Silicon Lottery will speed bin and sell premium Ryzen 3000 CPUs

[Shawn Knight]

Why it matters: Buying a CPU for an enthusiast-class build can be hit or miss but if you go with a third-party binning service, you'll start ahead of the curve by weeding out dud chips with very little overclocking headroom.

CPU binning service Silicon Lottery has announced plans to offer AMD’s Ryzen 3000 series processors later this month.

Binned versions of the AMD Ryzen 7 3800X and Ryzen 9 3900X should be available starting July 13. The AMD Ryzen 9 3950X is also listed but doesn’t have an attached ETA. Pricing has not been shared and likely won’t be until the firm has had time to test the capabilities of the chips it receives.

With speed binning, you’re essentially paying for a third-party to test and cherry-pick the best performing chips (usually in terms of overclocking headroom) from a lot. You’ll of course pay a premium for this service but for many, it’s worth paying a few bucks more up front to not have to deal with the possibility of getting a dud with very little headroom.

Third-party binning services weren’t all that uncommon in the earlier days of hardware, back when AMD was really bringing it to Intel with its then-new Athlon CPUs. One could regularly find chips like Thunderbirds and Durons with guaranteed overclocks – some even paired with high-end coolers – for a small premium. Those good ole days, thanks to Silicon Lottery, are seemingly on the rebound.

Pricing is expected soon as AMD is rumored to launch its new chips on July 7.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/80745-silicon-lottery-speed-bin-sell-premium-ryzen-3000.html

 

[WiCK3DxGENETiX]

This seemingly tells us Ryzen 3000 will have a sure bit of OC headroom. Hmmm...

 

[Aftersh0cks]

I wonder how much extra it will be

 

[Evernessince]

I wonder how much extra it will be

Price will likely be exponential. A few MHz over stock won't be much but hitting those higher frequencies will be costly. We don't know what these CPUs top out at yet so we'll have to wait and see.

 

[JaredTheDragon]

I wonder how much extra it will be

Price will likely be exponential. A few GHz over stock won't be much but hitting those higher frequencies will be costly. We don't know what these CPUs top out at yet so we'll have to wait and see.

What will the exponent be, exactly?

A $300 chip would be $1500, then?

 

[Evernessince]

What will the exponent be, exactly?

A $300 chip would be $1500, then?

It depends on how rare the top binned chip is. Currently they charge $930 for a 5.1 GHz 9900K.

IMO it's a rip-off. $1,500 is certainly possible if they get some golden samples.

 

[ShagnWagn]

The whole point to overclocking (at least to me) is that you can get a faster chip for a lesser price. A lot of companies have really been squeezing cash from overclockers (and the unknowing) for quite some time.

There really is no point to overclocking unless you want bleeding edge that you can't buy. Why pay extra for "overclocking hardware" at a premium price when it's a gamble? You can just buy standard equipment and put extra money toward components that are already clocked higher. Plus you don't have to mess with clocking/voltage/stability tests. When I decide to buy a new rig, unfortunately this will have to be a serious consideration.

 

[penn919]

What will the exponent be, exactly?

A $300 chip would be $1500, then?

It depends on how rare the top binned chip is. Currently they charge $930 for a 5.1 GHz 9900K.

IMO it's a rip-off. $1,500 is certainly possible if they get some golden samples.

Might as well buy a handful of them; find out which overclocks the best, and return the rest. Why pay $500 for such a small delta over avg?

 

[Some lunatic]

The whole point to overclocking (at least to me) is that you can get a faster chip for a lesser price. A lot of companies have really been squeezing cash from overclockers (and the unknowing) for quite some time.

There really is no point to overclocking unless you want bleeding edge that you can't buy. Why pay extra for "overclocking hardware" at a premium price when it's a gamble? You can just buy standard equipment and put extra money toward components that are already clocked higher. Plus you don't have to mess with clocking/voltage/stability tests. When I decide to buy a new rig, unfortunately this will have to be a serious consideration.

And if you've already bought the best parts...?

 

[Evernessince]

Might as well buy a handful of them; find out which overclocks the best, and return the rest. Why pay $500 for such a small delta over avg?

Well the chips that hit those high prices are typically within the top 10% and the top binned chip is typically top 5%. Your chances of getting one of those by just buying random retail samples is very low.

It kind of makes me want to start my own CPU binning business with those kind of profit margins.

 

[penn919]

Well the chips that hit those high prices are typically within the top 10% and the top binned chip is typically top 5%. Your chances of getting one of those by just buying random retail samples is very low.

It kind of makes me want to start my own CPU binning business with those kind of profit margins.

I get you, but turbo is already at 5ghz. The fastest overclocker out of a small sample ought to be close enough.

 

[Maxine Bailey]

This seemingly tells us Ryzen 3000 will have a sure bit of OC headroom. Hmmm...

Not really they also binned and sold ryzen 2000 series chips for a while right after launch, until they realized it was worthless because zen+ had no overclocking potential

 

[CBTex]

I wonder how much extra it will be

Price will likely be exponential. A few GHz over stock won't be much but hitting those higher frequencies will be costly. We don't know what these CPUs top out at yet so we'll have to wait and see.

A few GHz? Holy crap! 6.7GHz would be blazing fast.

I think you meant MHz. Other than that, I think you are right. These guys will probably charge at least $300 MSRP for a 200-300 MHZ overclock.

 

[ShagnWagn]

And if you've already bought the best parts...?

Hence the first sentence in my second paragraph: "There really is no point to overclocking unless you want bleeding edge that you can't buy."

As in, you bought the best but it's still not enough. Overclocking would be of benefit. Most people in this category would care less about the premium price of "overclocking hardware" anyway.

 

[urbanman2004]

An add'l fee for a few extra MHz? I'll pass
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/silicon-lottery-amd-ryzen-3000,39774.html