News GN covers Microcenter Exclusive AMD Ryzen 5600X3D

[GodisanAtheist]

Bummer that it's a MC exclusive. That takes it off the table for basically the entire mountain region and Pacific NW of the US.

Prime to be scalped and resold to reach a broader audience.

While it's nice to see my old Employer securing some exclusivity contracts, you'd think AMD would go with someone with a larger distribution network.

Likely means there aren't all that many 5600x3ds out there even after whatetver stockpile they've built up.

 

[gdansk]

I'm skeptical of the limited stock narrative. Sure there may be a limited number of good fits for this SKU to sell. But they can sell 5800X3Ds as 5600X3Ds if there was demand.

AMD is choosing not to in order to keep ASP high everywhere but Microcenter.

 

[jpiniero]

I suspect Microcenter also agreed to take a smaller cut than what retailers normally take.

But they can sell 5800X3Ds as 5600X3Ds if there was demand.

That would be dumb.

 

[MrTeal]

Why would they sell a 5800X3D as a 5600X3D for $50 less? The whole reason for a limited run is to use the limited supply of defective chips without having to commit long term to the SKU. It's probably not otherwise worth the added cost of the vcache die and assembly for a downmarket part at $230.

 

[gdansk]

That would be dumb.

They do it all the time with every other SKU. Your 5600X has 8 working cores, 99% chance.

 

[gdansk]

Why would they sell a 5800X3D as a 5600X3D for $50 less? The whole reason for a limited run is to use the limited supply of defective chips without having to commit long term to the SKU. It's probably not otherwise worth the added cost of the vcache die and assembly for a downmarket part at $230.

To reduce inventory. Insert latest quarterly financial statement here. If the inventory hadn't been fused yet then sell it as a 5600X3D for $230 is better than sitting on it.

Limited availability allows them to get rid of inventory in the US without (in theory) reducing prices or sales of 5800X3D in other markets.

 

[SteinFG]

I thought AMD only stacked cache after testing for known good chips? Is that incorrect?

Known good dies are 3D V-cache ones. CCDs are most likely taken by the whole wafer. In the example below purple chips would be V-cache and yellow would be CCDs

 

[gdansk]

Known good dies are 3D V-cache ones. CCDs are most likely taken by the whole wafer. In the example below purple chips are V-cache and yellow is CCDs
View attachment 82493

So there would the be some defective CCDs included.

But low end SKU generally include working parts gimped to match demand for various product segments. AMD isn't planning to do that for the 5600X3D for some reason. Maybe that is technical too. It could be that MilanX is selling well enough they don't have any working CCD to spare. But the frequent 5800X3D discounts here in the US belie that.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Maybe someone on these forums should take a trip to their nearest MC, with all the relatives/friends they can take along, and buy up the available stock, then sell it in FS/FT for a reasonable fee.

 

[jpiniero]

They do it all the time with every other SKU. Your 5600X has 8 working cores, 99% chance.

Yields are good but they aren't that good.

 

[gdansk]

Yields are good but they aren't that good.

Exaggerated but even in the wastebasket taxon like 5600X there will be many working parts gimped to meet demand because it was the most popular part at the time. What makes the 5600X3D exempt from the same uses? Purely financial reasons unless they already stopped production of Milan-X.

 

[jpiniero]

What makes the 5600X3D exempt from the same uses? Purely financial reasons unless they already stopped production of Milan-X.

Milan-X doesn't factor into this. It's probably just parts that for one reason or another (as part of the bonding process) couldn't be sold as a 5800X3D. And they've decided that now is the time to unload it.

It's also probally a while supplies last kind of thing.

 

[gdansk]

Milan-X doesn't factor into this. It's probably just parts that for one reason or another (as part of the bonding process) couldn't be sold as a 5800X3D. And they've decided that now is the time to unload it.

It's also probally a while supplies last kind of thing.

I guess we'll be in loops here. If they are still in production nothing stops AMD from selling working chips as 5600X3D. So in reality the supply is not limited except by AMD's decision not to make them except out of refuse parts. Which isn't how most other low end CPU SKUs work.

Just a bunch of weird decisions out of AMD lately. You can't sell these in Europe? Or in China? Because you'd have to *gasp* do what you do for other SKUs to get the quantity needed.

 

[jpiniero]

Just a bunch of weird decisions out of AMD lately. You can't sell these in Europe? Or in China? Because you'd have to *gasp* do what you do for other SKUs to get the quantity needed.

Oh I see. You're just salty they aren't selling this outside of the US.

It is possible that this is coming out because AMD is ending production of the Zen 3D dies to make room for more Zen 4D.

 

[gdansk]

Oh I see. You're just salty they aren't selling this outside of the US.

It is possible that this is coming out because AMD is ending production of the Zen 3D dies to make room for more Zen 4D.

I live in the US, I merely see no reason why a lower SKU should be "limited" while the upper SKU isn't. Except of course AMD wants to make more money elsewhere or production is done. At least with keeping stuff in China (e.g. 3500X, 13490F) it's because they know people in the US/EU don't pay attention to that market and has the language barrier protecting it.

 

[Heartbreaker]

I live in the US, I merely see no reason why a lower SKU should be "limited" while the upper SKU isn't. Except of course AMD wants to make more money elsewhere or production is done. At least with keeping stuff in China (e.g. 3500X, 13490F) it's because they know people in the US/EU don't pay attention to that market and has the language barrier protecting it.

I think the reason is rather obvious. AMD wants to make money, and X3D parts are expensive to make, so they need closer to $300 retail to make reasonably money on it.

You can sell the X3d parts that would fail as 8 cores, for closer to $200, because otherwise they would just be scrap. So this is cost recovery and makes perfect sense.

But they can't actually afford to make an X3D that sells that low because of high production cost.

 

[gdansk]

I think the reason is rather obvious. AMD wants to make money, and X3D parts are expensive to make, so they need closer to $300 retail to make reasonably money on it.

You can sell the X3d parts that would fail as 8 cores, for closer to $200, because otherwise they would just be scrap. So this is cost recovery and makes perfect sense.

But they can't actually afford to make an X3D that sells that low because of high production cost.

It's already $100 more than a 5600. You really think it's cutting that heavily into the margin?
I get that AMD is entitled to try to make money. But come on. "We don't have enough so we can't sell them everywhere" is not the problem. They don't wanna sell them everywhere OK. That's all.

 

[jpiniero]

I should add that it appears that it is also retail store only and no online orders. So you would have to live within a reasonable distance to get one.

 

[Heartbreaker]

It's already $100 more than a 5600. You really think it's cutting that heavily into the margin?
I get that AMD is entitled to try to make money. But come on. "We don't have enough so we can't sell them everywhere" is not the problem. They don't wanna sell them everywhere OK. That's all.

Clearance priced 5600 likely have no margin left.

 

[gdansk]

Clearance priced 5600 likely have no margin left.

It doesn't matter if it's $0 margin, this is $100 over it. Does 1 cache die add that much to the cost that the 5600X3D is also extremely low margin?

AMD's protecting the 5800X3D price while also taking measures to reduce inventory. Which is a neat effort for investors. And consumers in select markets have slightly more choice. Almost a win-win but they just had to mislead about why they're limiting it. AMD marketing as usual.

 

[jpiniero]

It doesn't matter if it's $0 margin, this is $100 over it. Does 1 cache die add that much to the cost that the 5600X3D is also extremely low margin?

AMD's protecting the 5800X3D price while also taking measures to reduce inventory. Which is a neat effort for investors. And consumers in select markets have slightly more choice. Almost a win-win but they just had to mislead about why they're limiting it. AMD marketing as usual.

Maybe I should append the saltiness to "or Doesn't live near a Microcenter"

 

[Heartbreaker]

It doesn't matter if it's $0 margin, this is $100 over it. Does 1 cache die add that much to the cost that the 5600X3D is also extremely low margin?

Yes.

 

[gdansk]

Maybe I should append the saltiness to "or Doesn't live near a Microcenter"

Minneapolis at the moment. Saltiness remains entirely derived from AMD's unwillingness to make a part that they just sorta announced. Because it would be a bit too cheap. Oh and they deliberately mislead about why they are limiting supply. Really their marketing and segmentation keeps trying to make them the 2nd biggest aholes in the industry now.

Yes.

lol. just lol.

 

[igor_kavinski]

This is just Lisa Su being clever. 5800X3D is selling but not as well as they would like. So if AMD put out the 5600X3D, it would eat into whatever profits they are making from selling the 5800X3D. What to do then, with the inventory of rejected 5800X3Ds? Sell them as a limited edition SKU while also helping their sales partners (Microcenter and mobo OEMs). They are going to piggyback off each other's success.

A more worrying theory: what if this is AMD testing the waters to find the optimum price for X3D parts? If suppose the sales volume at $229 is double that of 5800X3D, they might start converting perfectly good 5800X3Ds into 5600X3Ds just to gain more marketshare. THAT would be most unfortunate (though I hope they leave in some sort of firmware loophole that allows some enterprising hacker to unlock the dormant cores in future).

 

[Markfw]

This is just Lisa Su being clever. 5800X3D is selling but not as well as they would like. So if AMD put out the 5600X3D, it would eat into whatever profits they are making from selling the 5800X3D. What to do then, with the inventory of rejected 5800X3Ds? Sell them as a limited edition SKU while also helping their sales partners (Microcenter and mobo OEMs). They are going to piggyback off each other's success.

A more worrying theory: what if this is AMD testing the waters to find the optimum price for X3D parts? If suppose the sales volume at $229 is double that of 5800X3D, they might start converting perfectly good 5800X3Ds into 5600X3Ds just to gain more marketshare. THAT would be most unfortunate (though I hope they leave in some sort of firmware loophole that allows some enterprising hacker to unlock the dormant cores in future).

Right now for me its just a waiting game. AMD has the best productivity CPU (7950x) the best gaming CPU (7800X3d or 7950x3d depending on the game), the best laptop chip, the best SERVER chips.... Intel is just surviving right now IMO. I am waiting for something to happen. I know the market is down, but when it comes back, what happens ? Intel can't stay in the dumpster forever, I know at some point they will come back, but when ????? THATS THE BIG QUESTION IMO.....