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Earlier this month, it was reported that AMD might drop a six-core, 12-thread V-Cache CPU for the AM4 platform dubbed the 5600X3D. It was an odd discovery, as AMD had seemingly moved on from its previous platform by launching the all-new AM5 socket nine months ago. However, it’s been confirmed that this is a real thing, and it will also be a Micro Center exclusive. The new CPU, the Ryzen 5 5600X3D, will sell for $229, $50 less than the 5800X3D—great news for AM4 holdouts and terrible news for those who don’t live near a Micro Center.
This is a first for the CPU industry because it involves launching a CPU for a platform that has been left in the dust. The newest V-Cache CPU will be sold as a “limited edition” CPU, according to PCMag. It’s like the little brother of the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, with a similar design and pricing. Though it has two fewer cores than the 5800X3D, it has the same 96MB total of L3 cache and 105W TDP. Also, its base and boost clocks are just 100MHz lower than its big brother’s, at 3.3GHz and 4.4GHz. Micro Center says the CPU will go on sale on July 7.
If you don’t live near any of these places, you can forget about buying the newest AM4 CPU.
Credit: Micro Center
Though AMD originally priced the 5800X3D at $449 when it launched in April of 2022, it’s since come down to $279 at Micro Center and other retailers. Though that price puts the older chip within reach for many folks, the 5600X3D version will be even tougher to ignore for those intent on riding the AM4 platform into the sunset. AMD had previously stated that it would still support its previous platform for years to come, but that just seemed like marketing bluster at the time. Now it seems it wasn’t bluffing, and maybe it will offer even more AM4 CPUs in the future.
Sadly, Micro Center is not a ubiquitous company, as its locations are spread out all around the country. For some people, such as your author, who lives in Washington State, it remains a fantasy world of affordable PC parts we can never visit. The company typically makes special deals on PC parts exclusive to their physical locations, based on what we’ve seen in the past.
This part of the deal between AMD and the retailer will rub some people the wrong way, but we will also have to wait for benchmarks to see how it compares with the 5800X3D. In our testing, we found the eight-core version to be a fantastic upgrade option for folks using older CPUs, so it seems logical the Ryzen 5 version will also be a worthy purchase.
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