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Updated at 14:40, 02/06, to reflect that it was online retailer Newegg who made reduced the prices, not AMD itself.
Earlier this week at Computex, AMD teased its Threadripper processors to take on Intel’s just-announced Core X-Series. Now US retailer Newegg has taken steps to undercut the impact of both the X-Series’ Core i7-7740X and i5-7640X along with the pre-existing Core i7-7700K by slashing the prices of AMD’s flagship processors. It’s worth noting that this isn’t a decision made by AMD, but rather led by the retailer.
As spotted by Tech Power Up (via Overclock.net user davcc22), Newegg has followed up last month’s price cut on the Ryzen 7 1800X from its $499 launch price to $469 with a cut to the cost of the Ryzen 7 1700 and Ryzen 7 1700X. Initially retailing at $399, the Ryzen 7 1700X is now priced at $349 in the online store, with the Ryzen 7 1700 down to $319 from $329.
While these may appear to be only minor cuts, the price reductions show an awareness from the retailer that competition is growing in the market, and that it needs to do more in order to gain market share from Intel.
It is also likely that the price cut isn’t just in anticipation of Intel’s new line, but also an indication that the 16-core Threadripper’s release may come sooner than we anticipate.
Threadripper has 16-cores, less than the X-series’ i9 which has 18. However, the new AMD chip will have an impressive 64 lanes of PCIe Gen 3.0, considerably more than the previously rumoured 44 PCIe lanes. By contrast, the new Core i9 only has 44 in its higher-end chips, with the Ryzen 7 and Core i7-7700K sitting at 16 lanes of PCIe.
Things are heating up in the world of high-end processors. With Intel and AMD evidently jockeying for pole position it can only spell out good news for consumers, system builders and retailers.
