AMD unleashes Ryzen 9000 series desktop CPUs to upgrade your battlestation, now available from $279

Update: AMD’s new Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X are now live on Amazon as well, starting at $279.

AMD has officially launched its hotly anticipated Ryzen 9000 series desktop processors, and they’ve started to hit the shelves today. The timing here, I’d say, is great considering how many of Intel’s 13th and 14th gen processors are struggling with stability issues right now. The new Ryzen 9000 series includes four new desktop processors — the 16-core Ryzen 9 9950X, the 12-core Ryzen 9 9900X, the 8-core Ryzen 7 9700X, and lastly the 6-core Ryzen 5 9600X. Out of the four, only the octa-core Ryzen 7 9700X and the hexa-core Ryzen 5 9600X are hitting the shelves today, with the other two scheduled to arrive next week on August 15. Head below for more details on the pricing, availability, and compatibility details.

AMD Ryzen 9000 Series processors are now available

These new chips are based on the Zen 5 architecture, and AMD is promising around a 16% instructions per cycle (IPC) gain over the previous-gen Ryzen CPUs. Despite the promised gains in both productivity and gaming tasks, the new 9000 series chips are slightly lower than the Ryzen 7000 launch prices. The Ryzen 5 9600X marks the cheapest entry to the series at $279, whereas the slightly more powerful Ryzen 7 9700X will cost you $359. The Ryzen 9 9900X and 9950X will be available next week for $499 and $649, respectively.

Here’s what the entire lineup looks like so far:

• AMD Ryzen 5 9600X $279
• AMD Ryzen 7 9700X $359
• AMD Ryzen 9 9900X $499 (from Aug 15)
• AMD Ryzen 9 9950X $649 (from Aug 15)

These new processors headlined by the flagship Ryzen 9 9950X are all compatible with existing AM5 motherboards, meaning you don’t necessarily have to fork over for a brand new one just for the latest CPUs. You should be able to install these on your existing AM5 boards and they’ll run just fine after a quick BIOS update. Folks who are in the market for new motherboards, however, will have some new options that use AMD’s newly released X870 and X870E chipsets. These new motherboards will continue to roll out over time from various OEMs and they’ll get you all the essentials like USB 4.0 support, enhanced EXPO memory overclocking, and more.

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