AMD Ryzen 7 CPUs get a price cut just before Threadripper rips into the summer

Why it matters to you

AMD is increasing the performance per price ratio by reducing the cost of its three Ryzen 7 desktop processors ahead of the Ryzen Threadripper launch this summer.

AMD’s angle when promoting its new Ryzen desktop processors involves showing customers how much performance customers will see for the price. The company talked for months about how its fastest, eight-core chip barely outperformed a similar chip produced by Intel, but for half the cost. Now just over three months after Ryzen’s arrival, that performance/price ratio just got better thanks to a price reduction of the three high-end Ryzen 7 desktop processors from AMD.

Here they are via Newegg:

Ryzen 7 1800X
Ryzen 7 1700X
Ryzen 7 1700
New price:
$450
$350
$315
Previous price:
$500
$400
$330
Architecture:
Zen
Zen
Zen
Cores:
8
8
8
Threads:
16
16
16
Total L1 cache:
768KB
768KB
768KB
Total L2 cache:
4MB
4MB
4MB
Total L3 cache:
16MB
16MB
16MB
Base speed:
3.6GHz
3.4GHz
3.0GHz
Boost speed:
4.0GHz
3.8GHz
3.7GHz
Power usage:
95 watts
95 watts
65 watts

News of a price reduction for AMD’s three Ryzen 7 processors shouldn’t be all that surprising given the bombshell the company dropped during Computex. AMD revealed a new set of Zen-based desktop processors arriving this summer called Ryzen Threadripper, sporting up to 16 cores and 32 threads. Given many PC gamers just overhauled their desktops to support the slightly-over-three-months-old Ryzen 7 chips, news of an even meatier set of CPUs was likely a blow to the gut.

With the launch of Threadripper, AMD is introducing the new X399 platform supporting the massive chip, 64 PCI Express Gen3 lanes, quad-channel memory, and eight memory slots (DIMMs). Consider Threadripper to be Ryzen 9 to some degree, only AMD is probably sticking with the thread-ripping name rather than continuing the numbering sequence due to the new X399 platform to eliminate confusion. Despite mentioning only the 16-core chip, AMD may likely introduce smaller versions of 10, 12, and 14-core capacities over time.

How much AMD’s 16-core Ryzen Threadripper will cost is unknown for now. Since it has double the count of the current Ryzen 7 chips, the top-of-the-line model could very well cost $900. By comparison, Intel’s rival Core i9 lineup will cost up to $2,000 for the 18-core model, and $1,700 for the 16-core version. But with AMD keeping its sights on the competitive performance/price ratio, $900 for the 16-core Threadripper may be a good estimated guess.

Chopping the prices of current products prior to the launch of a new wave is nothing new. AMD isn’t exactly cleaning house to make room for the Threadripper chips, but the firm may adjust the prices of its high-end chips for a broader performance/price appeal when the Threadripper processors arrive this summer.

Currently, AMD sells the three eight-core Ryzen 7 processors along with four Ryzen 5 chips: the six-core 1600X, the six-core 1600, the four-core 1500X, and the four-core 1400. AMD’s Ryzen 3 family won’t even make an appearance until the third quarter of 2017, serving the low-end desktop market. These will supposedly consist of the 1200X, 1200, and 1100 quad-core chips in the low 3GHz base speed range.