A four-year-old budget CPU is outselling AMD's best gaming chip in some markets

[Daniel Sims]

In context: Seeing AMD brag about its continued dominance of CPU sales charts is unsurprising. However, a recent social media post from the company also reveals the effects of the RAMpocalypse when observers pay close attention to which AMD CPUs are selling the most.

AMD's senior marketing director, Sasa Marinkovic, recently shared a snapshot of the 30 top-selling CPUs on Amazon. The company occupied all but four spots, including the entire top 10. It's a deserved flex, as Intel has yet to meaningfully respond to AMD's last three generations of desktop processors. However, Marinkovic also revealed how much ongoing RAM shortages have boosted sales of processors released four years ago.

Assuming the post shows Amazon's US sales charts, it captures a brief moment when the Ryzen 5 5500, a budget CPU originally released in 2022, stole the top spot from the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, widely considered the best gaming CPU on the market. The 5500 still holds the crown on Amazon's UK site.

– Saša Marinković (@SasaMarinkovic) August 10, 2026

It's a shocking turnaround from when TechSpot advised shoppers to avoid the 6-core Zen 3 processor when it launched at a $160 MSRP. However, the CPU now sits at approximately half that price – $81, while the 9800X3D and other chips from AMD's Ryzen 7000 and 9000 lineups are locked behind the continually rising price of DDR5 RAM.

TechSpot highlighted the distorted situation late last year with benchmarks showing that, while the Ryzen 5 5500 still isn't a great CPU, it's good enough for a budget DDR4-based build. Furthermore, it has since lost one of its top competitors.

Last year, the 7500F offered much better performance at the same price for users who could acquire DDR5 memory, but eight months later, that CPU has nearly disappeared from storefronts, with the remaining offers nearing $200. In fact, the only other processors in Amazon's top 30 anywhere close to the 5500's price are Ryzen 3 chips.

Also see: The Best CPUs - Mid 2026 Update

The AI boom's effect on the memory market was apparent then and has only worsened since. Manufacturers currently pay six times as much for memory as they did a year ago. The shift has raised the prices for various consumer products, and experts expect the situation to last at least into 2028.

AMD acknowledged the skewed market by re-releasing the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, which, like the 5500, initially launched in 2022. TechSpot's re-review highlights that, at $350, it's technically a ripoff compared to its successor, the 7800X3D. However, like the 5500, it's the best option in its price range for users stuck with DDR4 RAM.

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A four-year-old budget CPU is outselling AMD's best gaming chip in some markets

 

[Nobodysfool]

I have had one since 2023, paired with an Intel Arc B570 I got from a clearance sale. May it last for another five years.

 

[LordVile95]

Budget product outsells halo product, in other news, the Sky is blue.

I got one of these for my media PC. Drops into a cheap board, I had DDR4 lying around and comes with a stock cooler. You don’t really need the latest and greatest for gaming and even on AM5 the 9600X and 7600X get you 75% of the performance of a 9800X3D and even more when you’re not using a 5090.

 

[Loadedaxe]

Funny thing is, this article may say more about Intel’s pricing than AMD’s gaming crown.

Older Intel DDR4 chips are still perfectly capable. The 12400/13400/14400 class offers strong gaming, competitive 1% lows, and very good productivity...especially once E-cores enter the picture. A 14400F with a ~$100 B760 DDR4 board gives you a very capable platform for around $285 before RAM.

So why is AMD still cleaning up in the budget market?

Because Intel somehow forgot to make its old chips cheap.

A 12400F around $100, 13400F around $140, and 14400F around $170 with inexpensive B660/B760 DDR4 boards would make AM4 a much harder sell for a new build.

Yes, the 5700X3D/5800X3D are excellent gaming chips, particularly for existing AM4 owners, but their current pricing can get downright ridiculous for what you're actually buying...a gaming specialized CPU on a platform with no meaningful upgrade path beyond it. At inflated prices, the value proposition starts disappearing quickly.

Outside the X3D parts, I'm certainly not convinced Ryzen 5000 is automatically the better buy.

Anyway, I'll leave that there and wait for the AMD faithful to explain how paying premium money for the final boss of a four year old socket is somehow "value."

 

[LordVile95]

Funny thing is, this article may say more about Intel’s pricing than AMD’s gaming crown.

Older Intel DDR4 chips are still perfectly capable. The 12400/13400/14400 class offers strong gaming, competitive 1% lows, and very good productivity...especially once E-cores enter the picture. A 14400F with a ~$100 B760 DDR4 board gives you a very capable platform for around $285 before RAM.

So why is AMD still cleaning up in the budget market?

Because Intel somehow forgot to make its old chips cheap.

A 12400F around $100, 13400F around $140, and 14400F around $170 with inexpensive B660/B760 DDR4 boards would make AM4 a much harder sell for a new build.

Yes, the 5700X3D/5800X3D are excellent gaming chips, particularly for existing AM4 owners, but their current pricing can get downright ridiculous for what you're actually buying...a gaming specialized CPU on a platform with no meaningful upgrade path beyond it. At inflated prices, the value proposition starts disappearing quickly.

Outside the X3D parts, I'm certainly not convinced Ryzen 5000 is automatically the better buy.

Anyway, I'll leave that there and wait for the AMD faithful to explain how paying premium money for the final boss of a four year old socket is somehow "value."

Issue is you have upgradability to the 5800X3D on AM4 and it will work on a cheap board. The top end Intel chips won’t. Also why spend 100 for a media PC like mine fke example when the 5500 is significantly cheaper

 

[Loadedaxe]

Issue is you have upgradability to the 5800X3D on AM4 and it will work on a cheap board. The top end Intel chips won’t. Also why spend 100 for a media PC like mine fke example when the 5500 is significantly cheaper

I was referring to someone doing a MB, CPU and Ram upgrade.

 

[LordVile95]

I was referring to someone doing a MB, CPU and Ram upgrade.

And I was too. If you get a basic B series board with a 5500 you can in time upgrade to a 5800X3D, if you do that with say a 13400 you can’t upgrade to a 14700 or 14900K because the b boards can’t handle it.

 

[Loadedaxe]

And I was too. If you get a basic B series board with a 5500 you can in time upgrade to a 5800X3D, if you do that with say a 13400 you can’t upgrade to a 14700 or 14900K because the b boards can’t handle it.

That is fair regarding the absolute cheapest B series boards, but saying you can’t upgrade to a 14700 or 14900 isn’t really accurate. B760 supports those chips. The real question is whether a very cheap board has the VRM quality and cooling to make that a sensible pairing.

But that also isn’t really the comparison I was making.

If I am buying a new motherboard, CPU and RAM around a 13400 or 14400, I am not doing it because I expect to drop a 14900K into a $90 motherboard years later.

The same logic applies to AM4. Buying a 5500 today because you might later buy a 5800X3D means you have now bought two CPUs just to end up at the absolute top and end of that platform.

For someone already on AM4, the X3D upgrade path is excellent and makes perfect sense.

For someone buying the motherboard, CPU and RAM from scratch today, I think the value argument is a lot more debatable.

 

[Lew Zealand]

And I was too. If you get a basic B series board with a 5500 you can in time upgrade to a 5800X3D, if you do that with say a 13400 you can’t upgrade to a 14700 or 14900K because the b boards can’t handle it.

You can power limit the 14700/K to work within the limits of a less expensive B-series board and still get good performance, but that's something of an annoyance that not everyone will do. I do this all the time in power-compromised builds (currently using an 8700K in a SFF Optiplex).

But yes the 5500 offers some pretty great value at ~$85 where it usually lands, and I'm currently using one with a 9600 XT. It's a match for the 8700/K/10400/10500/10600/K unless you OC your 8700K or 10600K to its limit. That's good enough for many games all while taking wayyy less power than those Intel CPUs as the 5500's power and cooling requirements are very modest. But you get to some CPU-heavy locations in games (or ones that aren't coded so well) and those 1% lows take a beating vs. a 5800X3D or 14700K.

 

[Vanderlinde]

For someone already on AM4, the X3D upgrade path is excellent and makes perfect sense.

I've replaced my 2700X with a 5950X, and 32GB exchanged with 128GB DDR4 / 3600MHz. All costed give or take 2000 EU (I know, insane inflated prices) but for what I do with it it will last some years to come really. A 5950X in 2026 is still a valid workhorse in every aspect.

The 2700x and that 32GB kit will be stored in the closet. Who knows what good it might come into use for. A downclocked 45W 2700X perhaps.

 

[Watzupken]

Not sure if this is something to be proud of.

 

[fadingfool]

Put a 5800X3D in a friend's PC the weekend before last (£290 from Amazon) as it is just not sensible buying a new MB/RAM/CPU combo at the moment (also dropped in a 5070Ti which definitely was not sensibly priced - I'd suggested the 9070XT or base 5070 for value wise but with around £1100 for the upgrades it was within "budget"). Currently a decent MB/RAM/CPU combo starts at £900 if you want 32 GB of RAM which wouldn't leave a lot for a GPU upgrade (from a base 3070). Tough times for anyone upgrading (I'm still holding onto my X299 build).

 

[OortCloud]

Weird article. It's hardly surprising that a fairly capable budget CPU that has been heavily discounted outsells high-end tech-nerd-only CPUs isn't it??? Don't think this has anything to do with the current sh1tstorm being caused by Sam Altman and the rest of the Tech-Bro-Sociopaths.

 

[BobHome]

Devolving. Next = Ug, where's club? Me hungry.

 

[lna2000]

That is fair regarding the absolute cheapest B series boards, but saying you can’t upgrade to a 14700 or 14900 isn’t really accurate. B760 supports those chips. The real question is whether a very cheap board has the VRM quality and cooling to make that a sensible pairing.

But that also isn’t really the comparison I was making.

If I am buying a new motherboard, CPU and RAM around a 13400 or 14400, I am not doing it because I expect to drop a 14900K into a $90 motherboard years later.

The same logic applies to AM4. Buying a 5500 today because you might later buy a 5800X3D means you have now bought two CPUs just to end up at the absolute top and end of that platform.

For someone already on AM4, the X3D upgrade path is excellent and makes perfect sense.

For someone buying the motherboard, CPU and RAM from scratch today, I think the value argument is a lot more debatable.

AMD knows this principle... KISS- keep it simple stupid.

 

[RaXelliX]

Older Intel DDR4 chips are still perfectly capable. The 12400/13400/14400 class offers strong gaming, competitive 1% lows, and very good productivity...especially once E-cores enter the picture. A 14400F with a ~$100 B760 DDR4 board gives you a very capable platform for around $285 before RAM.

No one said they weren't, but the buyers dont agree. Intel sales are dismal.

So why is AMD still cleaning up in the budget market?
Because Intel somehow forgot to make its old chips cheap.

I doubt it's just that. AM4 has a massive install base and unlike Intel that intentionally breaks up the upgrade path every few years the AM4 retains a full upgrade path from the first to the last gen models.

Yes, the 5700X3D/5800X3D are excellent gaming chips, particularly for existing AM4 owners, but their current pricing can get downright ridiculous for what you're actually buying...a gaming specialized CPU on a platform with no meaningful upgrade path beyond it. At inflated prices, the value proposition starts disappearing quickly.

Actually 5800X3D's value proposition only improves over time as it's already fallen to $330 from it's initial $350 launch price and DDR5 is about to get more costly now and for the remainder of the next year. So while 5800X3D is getting cheaper, DDR5 is getting more expensive.

Anyway, I'll leave that there and wait for the AMD faithful to explain how paying premium money for the final boss of a four year old socket is somehow "value."

Ten year old socket. AM4 is ten years old. Not four. Also I wouldn't call it premium money considering it launched at lower price than it's 2022 MSRP and lower price for what it was going for in the used market.

For someone already on AM4, the X3D upgrade path is excellent and makes perfect sense.

For someone buying the motherboard, CPU and RAM from scratch today, I think the value argument is a lot more debatable.

That's what I've been saying since 5800X3D relaunch. Glad people are finally starting to get who this is for.

 

[Loadedaxe]

AMD knows this principle... KISS- keep it simple stupid.

Cute slogan. Now try applying it to the actual discussion instead of using a bumper sticker as a substitute for an argument.

No one said they weren't, but the buyers dont agree. Intel sales are dismal.

I doubt it's just that. AM4 has a massive install base and unlike Intel that intentionally breaks up the upgrade path every few years the AM4 retains a full upgrade path from the first to the last gen models.

Actually 5800X3D's value proposition only improves over time as it's already fallen to $330 from it's initial $350 launch price and DDR5 is about to get more costly now and for the remainder of the next year. So while 5800X3D is getting cheaper, DDR5 is getting more expensive.

Ten year old socket. AM4 is ten years old. Not four. Also I wouldn't call it premium money considering it launched at lower price than it's 2022 MSRP and lower price for what it was going for in the used market.

That's what I've been saying since 5800X3D relaunch. Glad people are finally starting to get who this is for.

I’m not really sure why you broke this into five separate quotes when half of it agrees with what I already wrote.

Yes, AM4 has a massive installed base. That is precisely why I said the X3D chips make excellent upgrades for people already on AM4.

I was talking about someone buying the motherboard, CPU and RAM from scratch today. Those are two very different value propositions.

And yes, AM4 is ten years old, not four. Fair correction, I was referring to the platform. That actually makes buying into it as a brand new platform in 2026 an even more interesting argument.

One correction on my end for your pricing point though. The original 5800X3D did not launch at $350. It launched at $449 in 2022. The 2026 anniversary re-release is the one priced at $349.

And $349 is not what I would call value for a new, older build. Add even a reasonably inexpensive B550 motherboard and you are already well over $450 for the CPU and board alone. Compare that with roughly $250 for a 14400F and inexpensive B760M DDR4 board.

With DDR4 still available cheaply and these CPUs trading blows depending on the game and workload, Intel starts looking like the much better value for somebody who needs a decent machine right now.

And if DDR5 prices eventually settle back down, neither AM4 nor LGA1700 is the platform I would choose for a serious long term upgrade path anyway. At that point you move to something current.

So if you already own AM4, absolutely, buy the X3D and squeeze everything you can out of it. If you are starting from scratch and just need a strong inexpensive PC today, paying $449 for a 5800X3D and B550 motherboard makes considerably less sense. $200 can cover the Ram.

Then we arrive at your last sentence where you say this is what you have been saying all along.

Great. Then apparently we agree.

That was an impressively long route to get there.

 

[RaXelliX]

One correction on my end for your pricing point though. The original 5800X3D did not launch at $350. It launched at $449 in 2022. The 2026 anniversary re-release is the one priced at $349.

That is what I said. Current price is lower than it was in 2022 or the beginning of 2026 on the used market.

 

[Loadedaxe]

That is what I said. Current price is lower than it was in 2022 or the beginning of 2026 on the used market.

Fair enough, I misread that sentence.

That still doesn’t change the point I was making though. $349 for the CPU alone is not particularly compelling value for someone building a completely new AM4 system today when a 14400F and B760 DDR4 motherboard together can cost considerably less.

For an existing AM4 owner, the 5800X3D makes sense.

For a new build, we’re right back where we started.

 

[RaXelliX]

Fair enough, I misread that sentence.

That still doesn’t change the point I was making though. $349 for the CPU alone is not particularly compelling value for someone building a completely new AM4 system today when a 14400F and B760 DDR4 motherboard together can cost considerably less.

For an existing AM4 owner, the 5800X3D makes sense.

For a new build, we’re right back where we started.

I dont think anyone should even build a new AM4 system today. Not with 5800X3D and not even with a 5500. Same goes for Intel. All current Intel chips are about to superseded by Nova Lake anyway.

For new system I only suggest waiting for Nova Lake as it appears LGA1954 will be supported for at least two generations or AM5 for a proven design on the market now.

 

[Loadedaxe]

I dont think anyone should even build a new AM4 system today. Not with 5800X3D and not even with a 5500. Same goes for Intel. All current Intel chips are about to superseded by Nova Lake anyway.

For new system I only suggest waiting for Nova Lake as it appears LGA1954 will be supported for at least two generations or AM5 for a proven design on the market now.

I agree, I wouldn't...but some people need a decent system now.

DDR5 pricing is still ugly, and a lot of buyers simply cannot justify the extra platform cost. That is exactly why TechSpot keeps revisiting DDR4 builds.

If 32GB of DDR4-3200 is around $200 while a comparable 32GB DDR5-6000 kit is pushing $450, that changes the value equation dramatically.

Sometimes the best value system is simply the one that gets you through an expensive market without setting your wallet on fire.

 

[RaXelliX]

I agree, I wouldn't...but some people need a decent system now.

DDR5 pricing is still ugly, and a lot of buyers simply cannot justify the extra platform cost. That is exactly why TechSpot keeps revisiting DDR4 builds.

If 32GB of DDR4-3200 is around $200 while a comparable 32GB DDR5-6000 kit is pushing $450, that changes the value equation dramatically.

Sometimes the best value system is simply the one that gets you through an expensive market without setting your wallet on fire.

True enough. Though DDR4 can be equally as expensive. For example im on AM4 myself right now running 4x8GB DDR4-3733 CL14. If for example if I wanted to upgrade to 64GB with four sticks at relatively similar speeds then a 4x16GB DDR4-4000 CL18 kit would cost me 870€ and that's equally as expensive than buying 2x32GB DDR5-6000 CL30 at 876€.

But I digress. There's only one option past 3733 so it's not a fair comparison.
Even a more realistic and widely available 4x16GB DDR4-3600 CL20 kit would cost me 467€. More than a 2x16GB DDR5-6000 CL30 kit at 429€.

So as a DDR4 user I really have no choice. I wont pay DDR5 prices to upgrade my RAM capacity and I wont buy DDR5 at these prices unless im building a brand new system where I can justify the expense. I figure there are plenty of DDR4 users like me with 32GB or more DDR4 who wont upgrade either way.

 

[cachy]

For those playing at 4k, CPUs don't matter as much. I went from a Ryzen 1600 to 5600 and from a Nvidia 1060 to AMD 6950XT. I kept my X370 Taichi and 16GB of RAM during this 10y run. AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D is $299 now. I felt like the 9800X3D for $100 more was a better investment. It was time to upgrade the 10y old mobo that's still on PCIe 3.0.

RAM prices are not going to get better for a long time. My Microcenter has hundreds of RAM kits sitting locked up in a cabinet. It doesn't feel like a shortage but low demand due to 4x price increases. People are still in shock. I was going to buy 64GB for $200 before this but ended up with 32GB for $400 which used to be $100. This is the new normal. Prices might retreat some in 2028 but will never go back to what they were. Everything got more expensive.

Buy now if you are holding off before other stuff jumps in price. Video cards are already going up. I got my 9800X3D for $399, price matched ASUS AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Prime White and GIGABYTE X870E AORUS MASTER X3D ICE for a $95 discount. It offset the higher RAM price.

Get on the AM5 platform now so in the future all you have to upgrade is CPU and video card. Mobo and RAM can last you 10y.