Retailers look to be making room for AMD's upcoming second generation Ryzen processors.
It's no secret that AMD is getting ready to release a new generation of Ryzen processors with faster clockspeeds and performance optimizations. Those are expected to arrive around the middle of next month. In the meantime, AMD and several of its retail partners have cut the price of existing Ryzen processor, and the company's high-end desktop (HEDT) Threadripper family.
Ryzen has pretty much been on sale for the past several weeks, but according to AnandTech, AMD and select retailers have started a discount campaign that sees more widespread price reductions.
A couple of the prices above are slightly different than the ones listed on AnandTech, as they reflect what we found on Amazon at the time of this writing. You can also find the discounted pricing on Newegg, Micro Center, and Fry's in the US, along with Amazon UK and Amazon France selling select SKUs at reduced prices.
Bear in mind that prices may dip even further once AMD's second generation Ryzen processors arrive. The new chips are built on a 12-nanometer manufacturing process and based on AMD's Zen+ architecture (Pinnacle Ridge), as opposed to the 14nm process used for AMD's first generation Zen (Summit Ridge) parts. In 2019, AMD will release Zen 2 (Matisse) processors built on a 7nm manufacturing process.
The new chips will work in existing socket AM4 motherboards with a BIOS update. However, AMD is also launching a new chipset, X470, so expect to see a rash of new motherboards hit the marketplace soon as well.