AMD’s Ryzen 9000 series is facing a challenging reception in the desktop CPU market. Just over a month since its release, new reports indicate that the Ryzen 9000 series has experienced low sales, making it one of AMD’s most disappointing launches since the ill-fated Bulldozer architecture in 2011.
This downturn has significant implications for AMD’s fight against Intel, especially given the momentum it gained with its previous Ryzen generations.
Retail struggles and global impact
Retailers across various regions are reporting poor sales numbers for the Ryzen 9000 series. For instance, TechSpot reports that Australian retailers have described this as the worst Ryzen launch since AMD first introduced the brand. Sales were so low that some stores reported single-digit figures for units sold within the first few weeks.
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As pointed out by Hardware Unboxed, popular German retailer Mindfactory sold only 160 units of the Ryzen 7 9700X after a month on the market. Comparatively, during the same period post-launch, Ryzen 7000 CPUs saw significantly higher sales.
The situation is similarly grim in the U.S. market. Both Newegg and Amazon’s “Best Sellers” lists reflect the sluggish sales of AMD’s Zen 5 CPUs. On Newegg, no Zen 5 models make it into the top 20. Similarly, on Amazon, the Ryzen 9 9700X ranks at a modest 28th, while the higher-end Ryzen 9 9950X sits at 32nd place. This data supports the narrative of poor adoption and consumer preference for older or alternative models. Other models like the Ryzen 9700X and 9600X are buried deeper in the list, far outpaced by Intel’s 13th and 14th generation chips, as well as older Ryzen 7000 processors.
For many consumers, the jump in performance from Zen 4 to Zen 5 doesn’t appear to have been enough to justify an upgrade, especially when accounting for pricing.
Performance disappointment
On paper, the Ryzen 9000 series promised a strong showing. Built on the Zen 5 architecture, it came with the expectation of a 16% uplift in Instructions Per Cycle (IPC) compared to Zen 4. However, in real-world consumer workloads, this performance boost hasn’t translated into significant enough improvements to justify many buyers’ prices.
Core counts have stagnated, and the slight increases in clock speeds failed to make these CPUs attractive over previous models, which has led to many potential customers sticking with the already-established Ryzen 7000 series.
The performance gap between the Ryzen 9000 series and Intel’s offerings further compounds the problem. Intel’s 13th and 14th generation processors, despite suffering from their own set of issues such as stability concerns, continue to outsell Zen 5 CPUs. AMD’s latest processors haven’t demonstrated a decisive edge over their Intel counterparts, which has eroded the appeal of upgrading to the Ryzen 9000 series.
In our testing of the Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X, we found that the chips provide decent gen-on-gen gains and offer impressive productivity performance compared to Intel. However, they are not as good when it comes to gaming.
Impact on pricing and stock of older CPUs
The underwhelming performance of Ryzen 9000 has had a noticeable effect on the market for older AMD CPUs, particularly the Zen 4-based Ryzen 7000 series. As buyers shy away from Zen 5, demand for the Ryzen 7 7800X3D has soared, causing its price to increase. Since the launch of Zen 5, the 7800X3D, which could be found for around $340 earlier this year, now regularly sells for over $500 at major retailers like Newegg. This sharp rise is largely attributed to its superior price-to-performance ratio compared to Zen 5 CPUs.
Meanwhile, the prices of non-X3D Zen 4 processors have seen slight improvements, making them more attractive to consumers looking for a good deal. For example, the Ryzen 5 7600 has dropped in price to around $180, offering substantial value for budget-conscious buyers. Other models, such as the Ryzen 9 7900X, have also seen gradual price reductions, reflecting an increased focus on moving stock as Zen 5 continues to lag in sales.
This dynamic has not gone unnoticed by retailers, who are now faced with a glut of Zen 4 processors that they are actively promoting through flash sales and other discounts. Interestingly, AMD has not been aggressively clearing out Zen 4 inventory to make way for Zen 5, possibly because of the slow adoption of the newer CPUs. As a result, Zen 4 and Zen 5 are currently competing in the market, with the older generation often coming out on top in terms of consumer preference.
The struggles of the Ryzen 9000 series come at a crucial time in the desktop CPU market, where competition from Intel is fierce. Intel’s 13th and 14th-generation chips have benefited from aggressive pricing and a broader appeal to both gamers and professionals. Despite Intel’s well-documented issues with stability, consumers appear to favor their processors because of better availability and more consistent performance in real-world scenarios.
This creates a precarious situation for AMD. While the company has built a strong reputation over the years with its Ryzen lineup, the Ryzen 9000 series threatens to undo some of that goodwill. The Zen 5 architecture was supposed to carry the torch forward, but without meaningful price adjustments or significant improvements over previous generations, its appeal remains limited.