AMD’s budget Zen 3 part, the Ryzen 5 5600X has dropped to an all-time low price tag of $249 for the first time since launch. Due to increased demand and lean supply, this SKU was originally going for $350-400, up from its MSRP of $299. Shortly before the launch of Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake-S processors, the prices for the Ryzen 5000 parts returned to normal, with many retailers like Micro Center even selling them at heavy discounts. A while back, we saw the Ryzen 7 5800X drop to $299 at Micro Centers around the US, but the 5600X continued to sell at $280, just $20 lower than its MSRP of $299.
In the latest round of discounts, Micro Center has cut the prices of all the Ryzen 5000 CPUs by up to $120. The Ryzen 5 5600X is going for $249.99, the Ryzen 5 5600G for (just) $219.99, the octa-core Ryzen 7 5700G for $279 ($80 off), the Ryzen 7 5800X for $329.99 ($120 off), the Ryzen 9 5900X for $469.99 ($80 off), and the 5950X for $699 ($100 off). While most of these chips are still priced higher than their rival Alder Lake offerings, it’s worth noting that they can be paired with dirt-cheap B450 motherboards, if not a B550. Furthermore, the shortage of DDR5 modules means that the 12th Gen processors will offer minimal gains over their Zen 3 counterparts.