
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X is such a hit it almost outsold Intel’s entire CPU range - Jerry2
https://www.techradar.com/news/amd-ryzen-7-3700x-is-such-a-hit-it-almost-outsold-intels-entire-cpu-range
======
theclaw
... Says a single German PC enthusiast retailer. Hardly representative. They
could have just run a big Ryzen ad campaign or something. The clickbait
headline suggests this is based on official numbers.

~~~
mamon
Aren't "PC enthusiasts" the whole customer base for those CPUs? Majority of
people that need a computer buy laptops, and gamers buy consoles.

~~~
auslander
> .. and gamers buy consoles.

Disagree, many if not most gamers build their PCs. On my forum, in every new
build thread, all advise Ryzen, no one advises Intel.

~~~
pdpi
Just be aware that echo chambers are nasty business. They can make you think
things are globally true when only a small minority acts that way

~~~
auslander
Roger. I usually do my own research when I buy stuff.

~~~
pdpi
Sorry, I wasn't clear — it's not about what the right purchase is, it's about
the perception that AMD is doing phenomenally in the marketplace.

The enthusiast market is clearly in a place where it favours AMD (I'm
personally likely getting myself a new build based on their CPUs in the coming
months), but this isn't necessarily representative of the CPU market as a
whole.

~~~
howard941
Intel follows IBM and Microsoft as the latest selection that one probably
can't get fired for picking. But your point is valid. Despite the Ryzen 5
3600X sitting under my desk for this weekend's new build, for $NEW_JOB I
picked out a Xeon laptop because it's a safer choice for a new job and Dell
will be there next year if it needs fixing.

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lobster45
I had an opportunity to decide on what cpu to use for our company’s system
refresh last October. We have about 300 laptops and 150 desktops. The only
restriction was it had to be a certain Dell latitude version or Dell Optiplex.
Dell did not offer any AMD CPU’s for those models at that time. I haven’t
checked since. We decided to go with intel core i7. This was a lost
opportunity as the Dell rep explained that in order to have the Amd chip, Dell
would need to change the motherboard and other items and those systems were
designed for Intel. I am disappointed but the corporate restriction on which
model to use had to do with the corporate images that were only compatible
with those models

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esistgut
Just upgraded from my old i5-4430 to the new 3700x. I'm very happy for the
performance upgrade but there are a couple issues. I had to install Ubuntu
using the netboot image because of the RDRAND bug affecting systemd. Systemd
has already been patched with a workaround but the old one is hardcoded in the
standard Ubuntu ISO. As usual the drivers for new hardware are lacking on
Linux, as far as I know temperatures and fan controls are off the table until
Linux 5.4.

~~~
nosianu
Depending on how quickly your mainboard manufacturer reacted there should be a
BIOS update for the RDRAND issue:
[https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=AMD-
Rele...](https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=AMD-Releases-
Linux-Zen2-Fix)

~~~
esistgut
This has been revoked because it was rushed and introduced other bugs.

------
isubasinghe
I needed to upgrade my i7-3770, the 3700x was too good of a deal. I saw a nice
decrease in build times, can't wait to test how it is for gaming but I havent
upgraded my GPU yet. Im still waiting for the AIB RX 5700's, Nvidia pricing is
ridiculous in Aus

~~~
floatboth
How's the local used market? Used Vega has been an incredible deal at least as
of like half a year ago..

~~~
isubasinghe
Price of vega is quite cheap atm, likely due to the new navi cards, but not
cheap enough to make it the better buy in terms of performance per dollar

------
trulyrandom
The 3900X is also a big hit. It's such a big hit, that stores in Europe have
not had any in stock since launch.

~~~
tinco
I bought three of them last week, the store seemed confident in a week and a
half lead time. So I guess somewhere next week AMD will deliver a new batch to
retailers.

~~~
Macha
What store? I ordered from komplett on July 20th, they seemed pretty confident
they were getting more (of which 3 were unsold) on Monday.

On Wednesday they said they didn't get any, my order is on hold until they
arrive. On Friday they said they don't know if they'll get any in August

~~~
tinco
We put the order in on wednesday, at Azerty.nl. I double checked their
delivery and they reaffirmed it was 1.5 weeks, the only hold up was the ram,
we need the DC stuff to outfit each machine with 128GB ram.

------
lota-putty
I suppose, 65W TDP was the USP of Ryzen 7 3700X together with performance for
the price-tag.

My last desktop's MB(D865GBF) got screwed 10 yrs back. Since Ryzen 7 3700X
happened, I've developed an itch in my mind to assemble a gaming Desktop.

Detailed analysis: [https://www.anandtech.com/print/14605/the-and-
ryzen-3700x-39...](https://www.anandtech.com/print/14605/the-and-
ryzen-3700x-3900x-review-raising-the-bar)

------
tus88
Is anyone else holding on to their years old PC waiting for ddr5 to come out
before upgrading?

~~~
AnthonyMouse
Depends what you're doing with it. Newer memory is usually very expensive when
it first comes out, to the point that you can often get better performance by
spending the same money on a system with the older memory and higher end other
components. It's only really worth waiting if your workload is sufficiently
memory bound (and most of them aren't).

And, of course, if you're the sort who values performance over money then you
buy a new one now _and_ when the new memory comes out.

~~~
tus88
I suppose I could also argue if you value money over performance you would not
upgrade at all. That's me right now.

I guess I am one of those people who absolutely hates the idea of swapping out
the ram, motherboard and cpu just for a mid life upgrade. I would actually
rather pay more to jump in at the beginning of a new era knowing I will be
able to upgrade to a new cpu in 3 years time without upgrading everything else
at the same time.

~~~
AnthonyMouse
If you want the mid life upgrade you can always build for it on purpose. A
second gen Ryzen 5 is presumably a noticeable improvement over whatever DDR3
quad core it would be replacing, but then you get to upgrade it to a third or
fourth gen Ryzen 9 later when the price comes down.

That's one of the cheapest ways to stay semi-current, e.g. a Ryzen 5 2600 is
$135 today on Newegg, add motherboard and 16GB memory and it's a little over
$250. Then another $250 in three years for the Ryzen 9 from today, and the
DDR5 version of the Ryzen 5 system three years after that. Much cheaper than
buying the new thing the day it comes out (but also never as fast).

------
wiradikusuma
I built my new PC with AMD (Ryzen 5), so far happy with the price/performance,
but for some reason I can't make any Android emulator (x86) to run.

------
kreetx
Can anyone knowledgeable comment on the performance? Are the recent AMD CPUs
generally better for their price than Intel ones, and are there any downsides?
My personal context is compiling programs, but I do get that gamers is the
other big market. And I guess this is mostly a choice for desktops, since
laptops have a pre-made choice of CPU.

~~~
chx
> Are the recent AMD CPUs generally better for their price than Intel ones,
> and are there any downsides? My personal context is compiling programs,

Oh boy, are you in for a nice surprise.
[https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=ryzen-37...](https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=ryzen-3700x-3900x-linux&num=7)
the Ryzen 7 3700X (323 USD) stands its ground against the i9 9900K (485 USD).
The top end is not even funny, there is no consumer Intel CPU that can stand
against the Ryzen 9 3900X (499 USD), the LGA 2066 workstation chips that can
are double, triple the price. Or, to put it another way: at the same price the
3900X vs 9900k it is 32% faster when compiling the kernel. Passmark
[https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/AMD-Ryzen-9-3900X-vs-
In...](https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/AMD-Ryzen-9-3900X-vs-Intel-
Core-i9-9900K/3493vs3334) shows no less than _fifty percent_. Right now the
3900X is in such a short supply it sells for 700-ish on eBay. This will
resolve in a few months -- there's a 3950X scheduled for September with 16
cores instead of 12 cores, slightly lower base clock (3.8 vs 3.5) but slightly
_higher_ turbo clock (4.7 vs 4.6) tightening the screw on Intel. Of course,
it'll have a "halo" price at 750 USD but will compete, again, with Intel
workstation chips double the price (and much higher TDP as well). Intel is in
deep... and they have nothing to counter with, Comet Lake-S is only scheduled
for next year, this roadmap was posted just a few weeks ago:
[https://www.techpowerup.com/img/Gouh8r91rj9vR7FV.jpg](https://www.techpowerup.com/img/Gouh8r91rj9vR7FV.jpg)
and these are just words, there is no guarantee whatsoever they will be able
to ship 10nm in mass market quantity _ever_.

Ps. Intel's workstation (HEDT) strategy is a mess anyways --
[https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Intel-i9-9900K-vs-
Intel...](https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Intel-i9-9900K-vs-
Intel-i9-9820X-vs-Intel-i9-9900X/3334vs3369vs3376) they essentially have
nothing to offer between 485 USD and 950 USD which of course right now hits
them with a vengeance because they can't just take a 700 USD CPU, bring it
down in price a bit and make it into a 3900X competitor. The LGA 2066 platform
was nothing but a mess ever since launched, watch this video from 2017
highlighting the problems with LGA 2066:
[https://youtu.be/TWFzWRoVNnE](https://youtu.be/TWFzWRoVNnE)

~~~
kreetx
Thanks - and wow! I had heard that they are good, but not this good. Since
price per performance is pretty much what I always look at then AMD looks like
a clear winner.

Some time ago I had just had a discussion on CPU choice with a friend and I
think he went with Intel (citing something vague about "less problems"), and
unfortunately I didn't look anything up then. It is sad in how little the
general public knows about what is the best choice at any given moment and how
long it takes for this knowledge to spread.

~~~
belltaco
The only downside is that Intel CPUs are better for gaming, especially if you
pair with a high end GPU and high refresh rate monitors

~~~
hencoappel
Only slightly, like 5% between the 3900x and 9900k. And if you're not gaming
with a 2080ti you're likely to not even notice the difference between a
similarly priced Intel/AMD chips. If you do anything else other than gaming
though the Ryzen chips blow Intel out of the water.

------
toast0
Certainly this is a great CPU, but there's also a question of pent up demand.
Those in the market for a CPU without a clear deadline earlier this year would
have decided to either buy an Intel CPU then, buy an AMD CPU then, or postpone
the purchase until July when the new AMD chips were coming out.

~~~
AnthonyMouse
They're using numbers from one retailer. I imagine the chip really is selling
well overall compared to past numbers, but there is a high risk this isn't a
representative sample, especially the part about one model outselling all of
Intel.

~~~
blihp
It's pretty much guaranteed it's not a representative sample of the total PC
market but rather just the DIY/builder segment. The largest PC manufacturers
(i.e. Lenovo, HP etc.) who ship the lion's share of the volume are slow to
transition and they've only recently started adding AMD back as an option to
their product lines, let alone really trying to move AMD boxes in volume.

------
cturner
I have found the situation with ECC ram to be confusing. Some motherboard
options seem to accept the RAM, without getting the benefit of the checksum.
Does anyone know which of the motherboard options give the full benefit of
ECC?

~~~
lhl
Most motherboards should have support, but you can double-check the memory QVL
for each board to see for ECC UDIMMs to use. ECC support should be based on
the AMD IMC (on chip) and AGESA and should work with all Zen CPUs except for
the consumer APUs.

Here's the output from a Ryzen 7 1700 and an Asrock B350 board:

    
    
      lhl@z ~> journalctl -b | grep EDAC
      Jul 28 18:53:49 z kernel: EDAC MC: Ver: 3.0.0
      Jul 28 18:53:50 z kernel: EDAC amd64: Node 0: DRAM ECC enabled.
      Jul 28 18:53:50 z kernel: EDAC amd64: F17h detected (node 0).
      Jul 28 18:53:50 z kernel: EDAC MC: UMC0 chip selects:
      Jul 28 18:53:50 z kernel: EDAC amd64: MC: 0:  8192MB 1:     0MB
      Jul 28 18:53:50 z kernel: EDAC amd64: MC: 2:     0MB 3:     0MB
      Jul 28 18:53:50 z kernel: EDAC amd64: MC: 4:     0MB 5:     0MB
      Jul 28 18:53:50 z kernel: EDAC amd64: MC: 6:     0MB 7:     0MB
      Jul 28 18:53:50 z kernel: EDAC MC: UMC1 chip selects:
      Jul 28 18:53:50 z kernel: EDAC amd64: MC: 0:  8192MB 1:     0MB
      Jul 28 18:53:50 z kernel: EDAC amd64: MC: 2:     0MB 3:     0MB
      Jul 28 18:53:50 z kernel: EDAC amd64: MC: 4:     0MB 5:     0MB
      Jul 28 18:53:50 z kernel: EDAC amd64: MC: 6:     0MB 7:     0MB
      Jul 28 18:53:50 z kernel: EDAC amd64: using x8 syndromes.
      Jul 28 18:53:50 z kernel: EDAC amd64: MCT channel count: 2
      Jul 28 18:53:50 z kernel: EDAC MC0: Giving out device to module amd64_edac controller F17h: DEV 0000:00:18.3 (INTERRUPT)
      Jul 28 18:53:50 z kernel: EDAC PCI0: Giving out device to module amd64_edac controller EDAC PCI controller: DEV 0000:00:18.0 (POLLED)
      Jul 28 18:53:50 z kernel: AMD64 EDAC driver v3.5.0
      Jul 28 18:53:57 z systemd[1]: Starting Initialize EDAC v3.0.0 Drivers For Machine Hardware...
      Jul 28 18:53:57 z systemd[1]: Started Initialize EDAC v3.0.0 Drivers For Machine Hardware.
      lhl@z ~> edac-ctl --status
      edac-ctl: drivers are loaded.
      lhl@z ~> edac-ctl --mainboard
      edac-ctl: mainboard: ASRock AB350 Gaming-ITX/ac
      lhl@z ~> edac-util -v
      mc0: 0 Uncorrected Errors with no DIMM info
      mc0: 0 Corrected Errors with no DIMM info
      mc0: csrow0: 0 Uncorrected Errors
      mc0: csrow0: mc#0csrow#0channel#0: 0 Corrected Errors
      mc0: csrow0: mc#0csrow#0channel#1: 0 Corrected Errors
      edac-util: No errors to report.

------
mevile
AMD had poor forcasts and a poor showing though at their last earnings
release.

~~~
rowanG077
Not sure how that is relevant to this discussion. That earnings release was
before the current CPU lineup was released.

~~~
mevile
The lower forecast makes it relevant. Are they going to blow away their
forecast given the response to the new lineup? They weren't able to predict
demand? Or did they anticipate, and these increased sales aren't going to move
the needle and their forecast was correct?

~~~
rowanG077
forecast are just that forecasts. They are irrelevant once real data has come
out.

------
CriticalCathed
hard to find a better value than the 3600/3700\. and it's certainly going to
improve a few percentage points as the drivers/bios mature.

------
londons_explore
By building with TSMC, AMD can ramp up production quicker than they could in
their own fabs (since their orders are a smaller percentage of available
capacity)

~~~
floatboth
They haven't had own fabs for like a decade.

~~~
londons_explore
But their competitor intel does.

Intel regularly has delays due to limited fab scaling ability.

------
webninja
Apparently the option’s market is betting that AMD’s stock will be roughly $31
in 1 year. Last time I checked it was about $30 which is hardly a gain.

------
oceanghost
May I ask a question? Looking to build a machine for 4k video editing, music
production, and light ML. Where do I want to be right now?

~~~
narohi
Threadripper.

------
Animats
What's going on with this part server-side?

~~~
darkwater
Well AWS has got now lots of "a" suffixed instance types, which didn't exists
a year ago. And they are cheaper.

~~~
snvzz
>cheaper

While also faster than the non-a variants.

