If you are using an older Ryzen CPU, now is a great time to upgrade
Published: 31st October 2022 | Source: Amazon UK (Affiliate Link) | Author: Mark Campbell
AMD's Ryzen 5000 CPUs are becoming more affordable - Great news for upgraders on AM4
AMD's AM4 platform spanned from AMD's original Ryzen 1000 series all the way to the company's Ryzen 5000 series, with most early motherboards gaining support for newer Ryzen CPUs through the release of BIOS updates. In theory, users of AMD's Ryzen 5 1600 can upgrade to AMD's Ryzen 7 5800X3D, giving them the benefits of three generations of CPUs upgrades from Zen to Zen+, Zen + to Zen 2, Zen 2 to Zen 3, more cores, and the benefits of AMD's V-Cache technology. While newer CPUs are available on newer motherboard platforms, that is one hell of an upgrade for many AM4 users.
While AMD's Ryzen 5000 series may not be the company's latest or greatest processors, they remain as solid upgrade options for many AM4 motherboard users. AMD's Ryzen 5000 series has gotten more affordable, and for existing AM4 users they do not require a motherboard upgrade or new memory. If you want to upgrade your AM4 system without committing to full platform migration, AMD's Ryzen 5000 series is an upgrade that's worth considering.
This week, we have seen AMD's Ryzen 7 5800X become available for around £225, and AMD's Ryzen 7 5800X3D become available for around £360 (or less if you shop around). While stronger processors are available from AMD and Intel today, these CPUs can deliver huge performance benefits over AMD's older AM4 processors without asking for a full platform upgrade.
AMD Ryzen CPU Prices -
One of the big problems that AMD's Ryzen 7000 series has is that AM5 motherboards are hugely expensive. It is hard to find an AM5 motherboard that costs less than £200, and all AM5 users will also need to buy DDR5 memory. This is what makes AMD's Ryzen 5000 series attractive to AM4 motherboard users, as users of older Ryzen processors can upgrade their systems without a motherboard or DRAM upgrade. While AMD's Ryzen 5000 series CPUs are slower than their Ryzen 7000 series counterparts, their overall upgrade costs are much lower. The Ryzen 7 5800X linked above costs less than most AM5 motherboards.
You can join the discussion on the lowering pricing of AMD's Ryzen 5000 series CPUs on the OC3D Forums .