AMD’s midrange Ryzen 9000 processors have launched to mediocre reviews and dismal sales. The Zen 5 CPUs failed to figure among the bestsellers at any major retailer, offline or online. For example, at Germany’s largest retailer Mindfactory, the Ryzen 5 9600X sold just 10 units through the launch week, while the 9700X couldn’t even attain that. AMD’s Zen 4 X3D heavyweights ruled the top spots, with the Ryzen 7 7800X3D selling 950 and the Ryzen 9 7950X3D 130 units, followed by the 7900X3D, 5700X3D with similar figures (courtesy: @TechEpiphany).
Amazon and Newegg produced similar figures. Neither of the Ryzen 9000 CPUs entered the top 25 bestsellers charts. The Ryzen 7 9700X is currently ranked at #39 on Amazon, and #44 on Newegg. Fortunately, the octa-core part is retailing at its official MSRP of $359, and it can only go lower from there. The Ryzen 7 7800X3D top the bestseller listing at both retailers followed by the Ryzen 5 7600X.
The Ryzen 7 9700X (or 9600X) didn’t get any action at BHPhotoVideo or Microcenter (an enthusiast-centric chain) either. The Ryzen 5 9600X was the least popular CPU across all offline Microcenter stores combined while the 9700X landed a few spots higher.
Our initial review of the Ryzen 7 9700X portrays an efficient gaming CPU, roughly on par with the Core i7-14700K at half the power and heat. However, content creation performance is lacking, barely showing any gains over the Ryzen 7 7700X (now priced at $290).
