AMD introduces the best gaming processor and price cuts

06 Nov AMD introduces the best gaming processor and price cuts

The arrival of Qualcomm and its Snapdragon Elite series has forced Intel and AMD to respond; although Qualcomm is currently only present in Copilot+ PC laptops, it could soon make the leap to desktops and challenge the dominance of the two major players. We recently saw the release of AMD’s new processors, which Intel answered with its first Intel Core Ultra 200 chips. Now, there’s a new twist.

AMD is set to “sabotage” Intel’s new processor launch by lowering the price of the Ryzen 9000 series it released a few months ago and is also preparing to launch a new model on November 7. In other words, if you wait a couple of weeks, you’ll have the perfect reason not to buy an Intel processor and motherboard.

Not that gamers will need much convincing. Intel itself has admitted that the gaming performance of its Intel Core Ultra 200 isn’t on par with AMD’s previous Ryzen generation, let alone the current one. Now, AMD is sealing the deal with the release of the Ryzen 9800X3D, a new model from its X3D series, designed to maximize gaming performance through its 3D V-Cache technology for cache memory.

The Ryzen 9800X3D will take advantage of the new Zen 5 architecture and will feature higher clock speeds, making it faster than its predecessor, the Ryzen 7800X3D, which was already faster than Intel’s most powerful models. Although AMD hasn’t revealed all the technical details, some retailers have confirmed a base frequency of 4.7 GHz, 96 MB of cache, and a 120 W TDP. While we’re still waiting to see its performance in real-world gaming, it’s a safe bet that it will be the best processor for PC gaming.

Although Intel may have conceded the gaming sector (for now), it finds some solace in its competitive performance in other tasks, where the two brands are more evenly matched, and Intel even boasts wins in multitasking and energy efficiency. But what if the Ryzen 9000 series became more affordable? That would make the choice more difficult.

That’s exactly what AMD plans to do: implement a broad price reduction across the lineup, from $30 to $50. It’s not yet clear how this will translate to prices in euros in Spain. This should make the Ryzen 9000 series more competitive with the Intel Core Ultra, even if you’re not gaming—as long as you’re willing to accept higher power consumption.

To be fair, the arrival of the Intel Core Ultra 200 isn’t the only reason AMD has announced these price cuts. The Ryzen 9000 launch was one of the worst in recent memory, mainly due to rushed timing; many users experienced performance issues compared to the previous generation. Rumor has it that this generation’s sales have been AMD’s worst since the Ryzen brand was introduced.

In response, AMD has worked with Microsoft to release a Windows 11 update that enhances performance on Ryzen processors, as well as a motherboard update that addresses a latency issue between cores discovered post-launch. So, this price drop is essentially a “relaunch” of the Ryzen 9000 series, which, with the new patches, should be more competitive.