The AMD Ryzen 5 5800X — launched on November 5, 2020 — recently hit the top spot in Amazon UK’s list of best-selling CPUs. The refreshed 5800XT, which arrived in July last year, is likewise in the top ten most popular processors in Amazon US, with the chip sitting in fourth place.
This is unusual, given that these use the five-year-old Zen 3 architecture and the nearly decade-old AM4 platform. The age of these chips means that they’re often picked by PC builders sticking to a budget and are commonly eschewed by mainstream and high-end enthusiasts for more modern Zen 4 and Zen 5 options.
However, the ongoing memory crisis has enthusiasts flocking to older DDR4 modules as prices have surged to record highs. It has gotten to the point that 64GB DDR5 memory kits now cost more than an entire PlayStation 5 console, even with discounts. Analysts and industry experts are saying that there is no relief in sight in 2026, with prices expected to climb through the first quarter of next year.
That's why demand for decent gaming processors that use older DDR4 RAM has skyrocketed, with AMD’s first X3D chip, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, now costing more than new 9800X3D processors in the secondhand market.
Unfortunately, the 5800X3D is no longer in production, so gamers who want a new processor without paying for the DDR5 premium must settle for the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X or 5800XT. In our review of the 5800X, the chip delivered excellent gaming performance while balancing single-threaded and multi-threaded capabilities. However, it had a high launch price of $450 while offering almost the same numbers as the more affordable Ryzen 5 5600X.
Thankfully, the price of the 5800X has fallen since then, with the Amazon UK listing it for £184.19 or around US$250. On the other hand, the newer AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT is much more affordable in the U.S., as you can get it for just US $199 as per this Amazon US listing. By comparison, the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is also listed for $198.49 in Amazon US at the time of writing. While the 9600X will certainly beat the 5800X and XT in almost all metrics, the fact that the former uses more expensive DDR5 RAM is likely the main reason why many budget and mainstream PC builders are opting for the older processor that uses more affordable memory kits.
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