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AMD's Ryzen 5000 CPUs Get Major Price Cuts, Up to 25 Percent:
AMD's Ryzen 5000 (Vermeer) processors are two years old, but the Zen 3 chips are still among some of the best CPUs on the market. If you're looking for your next upgrade, U.S. retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, Micro Center, and Newegg, are currently selling the Ryzen 5000 lineup at reduced prices.
The Ryzen 5000 price cuts are probably an answer to the recently released Intel 12th Generation Alder Lake product stack that has helped Intel recover market share in the Japanese and German markets. While Ryzen 5000 still dominates the list of best-selling processors on Amazon and Newegg, Alder Lake has been creeping up to the Zen 3 parts. For example, the Core i7-12700KF is the seventh best-selling chip on Amazon, whereas the Core i7-12700K is in the third spot on Newegg's charts. Moreover, it's that time of the year when retailers start making space for the next wave of processors.
AMD has already confirmed that Ryzen 7000 (Raphael), Ryzen 5000's successor, will hit the market in the second half of the year, so retailers have likely started to offload Ryzen 5000 parts. Ryzen 7000 lives on the completely new AM5 platform with PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 support. The transition to the AM5 socket means consumers will have to invest in a new motherboard, although the topic of the memory remains in the air. Intel's Alder Lake supports both DDR4 and DDR5 memory modules, but AMD hasn't confirmed if Ryzen 7000 will also have hybrid memory support.
The story continues with a chart of prices for various models and has links to vendors, too.
Random question: Is your primary computer a desktop or a laptop? I've been laptop-only for the last 15-20 years -- my computing needs have been relatively modest.
(Score: 4, Touché) by RS3 on Thursday March 03 2022, @10:53PM (23 children)
As I'm reading about this, thinking it'd be nice to have faster computing, for several reasons my computing needs have become more modest too. Although I have somewhat newer faster laptops that need something, full OS installs, etc., this Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz laptop is plenty good enough for most of what I'm doing these days.
I rarely fire up desktop PCs lately. I miss them, but just don't _need_ them. Plus they're more easily connected to landline based Ethernet / router, but I don't currently have landline based Internet. It's available but a long story of physical installation complications, long-term price increases, etc.
I'm using a cell as hotspot and it's quite adequate. I watch very little video compared to most people, so my bandwidth need / total bytes used is fairly low. When I need bandwidth / big downloads, I do them at work (at least 4 places I work have very high speed).
I don't compile Linux kernels anywhere as much as I used to, and I don't care if it runs for hours while I do other things. Plus distcc helps if I really care.
Occasionally I render audio stuff. It'd be nice to have a faster PC for that, but it's infrequent at this point. Thought I'd be doing more video editing / rendering, but again, just not much call for that either.
As much fun as it is to fire up a new system, there are always the many problems with drivers, compatibility, wanting BIOS settings that just aren't in there. You know, the stuff you can't really know by looking at all the fancy pictures and "features" listed.
Looking online, oh gosh, yup, prices have really dropped on new AMD CPUs. Really good MB is still a lot of $; here's an Asus that's $1K. Hmmm. I fear I'd be disappointed by an el-cheapo MB. Cheapest ASRock is $60. Then RAM, PS. Maybe. But thanks for the article and info- you've got me shopping (again).
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Thursday March 03 2022, @11:30PM (11 children)
Agreed - it's an excellent question.
I've always had desktops. #1, the only internet available has always been landline, #2, laptops have always been exorbitantly expensive (compared to custom built home brew) and #3 it's rather difficult to sneak out of the house with a huge tower under your shirt.
Recently, I've bought a couple laptops, one for me, one for my wife. Neither of us has made any serious attempt to move onto the laptop as primary. But, we're prepared for the day when the desktops start to crap out. We've also upgraded our home network, so that WIFI works a reasonable distance from the house, so laptops make more sense than ever.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Friday March 04 2022, @02:05AM (9 children)
Most of my laptops came free. Maybe broken, or trashpicked, or friends / employers upgraded and passed the older ones to me, etc. I've bought (used) screens, CPUs, RAM, HDs, etc., but cost has been minimal.
If I had good landline Internet (and I consider it, but again, installation issues- long story) I'd go back to mostly desktop at home. But it would be very important to keep the laptop synced to desktop, so I'd have to do a bit of learning about how to do that efficiently. You probably already do that. (?) And no, no cloudy computing for me. Well, maybe, with encryption, although I really have nothing to hide.
Of course you can get WiFi extenders that work pretty well. Also base stations with real antennas, hotspots on an Ethernet cable (watch for lightning problems if you run a cable outside a house!)
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday March 04 2022, @03:02PM (8 children)
In the event that landline internet isn't viable, what about something like Starlink or Point-to-Point Wireless?
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 04 2022, @03:30PM
If you get invaded by Russia you get Starlink for free!
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Saturday March 05 2022, @09:48AM (6 children)
Both good ideas, thanks. I haven't really looked into them. What I'm doing now is working pretty well.
My feeling is (and I'm sorry in advance if someone interprets this politically- I'm not very political) is that things like water, sewer, gas, power wires, Internet fiber / copper should all be owned by a non-profit public entity. Sigh.
Comcast was (is still?) doing a thing where various people's home gateway would be an open WiFi hotspot for anyone with a Comcast ("Xfinity") account. So I have (had?) a legitimate login / access through one of my employers. One of my neighbors' gateway used to have the open Xfinity WiFi, and I had weak but usable connection. However, it has gone away. Better tools reveal it's still there, but "non-broadcasting", and all attempts to connect have failed. Bait and switch.
... Hmmm, Starlink looks pretty pricey- $99 - $500? Yeah, my cell plan is good enough, and only $30 / month. :)
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday March 07 2022, @02:52PM (5 children)
Ah, I had to make do with cell towers for a while. That was in dark times. Horrible for doing anything much beyond browsing the internet. That was in the days of 3G, though. Point-to-Point Wireless is what I've been on for a very long time. It's not much cheaper than Starlink and Starlink has faster upload/download, etc. The unfortunate thing is the $500 install fee, but nowadays you're paying close to that for your Point-to-Point wireless. Unless you find some deal where they do it for free, which I was only able to take advantage of once. Had to pay $300+ a couple of different times, because I changed ISPs (at least once due to the fact that I moved and old provider didn't have coverage at new location).
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Tuesday March 08 2022, @02:02AM (4 children)
I hate to sound like an old fart, but I remember a world before fees. Didn't know how good we had it then.
Well I get 4G, although I'm in an RF fringe, sometimes I see 8 Mbit / sec. and it's plenty for me. Most I do is watch a vid or two. At work I do the big downloads, updates, etc. I have one main full-time job, but do work in 3 other locations, each of which has fiber or quite high speed Comcast copper, so I'm quite well covered (and have keys and full 24/7 access to each building).
Incedently, I don't know if this is widely known, but Comcast has been installing fiber. A few years ago some unmarked trucks were pulling some kind of wire on poles on a street near me and I stopped to ask what it was. Nice gentleman said it's "Comcast fiber". I don't know if they'll pull it to houses yet, but backbones are getting faster.
I'll look into "Point-to-Point", but I doubt it's in my area. I'm in a semi-rural area. I have a few neighbors, but not dense neighborhoods where I am. And again, the 4G is quite Good Enough. (AT&T 3G just got killed off...)
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday March 08 2022, @02:51PM (3 children)
I've generally lived a few miles out of town when I got point-to-point wireless. It's an easier system to sell in rural areas, because you don't have to run lines to the house. Just need to get fiber to a tower and broadcast it from there.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday March 09 2022, @04:37AM (2 children)
I did a brief search- does it fall under "mesh networks"?
It'd be interesting to look into the legality/licensing and costs to buy the service and provide it to a neighborhood.
My strong hunch is that my 15 or so nearby neighbors all have very big company package deals (TV, Internet, phone) and it would be no advantage to them to buy into a shared network.
Trying to resist being philosophical, but I wish we Americans were more into sharing resources. I often think about lawnmowers: of my neighbors who cut their own lawns, at least 5 of us could co-own 1 mower, for example. Yes, I know, there are many details to work out, but I'm dreaming optimistically. :)
(Score: 3, Informative) by Freeman on Wednesday March 09 2022, @02:50PM (1 child)
Not really, it's Point-to-Point Wireless.
Example of a Really crappy point-to-point wireless ISP: https://www.txispeed.com/ [txispeed.com] (Don't use them! I'm getting a much better deal than the insanity listed on their site. You may not have but one or two providers available, though.) Still, I'm paying about $95 total for 35 down / 15 up or something like that. I may have a "business edition" that does 35 up and 35 down. I requested the best they could deliver and that's the best they can deliver, because of distance to tower, etc.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday March 11 2022, @02:37PM
Just looked at my most recent bill and it's 25 down / 5 up. Seriously, it's not great, but could be (and I've had) worse.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 07 2022, @06:18AM
Always interesting to learn more details of
PaulRunaway's domestic life. Only internets in the sticks is by rubbing two together? Don't get the part about the shirt. What are you trying to say, Runaway1956?(Score: 5, Interesting) by looorg on Friday March 04 2022, @12:10AM (1 child)
I detest laptops; small screens and shitty keyboards. If I have to hook up proper once I might as well have a desktop. So I do. My current primary machine was built about six years ago now. Still fine and does all I want. I got some more RAM and replaced some disks since then but nothing beyond that really. I really dont need the portability. I dont like to compute on the road/trains/hotels etc unless I have to.
I dont really play new or AAA-games so I rarely see the need for upgrading much. As long as it works I'll keep using it. Something has to break for a rebuild.
I used to enjoy the rebuild/reinstall. It was fun getting new and faster stuff. These days I mostly consider it a pain and it's not very fun at all. But it beats all the pre-assembled/installed crap. So the pain is worth the effort of sorts.
I do have some laptops, mainly get them from work. It is rare they have to be returned after projects so I just tend to clean 'em and give them to family and friends. I still have some that have never even been taken out of the boxes they came in.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RS3 on Friday March 04 2022, @01:49AM
Yes, agreed on all points. Including that I'm a touch-typist and used to loath almost all keyboards except the very tactile clacky older IBM ones.
Over the past 20+ years I've slowly gotten (mostly been given, this very one came out of someone's dustbin, long story) laptops and adapted. Yes, you too will someday be assimilated!
But seriously, portability became the biggest benefit. In fact this very one was going to be mostly for audio / video recording / editing, as it has a built-in "FireWire" IEEE 1394 port that works well with cameras and multi-channel audio A/D interfaces I have. I've done some A/V with it, but less and less, so it just kind of became my mainstream GP computer.
Re screens: I've never had a large desktop screen- maybe 19" 4x3 is the biggest, and rarely set up dual monitors, although often use dual setups at some work places. I'm more apt to have several machines running and use a KVM switch.
This (Dell) laptop is a 15.4" screen, which isn't bad. It was originally 1440x900, but I had another Dell (also trashpicked, very pretty) that had a smashed screen. So I put the 1440x900 in the other Dell, and got a 1680 x 1050 for this one. So resolution is pretty good. I've gotten used to tiny icons, and made most of them a bit bigger. It has 4 GB RAM (which is plenty for me) and 1 TB SSD.
I have some bigger (17"+), Core i5, that I just haven't had the need to invest time and effort to set up and use, but probably someday soon.
Hmmm. Work. My main employer mentioned buying me a laptop. My worry is I'll get it all customized and comfortable with it, then have to give it back when I leave. Also, it will likely be Win 10 or 11. Bleackkkk. I know it, but I can only use it if I can definitively turn off all updates and other background communication, as I have limited GB / month available and it irritates me, seems like it should be criminal, for software to decide to just start downloading things whenever it feels like it. At least in phones you can somewhat limit what they download over cell data, and then do bigger downloads and updates through WiFi.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Friday March 04 2022, @12:59AM (3 children)
$1000 is kinda out there. There are a few good options more in the $200 range (including Asus).
I only rarely compile a kernel these days, but I do cad and some light video that benefits from a strong processor.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Friday March 04 2022, @01:17AM (2 children)
I wish I could justify buying this! https://www.microcenter.com/product/634304/asus-wrx80e-sage-pro-ws-se-wifi-amd-swrx8-eatx-motherboard [microcenter.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Fnord666 on Friday March 04 2022, @06:06PM (1 child)
So what does this motherboard have or do to justify such a price?
(Score: 3, Funny) by RS3 on Saturday March 05 2022, @09:51AM
Clean my house, cook, smell good, look good, just for starters. :-}
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 04 2022, @01:17AM (2 children)
Trusted ASUS MBs, never bought any other brand MBs, but got burned - one of the ethernet port went bad, and, after a while, couldn't even boot.
Switched to cheaper ASRock MB, still lasting to this day after more than a decade. One time I had to have it replaced under warranty - actually my fault, dust piled up on the board because I didn't clean the case filters, eventually causing static short and ruining the board - but the customer service was simple, no-nonsense, and quick - got replacement board in a couple days.
Just a personal experience.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Friday March 04 2022, @01:19AM (1 child)
Being a hw hacker I'm trying to understand: "...dust piled up ... eventually causing static short..."
What mean "static short"??
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 04 2022, @02:18AM
short circuit by jumping spark due to dust pile-up causing static electricity build-up.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 04 2022, @01:33PM
two desktops (web-email / game-and-messaround). one laptop, well actually traveltop. i don't travel alot.
two other computers that have requested privacy ...
network latency trumfs bandwidth? there's something to be said about a slow but near instant build-up of a webpage versus "nothing happens after click", mind wanders "i'm hungry, what's for dinner? did i empty the mailbox yet? i wonder if the bill has arrived yet?" then *boom* it's all there?
not giving money to get to internet twice, so celluar is just dumb-aucustic phone (accident it and i didn't just turn poor), "prison phone" is wifi only. ( via open-wrt on TL-WR902AC)
people who require a reply to a "prison phone" coms apps in less then half a day are too important for me. good luck with your attention span later in life.(*)
wish for more then 1 Gbits (affordable ethernet) soon?
okay i admit, the gps map on the car-computer is cool tho it never gets a update even after oil-change service (/me waves @ toyota) ...i "flew over a river" once :D
(*) i wish they would add the "ding" audio sound you get on smartphones when a push-notice happens to the "dumb phones" so i could manually activate it (in my pocket) to re-capture the attention of the person i am talking to, since it seems talking in person to "smart phone generation" means dealing with a mind that wanders after 3 sentences, their mind sub-consciously anticipating the next "ding" sound?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by jasassin on Sunday March 06 2022, @01:55AM
iPhone SE 2020. Bluetooth keyboard/mouse/earbuds. Casting screen.
Gaming: Asus H81M-A motherboard. i7 4770 CPU. 16GB (max mobo supports) eBay Samsung RAM. Asus GTX 1650 Super GPU.
Even Cyberpunk 2077 plays fine max settings at 1080p, so I see no compelling reason to upgrade. I’d wayyyyyyyyy rather have a better TV, but that’s just me (and I love my plasma TV).
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0x663EB663D1E7F223