AMD And Intel CPUs Are Up To 50 Percent Off With These Sweet Amazon Prime Day Deals
Amazon's Prime Day deals bonanza is back for the second time this year, and with it comes a whole bunch of bargains, including deals on a wide range of processors from AMD and Intel. Whether you're looking to assemble an Alder Lake system or build a PC around a spunky Zen 3 processor, you can score a CPU for well under its MSRP.
Granted, AMD is now pushing its Ryzen 7000 series (Zen 4) CPUs and Intel's 13th Gen Core Raptor Lake processors will be on store shelves later this month. If you want the latest and greatest, then obviously those are the way to go.
That said, there's nothing at all wrong with building a PC around Alder Lake or Zen 3 (just be aware that your upgrade path is limited). The bang-for-buck proposition is pretty high on some SKUs with both normal markdowns and Amazon's Prime Day discounts in play.
Save Big On Intel's 12th Gen Core Alder Lake CPUs
Let's start with Intel's CPUs...
- Core i9-12900KS: $645 (save $250)
- Core i9-12900K: $499.99 (save $207.51)
- Core i9-12900KF: $493.99 (save $182.26)
- Core i7-12700K: $369.99 (save $125.26)
- Core i5-12600K: $277.99 (save $64.51)
- Core i5-12500: $202.98 (save $45.77)
- Core i5-12400: $193.95 (save $43.55)
- Core i3-12100: $139.99 (save $15.01)
One thing to keep in mind with Alder Lake is that you can choose between a DDR4 or DDR5 platform. The latter offers more performance in some instances, though not necessarily in line with the price difference. It's also worth noting that some Z690 motherboards already have BIOS updates available to support Raptor Lake, so there's a bit of an upgrade path.
AMD Ryzen 5000 Series CPUs Are On Sale For Prime Day
Building around an AMD Ryzen 5000 series CPU doesn't afford users an upgrade path to the Ryzen 7000 series (AMD introduced a new AM5 socket with Zen 4). However, if you typically sit on the same platform for several years before upgrading both the CPU and motherboard in one fell swoop, then now is a good time to strike. Here's a look at what's on sale in the AMD camp...
- Ryzen 9 5950X: $549 (save $250)
- Ryzen 9 5900X: $334.99 (save $235)
- Ryzen 7 5800X: $259 (save $190)
- Ryzen 7 5700X: $223.50 (save $75.50)
- Ryzen 5 5600X: $164.99 (save $144.01)
- Ryzen 7 5700G (APU): $210.86 (save $148.14)
- Ryzen 5 5600G (APU): $129.99 (save $129.99)
The two APUs stand out as particularly intriguing, in that you could build a comparatively budget PC for low-end gaming. As for the rest, here are prices compare to the Ryzen 7000 series...
You definitely get more performance out of Zen 4 (see our Ryzen 9 7950X and 7900X review), and that's something to consider. On the flip side, each model tier costs significantly more, plus there's the price disparity of DDR5 over DDR4.
Anyway, you have lots of options if you're looking to build or upgrade your PC. And of course Amazon's Prime Day event extends beyond CPUs. Be sure to check HotHardware often as we'll be highlighting some of the better deals this week.
