting not paying the extra $100 for the i7. They aged very differently. With Unreal 5 games set to push hardware, and PS5 and Xbox series ports needing an even beefier PC CPU than they have, a modern 8 core is a better bet for longevity.

However, if the OP simply cannot spend that much on the CPU now, the 5600 is the best deal. $130 and comes with the Uncharted game bundle. It may go lower yet. Alternatively, I picked up a barely used retail 5600x for $115 here in FS/FT a couple of weeks ago. Now is a good time to browse the used CPU market, as people upgrade.

 

[moinmoin]

Another option is buying the cheapest serviceable AM4 chip first for now and saving for an 5800X3D upgrade for later.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Knowing how *cough* "frugal" OP is, I say just get whatever Zen2 or Zen3 6CF/12T CPU is $80 at the time.

Becasuse, from what I've observed, he cares far more about "getting a good deal", than he does about getting longer-terrm value-for-money for a CPU purchase.

(Seeing that he held out on getting a 3600 CPU for six months or so, over a price difference of something like $6.)

That being said, if you ever see the 5600 for $99, snag it! I don't know if we'll see that during BF, my crystal ball is a bit cloudy. Maybe.

Edit: OP didn't mention it, but currently (*last time I checked it) the Ryzen 5 4500 was $80 @ Newegg, WITH the free game, I think. That's a Zen2 (Renoir, minus working iGPU), 6C/12T, with only I think 8MB of L3 cache, rather than the 32MB L3 in the 3600. And no PCI-E 4.0 on the 4500 either.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Look up the HardwareUnboxed video on YT, the one about the 5600 versus the 1600 Ryzen CPUs.

In some games, with higher-end GPUs (6900XT), the 5600 is TWICE is fast as the 1600.

That said, the 1600 still delivered an impressive showing, hitting 60FPS in nearly every game that they tested. (not mins)

And considering that even an $80 4500 is a league ahead of the 1600 CPU, in IPC and freq., then even an $80 Ryzen 6C/12T, Zen2 or newer, is going to play at least the current crop of games A-OK.

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

>>Becasuse, from what I've observed, he cares far more about "getting a good >>deal", than he does about getting longer-terrm value-for-money for a CPU >>purchase

Truth. Because I'd much rather spend $100 on a cpu now, rather than spending $200. It's probably a 'knee jerk' reaction to my Dad, who always had to have the best of whatever he bought. I would watch as he bought an $800 VCR, when there were plenty of $200 VCR's on the shelf that would have worked fine for what he wanted. Also, I think my thrift store and yard sale shopping has trained me to try to stretch the dollar as much as I can. It's probably also influenced by my environmental bent - I try to lower power & gas usage where I can.

And regarding the Ryzen 1600 - that really spoiled me when it came to performance per dollar - great buy a couple of years back for 80 bucks at Micro Center.

 

[Shmee]

You could also look for used Vermeer chips, that might be the best deal. Something like a 5600 or better from someone who upgraded to AM5 or Raptor Lake. They would likely let these go for not too much, I know I recently sold a 3700X with stock cooler for $95.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Truth. Because I'd much rather spend $100 on a cpu now, rather than spending $200. It's probably a 'knee jerk' reaction to my Dad, who always had to have the best of whatever he bought. I would watch as he bought an $800 VCR, when there were plenty of $200 VCR's on the shelf that would have worked fine for what he wanted. Also, I think my thrift store and yard sale shopping has trained me to try to stretch the dollar as much as I can. It's probably also influenced by my environmental bent - I try to lower power & gas usage where I can.

I used to be like that. I constantly used to believe that I "didn't deserve" "the best", so I would make foolish decisions buying computer parts, often choosing the lowest-end, most-crippled parts. I did myself a real dis-service for many years with that sort of behavior and attitude.

Trust me, YOU ARE "worthy" of buying the "better" computer parts, and sometimes, in terms of the enjoyment, performance, and practicality you get from buying the higher-end (mainstream) parts, makes them more worthwhile over a span of time... IF you can afford them.

That's why, I moved up from the $54 Intel Celeron CPUs, to the $200 6C/12T Ryzen 1600 CPUs - on release day. And in hindsight? TOTALLY "worth it"!

Edit: That said, everyone's got their opersonal budget limit. And the lack of sales for AM5 stuff says mountains about AMD's pricing, versus customer expectations.

 

[VirtualLarry]

AMD Ryzen 5 4500 - Ryzen 5 4000 Series 6-Core Socket AM4 65W Desktop Processor - 100-100000644BOX $83.00
+ $5 off w/ promo code SSBX3A27, limited offer

Are you a human?

www.newegg.com

Edit: That being said, that's a fairly worthy deal too.

 

[A///]

>>Becasuse, from what I've observed, he cares far more about "getting a good >>deal", than he does about getting longer-terrm value-for-money for a CPU >>purchase

Truth. Because I'd much rather spend $100 on a cpu now, rather than spending $200. It's probably a 'knee jerk' reaction to my Dad, who always had to have the best of whatever he bought. I would watch as he bought an $800 VCR, when there were plenty of $200 VCR's on the shelf that would have worked fine for what he wanted. Also, I think my thrift store and yard sale shopping has trained me to try to stretch the dollar as much as I can. It's probably also influenced by my environmental bent - I try to lower power & gas usage where I can.

And regarding the Ryzen 1600 - that really spoiled me when it came to performance per dollar - great buy a couple of years back for 80 bucks at Micro Center.

that's understandable. from Larry's original post he made you seem like a cheapskate. lol I was talking to larry in direct messages and we found a best buy combo deal for the 5600x if you're interested. Microcenter may offer a better deal going forward that much is certain. The main point of my original post when thunder man got in my way was trying to give you some more long term value for your kids. Pick a good am4 board and you can drop in a better zen 3 processor years from now off of ebay or any marketplace. I dunno how old your kids are but you can stretch a decent am4 board for a long time with small processor upgrades at used prices or new if they go on sale down the road. 5600 or 5600x this christmas, 5900x 3-4 years from now, you get the idea. i could be terribly wrong and amd andintel may compound their gains so much in the next 3-4 years that then's processor smokes todays new gen away by as much 30-50% improvement in gaming and double or more than those in production.

 

[Thunder 57]

that's understandable. from Larry's original post he made you seem like a cheapskate. lol I was talking to larry in direct messages and we found a best buy combo deal for the 5600x if you're interested. Microcenter may offer a better deal going forward that much is certain. The main point of my original post when thunder man got in my way was trying to give you some more long term value for your kids. Pick a good am4 board and you can drop in a better zen 3 processor years from now off of ebay or any marketplace. I dunno how old your kids are but you can stretch a decent am4 board for a long time with small processor upgrades at used prices or new if they go on sale down the road. 5600 or 5600x this christmas, 5900x 3-4 years from now, you get the idea. i could be terribly wrong and amd andintel may compound their gains so much in the next 3-4 years that then's processor smokes todays new gen away by as much 30-50% improvement in gaming and double or more than those in production.

So that thunder man got in the way when you just blurted out 5800x3d but now you are agreeing with me about the 5600? You are basically saying exactly what I was going for. Get the 5600(X) now and then later on upgrade to a 5800X3D or 5900X. He was asking about a CPU for $80-130 and you just throw out more of a $350+ option but I'm the one not being helpful? Got it.

I still think the 5600 makes sense but if you are going to upgrade it later on saving some money now and going with Zen 2 would be a good first step as well. There is a lot of upgrade room for later on.

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

Anybody think we'll see $115 for the Ryzen 5600 before the end of the year?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Anybody think we'll see $115 for the Ryzen 5600 before the end of the year?

Only if it stops selling so well at $130+. Right now Newegg is a week or more out on shipping and it's their top seller. No incentive for another price cut. It includes the games bundle too.

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

Only if it stops selling so well at $130+. Right now Newegg is a week or more out on shipping and it's their top seller. No incentive for another price cut. It includes the games bundle too.

Dang, I figured we would at LEAST match, or slightly beat the $120 price we saw a few weeks back......