The desktop processor market is bubbling with offers from all sides. AMD’s hex-core Ryzen 5 5600X is going for just 9 while the octa-core Ryzen 7 5800X is selling for 9. (www.tatuing.com) Higher-end SKUs such as the Ryzen 9 5900X and the 5950X are also at their lowest price points since launch. The former is priced at $369 and the latter at $519 on Microcenter. This puts them below Intel’s Core i7-12700K and the Core i9-12900K, in terms of price at least:
The Intel Core i7-12700K is discounted to $349 whereas the Core i9-12900K also has a lofty $100 discount over its launch MSRP of $549.
Overall, this is an excellent opportunity for both gamers and content creators. For the former, the Core i9-12900K is the better pick while the latter is better off with the multi-threaded grunt of the Ryzen 9 5950X.
As both AMD and Intel prepare to launch their next-gen Ryzen 7000 and 13th Gen Raptor Lake processors, respectively, this is one of those times when upgrading will be as cheap as it gets. Although the Zen 4 family will be a big step over the existing Ryzen 5000 parts, Intel’s next-gen CPUs will be a refresh of sorts, retaining the same core architecture and socket.
