It’s because this processor is perfect for advertisers looking to attract customers!
It’s because this processor is perfect for advertisers looking to attract customers!
The item is currently priced at $60. It previously had strong interest before the 3600 model was introduced. As prices rose for the 3700x, buyers shifted to the 3600, reducing supply and boosting demand, which in turn increased the price again.
It costs $260 on Newegg, $290 at WalMart, and is unavailable at Best Buy and B&H. The only source I know of is AliExpress, but I’m not confident about the $200 price. Where can you get it at that lower cost?
But you can't buy one right now for that price. The fact that someone, somewhere managed to snap up one for MSRP isn't surprising. It's eBay. For current Buy It Now listings , the cheapest I can find is $250 with free shipping from China. From within the US is $255, but there's just one. The cheapest in the US that's selling multiple ones is $268.
It's important to keep in mind that newer chips should generally perform better than older ones; otherwise, their value diminishes. The 11th generation CPU (Tiger Lake) was released this year (March 2021), while the Ryzen 3000 desktop CPUs have been available since July 7, 2019. Making such comparisons is similar to pitting Intel Pentium 4 against Intel Pentium 3. Also, keep in mind that due to the time span, the Intel Tiger Lake processor struggles to match the sales numbers of AMD Ryzen 3000 chips (which could be in the tens of millions). Amazon considers the total units sold and the period over which they were sold when ranking products. This is why the Ryzen 3000 series remains Amazon's Best Seller. Intel is working to match the speed of the Ryzen 5000 series, which is significantly faster. In terms of price, because of the global pandemic and NVIDIA controlling much of TSMC (they also dominated the RTX 3000 GPU), AMD chip shortages have become extremely rare and highly sought after, making the Ryzen 3000 series especially valuable. Despite being older, the Ryzen 3000 CPU remains powerful, efficient, and cooler than the Intel Tiger Lake CPU. A notable advantage is that users with 400-series chipsets like X470 and B450 can upgrade to the Ryzen 3000 series with a BIOS update, and many manufacturers support the latest Ryzen 5000 CPUs. However, for the 11th Gen Intel Tiger Lake CPU, you’d need a 500-series motherboard or a 400-series board with a BIOS upgrade. This means choosing an Intel path often requires replacing both the CPU and motherboard, which can be costly—especially if you’re investing in high-end boards like the Z390 (9900K) or upgrading to Z590/11900K. The expense adds up quickly. On the other hand, AMD allows more flexibility, letting users upgrade at their own pace before new AM5 processors and motherboards are released. So technically, Intel’s Tiger Lake is competitive, but it may appeal more to those planning a fresh build. For people who already own a system, they’re usually focused on upgrades rather than starting anew. Changing both the board and CPU isn’t the best option for most users.