AMD slashes chip prices ahead of Black Friday

AMD slashes chip prices ahead of Black Friday

If you're considering an upgrade as a present to yourself before the holidays roll around, then this coming weekend's blend of Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales will no doubt help you on your way. However, if you can't even wait until then, AMD has jumped the gun and has begun offering up its processors and graphics cards at heavily discounted rates.

At the time of writing, Ryzen CPUs can be picked up at a steal, right across the range. If you're looking towards the entry level/budget end of the spectrum, you can now find the Ryzen 3 1200 CPU with Wraith Stealth Cooler for as little as $110. It's joined by more impressive chips like the Ryzen 5 1600X, which is down from $235 to $200.

For the biggest savings though, you need to look towards the top end. You can pick up a Ryzen 7 1700X for $280, where just a few days ago it was $400. In comparison, the previously $500 CPU that is the Ryzen 7 1800X, can now be picked up for as little as $320. That's big savings considering the already competitive pricing of most of these processors.

Compared to Intel's new, rather pricey, Coffee Lake chips, which also require you to buy a Z370 motherboard which are all $140+, AMD's successful chip range looks more attractive than ever.

That goes doubly so for the absolute monsters that are AMD's Ryzen Threadripper chips. The king of the pile, the 1950X is currently available at $200 off, with a price tag of $800. Even the still-powerful Ryzen Threadripper 1900X, which beats almost anything else, is just $450 now.

Admittedly the red team is looking to release its 12nm "Pinnacle Ridge" refresh of Ryzen CPUs in early 2018, but that is only expected to bring a 10-15% performance and efficiency gain, rather than anything overly dramatic.