AMD Revives Old CPUs to Tackle High RAM Prices
▼ Summary
– AMD is re-releasing its former best-in-class Ryzen 7 5800X3D CPU starting June 25 at $350, which is $100 less than its 2022 launch price.
– The Ryzen 7 7700X3D, a previous-gen chip for the AM5 socket, will launch on July 11 at $330 as an “entry point” for that platform.
– High memory prices and a resale market demanding $450 or more for a four-year-old 5800X3D are driving AMD to offer these older chips.
– AMD is bringing its Radeon RX 9070 GRE to the U.S. market on June 1 at $550, a card previously exclusive to China with 12GB of VRAM.
– The chipmaker is extending support for the 10-year-old AM4 motherboard platform due to high costs, while promising AM5 support through 2029.
With DDR5 RAM prices still stubbornly high, AMD is taking an unusual approach to help gamers upgrade without breaking the bank. The company is effectively resurrecting its previous-generation processors, offering them at more accessible price points as a workaround for those priced out of the current memory market.
Starting June 25, AMD will re-release the Ryzen 7 5800X3D for $350. That’s a full $100 less than its 2022 launch price and a significant discount compared to the $500 asking price for the current-gen Ryzen 7 9850X3D on the AM5 platform. For anyone who has scoured eBay for this now-discontinued chip, the official price is a relief. Resellers in North America are still demanding $450 or more for the same four-year-old CPU.
The strategy doesn’t stop there. On July 15, AMD will launch the Ryzen 7 7700X3D, an eight-core, 16-thread processor for the AM5 socket, priced at $330. The company is positioning this as the “entry point” for its newer platform. It might seem odd for a chip from the Ryzen 7000 series to cost more than a newer model, but the culprit is clear: exorbitant memory prices and a predatory resale market.
AMD is also addressing the GPU side of the equation. The Radeon RX 9070 GRE is finally coming to the U. S. market at $550 after being exclusive to China. This card is essentially the same RX 9070 from 2025 but swaps 8GB of VRAM for 12GB. It fills an odd niche, especially since the Radeon RX 9060 XT and the flagship RX 9070 XT both pack 16GB. The GRE launches June 1, and while AMD has been better than Nvidia at stabilizing GPU costs, that $550 price tag may not hold indefinitely.
For many PC builders, 2026 is shaping up to be a year of sidegrades rather than true upgrades. The smartest move for gamers with older hardware is to hold onto their cheaper DDR4 RAM sticks, which are still available on the resale market for less than current-gen memory. In effect, AMD is being forced to keep its decade-old AM4 platform alive longer than anyone expected. The company has committed to supporting AM5 through 2029, but by then, the industry may find itself running on components designed four or even ten years ago.
(Source: Gizmodo.com)
