So they’re finally out: AMD’s answer to the latest generation of hardware from Intel and Nvidia. But how much will they cost?
If you’re in the market for a new GPU, you’ll be happiest with the news. Pricing on the Radeon 5700 and 5700 XT, the first 7nm GPUs on the Navi RDNA architecture, was adjusted just before the global embargo lifted on the weekend.
The move, undoubtedly influenced by Nvidia’s aggressive pricing on the RTX Super cards, saw the Radeon 5700 drop by $50 locally and the 5700 XT by almost $100. “AMD is focused on providing gamers with amazing experiences and access to the very best gaming technology at attractive price points,” the company said in a brief statement.
“As you have seen, competition is heating up in the GPU market. We embrace competition, which drives innovation to the benefit of gamers. In that spirit, we are updating the pricing of our Radeon RX 5700 Series graphics cards.”
Here’s how much the MSRP is locally for the Radeon 5700 line in Australia and New Zealand.
Radeon 5700 & Radeon 5700 XT: Australian and New Zealand Price
| AMD Radeon 5700 & 5700 XT GPUs | ||
|---|---|---|
| Country | 5700 | 5700XT |
| Australia MSRP | $549 | $629 |
| NZ MSRP | $609 | $699 |
New Zealanders have 15 percent tax on their cards, compared to the 10 percent GST for Aussies. Clarification: AMD has got in touch with Kotaku Australia to note that New Zealanders are paying almost the identical price to US customers after their 15 percent local tax is factored in.
But for Australians, the last minute pricing change at least makes the 5700 and 5700 XT a more interesting buy. The RTX 2060 Super was priced at $690, although depreciated models of the RTX 2060 are available from $479 from reputable retailers. The 5700, 5700 XT and RTX 2060 Super are all better cards than the baseline 2060, but at least Aussies have a lot of options in that mid-range market.
Where AMD has been most competitive in the past has been with their CPUs. The 3rd-gen Ryzen line is the most anticipated partially because AMD had already made up ground with Intel in the price-performance stakes, and it was their first generation chips that were genuinely disruptive in the market.
But before we get into pricing, here’s the full spec across the main chips that gamers will want to pay attention to.
| Ryzen 3000 Series Specs | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cores/Threads | Base/Boost | Cache | TDP | ||
| 3900X | 12/24 | 3.8GHz/4.6GHz | 70MB | 105W | |
| 3800X | 8/16 | 3.9GHz/4.5GHz | 36MB | 105W | |
| 3700X | 8/16 | 3.6GHz/4.4GHz | 36MB | 65W | |
| 3600X | 6/12 | 3.8GHz/4.4GHz | 35MB | 95W | |
| 3600 | 6/12 | 3.6GHz/4.4GHz | 35MB | 65W | |
So, what can you expect from the Ryzen 3000 line? Here’s how much they’ll cost in Australia and NZ.
Ryzen 3000 CPUs: Australian and New Zealand Price
| AMD 3rd Generation Ryzen Processors | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country | 3200G | 3400G | 3600 | 3600X | 3700X | 3800X | 3900X |
| Australia MSRP | $144 | $240 | $315 | $389 | $519 | $629 | $780 |
| NZ MSRP | $159 | $265 | $349 | $429 | $569 | $695 | $869 |
If you’re looking at the Ryzen line from a gaming perspective, the 3700X is probably as high in the stack as you’ll want to go (unless your gaming applications involve development as well as playing, in which case the extra cores would definitely come in handy).
It’s worth noting that just a few years ago AMD was selling a hexacore/12 thread CPU — the 1600X — for $359. You can pay $30 more today for the same chip in that line, and you’ll get the same amount of cores and threads, but with a much better base clock and boost clock that hits 4.4GHz (the original Ryzen line only hit 4.0GHz out of the box).
The 3900X doesn’t have an equivalent, since the 2700X was only a octacore/16 thread CPU. But given that the newer Ryzen 3700X is going for $519, which is only about $60-70 more than what most places are charging for the 2700X, I’d find it hard to justify picking up the older CPU here.
So that’s the pricing. I’ll have more to say on the GPU and CPUs soon: we’ve received both a Ryzen CPU and Radeon 5700 XT GPU from AMD, although some scheduling issues meant I simply haven’t been able to spend any time benching the new hardware. But competition is alive and well, and that’s a win for everyone.
Update 9/7/19: Clarification made regarding New Zealand pricing above.
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