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frontpage Posted by BeigeRoad455 • 3d ago
Apr 22, 2025 10:51 PM
Item 1 of 4
Item 1 of 4
frontpage Posted by BeigeRoad455 • 3d ago
Apr 22, 2025 10:51 PM
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X CPU + MSI X670E MAG Tomahawk Mobo + 32GB G.Skill DDR5-6000 RAM
& More + Free Store Pickup$600
$840
28% offMicro Center
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Both the 7700x and 9700x are 8-core 16-thread processors on the am5 platform. The 7700x is a last generation zen4 cpu, while the 9700x is current gen zen5. Zen5 was a fairly tame iterative upgrade over zen4 for most consumer use cases, though it makes significant improvements in avx-512 performance. Having 8 hyperthreaded cores is sufficient for basically all modern games, though over the next few years we'll probably start seeing games that will meaningfully take advantage of additional cores. Unless you already have a very powerful gpu, or plan to upgrade in the short term, paying the premium for an x3d cpu (the 7800x3d bundle with the same motherboard and ram is $100 more than the 9700x bundle) is likely unnecessary. Multithreaded performance is a weak point for single ccd (8-core or fewer) amd cpus, if your use cases include heavily multithreaded productivity workloads I recommend going for the 9900x or 9950x bundles instead. If gaming is your only concern and you have a high budget, go for the $500 7800x3d bundle.
The Gigabyte B650 Gaming X AX V2 specs page can be found here: https://www.gigabyte.co
The motherboard in this bundle is a lower midrange (leaning more towards midrange) full size atx b650 chipset am5 motherboard. This board has: the low (but not lowest) end b650 chipset (last gen, but b850 is functionally b650 with guaranteed gen5 m.2 support), a 8+2+2 (60A) vrm, three pcie x16 slots (1x gen4 x16 primary slot, 2x gen3 x1), three m.2 slots (1x gen5 x4, 2x gen 4 x4), 4 sata ports, Realtek® 2.5GbE LAN, wifi 6e + bluetooth 5.2 or 5.3 (depending on board revision either Realtek® Wi-Fi 6E RTL8852CE or AMD Wi-Fi 6E RZ616 (MT7922A22M)), an acceptable assortment of usb including usb-c 3.2 gen2, and bios flashback.
While it has many of the compromises you'd expect from cheaper boards (6 layer pcb, cheap realtek audio chip, no pcie gen 5 x16 slot, somewhat limited io, somewhat middling vrm, etc), it's overall fairly competent and should be more than sufficient for the vast majority of users. The lack of a pcie gen 5 x16 slot will be meaningless (excluding a few very niche applications) for awhile still. While not a great board for extreme overclocking (and a 16-core chip will likely strain it if overclocked), it's still more than good enough for a pure gaming rig. One of the primary advantage of building a computer on the am5 platform is that it should have an upgrade path. Amd has guaranteed platform support through 2027, and zen 6 (which is projected to be a major leap over zen5 based off of current leaks) should be compatible with the am5 platform.
As mentioned in my deal post, if your sole goal is getting on the am5 platform as cheaply as possible the $280 7600x bundle is viable, but the garbage motherboard with vrms so poor it cuts off your upgrade path and the single 16gb dimm stick of memory instead of 32gb make it a much poorer value considering the 7700x bundle is only $90 more expensive.
The 9900x bundle at $500 is an interesting middle ground, since for $100 more (than the 9700x bundle) you get a higher end x670e motherboard and 50% more cpu cores (12 rather than 8). The 9900x is a 12-core 24-thread current gen zen5 cpu. Compared to the 9700x, it has more cache per core, and is clocked moderately higher. It's worth noting the 9900x performs similarly in gaming to the 9700x, since cross ccd latency reduces gaming performance and therefore offsets most of the advantages (and if one ccd is parked for gaming, it's functionally a 6-core cpu), but for multithreaded workloads the 9900x utterly demolishes the 9700x.
The MSI X670E MAG Tomahawk WiFi specs page can be found here: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/M...cification
Compared to the gigabyte b650 board in the 7700x and 9700x bundles, the MSI X670E MAG Tomahawk WiFi motherboard in the 9900x bundle: has a much higher end chipset (x670e instead of b650), supports pcie gen5 on both a m.2 slot and the x16 slot, has superior vrms (14 (80a) phase vs 8 (60a) phase), has more pcie and m.2 slots, has a higher quality 8-layer pcb (vs 6-layer), has more higher speed usb ports, has a higher end integrated audio cip, etc. If you plan to upgrade to a 16 core or higher cpu in the future (zen 6 will have 12 core ccds, meaning the top end chip may be 24 core), this motherboard should handle it meaningfully better than the board in the cheaper bundles.
If the 9950x bundle remained $650 or higher, I would have generally recommended the 9900x bundle for most users with moderately intense multithreaded productivity workloads, however if your workloads would benefit from a dual ccd cpu in the first place, the 9950x bundle at $600 is probably a better value all around.
The 9950x bundles previous lowest price was $650, this deal is $50 cheaper. The 9950x alone went frontpage at $520 a month and a half ago. The only difference between the 9950x bundle and the 9900x bundle is the cpu, the mobo and ram are the same. The 9950x is a 16-core 32-thread current gen zen5 cpu, the second highest end mainstream consumer cpu currently offered by amd (only technically lower end than the much more expensive 9950x3d, which has slightly worse productivity performance but much better gaming performance). It's worth noting that in addition to having significantly better multithreaded performance compared to the 9900x (having 33% more cores), it also has somewhat better gaming performance. This is due to the fact that it not only has higher clock speeds, but it has two 8-core ccds (as opposed to two 6-core ccds) which reduces the impact of cross ccd latency (and means if you park one ccd for gaming it's functionally an 8-core cpu rather than 6-core). The top end chip also tends to hold it's value for resale significantly better, if you plan on selling your old cpu when you upgrade.
Overall, if you have the extra budget and regularly use your computer for extremely heavily multithreaded workloads, I'd say the 9950x bundle at $600 beats the 9900x bundle in value.
With regards to the ram included in these bundles, it's ddr5 6000 cl36 using samsung memory chips. This is rather disappointing, since compared to hynix memory the overclocking/tuning potential is substantially worse. That being said, if you'd just be leaving your ram timings at base expo settings anyways, the difference compared to even ddr5 6000 cl30 is quite minimal. Ddr5 6000 remains the mainstream sweetspot for zen5, since the memory controller hasn't been meaningfully improved from zen4. If you're willing to sell the ram, you recoup most of the cost of separately purchasing a higher end kit, 32gb ddr5 6000 cl30/cl32 can generally be found around $90 on sale (rarely $80).
I don't recommend "upgrading" to the 32gb corsair vengeance rgb kit unless you greatly prefer the aesthetics, you won't get any improvement in performance (in fact the primary timings are worse).
The 64gb kit you can "upgrade" to for $130 is dual rank ddr5 6000 cl30 using hynix memory, it'll have significantly better overclocking/tuning potential. That being said, with zen4/zen5, dual rank overclocking is more difficult than with single rank. If you need 64gb of ram anyways it might be worthwhile, but keep in mind there have been previously been sales of 64gb hynix kits for around $130, such as the $134 patriot venom 64gb ddr5 6400 cl32. You might theoretically get a better deal by selling the 32gb kit that comes with the base bundle and purchasing a higher end kit separately, but keep in mind prices have been volatile/rising.
All listed bundles, except for the 7600x bundle, should come with a free copy of Monster Hunter Wilds: https://www.microcenter
No mention of this is made on the bundle pages themselves, but if you scroll down on the cpu product pages the following information is provided:
"Get Monster Hunter Wilds™ when you buy select AMD Ryzen™ processors, AMD Radeon™ RX Series graphics cards or AMD configured systems.*
* Offer available through participating retailers only. 18+ only. Following purchase, product must be installed on system where coupon code will be redeemed. Void where prohibited. Residency and additional limitations apply. Full offer terms at www.amdrewards.
To Redeem your Game Key from AMDREWARDS.COM please follow the steps below:
Step 1: Go to www.amdrewards.
Step 2: Create an Account and Sign-in
Step 3: Enter your coupon code. Then follow the steps-by-step process to redeem your reward(s).
Step 4: Check the MY REWARDS page to view or activate your Game Keys.
*Offer available through participating retailers only. 18+ only. Following purchase, product must be installed on system where coupon code will be redeemed. Void where prohibited. Residency and additional limitations apply. Full offer terms at www.amdrewards.com/terms"
It's also worth keeping in mind that the pc component market is highly volatile currently, particularly with all the market uncertainty around tariffs. If you'll need to upgrade in the near future, it may be better not to wait.
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I had 9700x + giga b650 + 64gb for 500$. Built a complete PC with 1300W PSU & a MSRP RTX 5080 for total 2k after tax.
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Both the 7700x and 9700x are 8-core 16-thread processors on the am5 platform. The 7700x is a last generation zen4 cpu, while the 9700x is current gen zen5. Zen5 was a fairly tame iterative upgrade over zen4 for most consumer use cases, though it makes significant improvements in avx-512 performance. Having 8 hyperthreaded cores is sufficient for basically all modern games, though over the next few years we'll probably start seeing games that will meaningfully take advantage of additional cores. Unless you already have a very powerful gpu, or plan to upgrade in the short term, paying the premium for an x3d cpu (the 7800x3d bundle with the same motherboard and ram is $100 more than the 9700x bundle) is likely unnecessary. Multithreaded performance is a weak point for single ccd (8-core or fewer) amd cpus, if your use cases include heavily multithreaded productivity workloads I recommend going for the 9900x or 9950x bundles instead. If gaming is your only concern and you have a high budget, go for the $500 7800x3d bundle.
The Gigabyte B650 Gaming X AX V2 specs page can be found here: https://www.gigabyte.co
The motherboard in this bundle is a lower midrange (leaning more towards midrange) full size atx b650 chipset am5 motherboard. This board has: the low (but not lowest) end b650 chipset (last gen, but b850 is functionally b650 with guaranteed gen5 m.2 support), a 8+2+2 (60A) vrm, three pcie x16 slots (1x gen4 x16 primary slot, 2x gen3 x1), three m.2 slots (1x gen5 x4, 2x gen 4 x4), 4 sata ports, Realtek® 2.5GbE LAN, wifi 6e + bluetooth 5.2 or 5.3 (depending on board revision either Realtek® Wi-Fi 6E RTL8852CE or AMD Wi-Fi 6E RZ616 (MT7922A22M)), an acceptable assortment of usb including usb-c 3.2 gen2, and bios flashback.
While it has many of the compromises you'd expect from cheaper boards (6 layer pcb, cheap realtek audio chip, no pcie gen 5 x16 slot, somewhat limited io, somewhat middling vrm, etc), it's overall fairly competent and should be more than sufficient for the vast majority of users. The lack of a pcie gen 5 x16 slot will be meaningless (excluding a few very niche applications) for awhile still. While not a great board for extreme overclocking (and a 16-core chip will likely strain it if overclocked), it's still more than good enough for a pure gaming rig. One of the primary advantage of building a computer on the am5 platform is that it should have an upgrade path. Amd has guaranteed platform support through 2027, and zen 6 (which is projected to be a major leap over zen5 based off of current leaks) should be compatible with the am5 platform.
As mentioned in my deal post, if your sole goal is getting on the am5 platform as cheaply as possible the $280 7600x bundle is viable, but the garbage motherboard with vrms so poor it cuts off your upgrade path and the single 16gb dimm stick of memory instead of 32gb make it a much poorer value considering the 7700x bundle is only $90 more expensive.
The 9900x bundle at $500 is an interesting middle ground, since for $100 more (than the 9700x bundle) you get a higher end x670e motherboard and 50% more cpu cores (12 rather than 8). The 9900x is a 12-core 24-thread current gen zen5 cpu. Compared to the 9700x, it has more cache per core, and is clocked moderately higher. It's worth noting the 9900x performs similarly in gaming to the 9700x, since cross ccd latency reduces gaming performance and therefore offsets most of the advantages (and if one ccd is parked for gaming, it's functionally a 6-core cpu), but for multithreaded workloads the 9900x utterly demolishes the 9700x.
The MSI X670E MAG Tomahawk WiFi specs page can be found here: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/M...cification
Compared to the gigabyte b650 board in the 7700x and 9700x bundles, the MSI X670E MAG Tomahawk WiFi motherboard in the 9900x bundle: has a much higher end chipset (x670e instead of b650), supports pcie gen5 on both a m.2 slot and the x16 slot, has superior vrms (14 (80a) phase vs 8 (60a) phase), has more pcie and m.2 slots, has a higher quality 8-layer pcb (vs 6-layer), has more higher speed usb ports, has a higher end integrated audio cip, etc. If you plan to upgrade to a 16 core or higher cpu in the future (zen 6 will have 12 core ccds, meaning the top end chip may be 24 core), this motherboard should handle it meaningfully better than the board in the cheaper bundles.
If the 9950x bundle remained $650 or higher, I would have generally recommended the 9900x bundle for most users with moderately intense multithreaded productivity workloads, however if your workloads would benefit from a dual ccd cpu in the first place, the 9950x bundle at $600 is probably a better value all around.
The 9950x bundles previous lowest price was $650, this deal is $50 cheaper. The 9950x alone went frontpage at $520 a month and a half ago. The only difference between the 9950x bundle and the 9900x bundle is the cpu, the mobo and ram are the same. The 9950x is a 16-core 32-thread current gen zen5 cpu, the second highest end mainstream consumer cpu currently offered by amd (only technically lower end than the much more expensive 9950x3d, which has slightly worse productivity performance but much better gaming performance). It's worth noting that in addition to having significantly better multithreaded performance compared to the 9900x (having 33% more cores), it also has somewhat better gaming performance. This is due to the fact that it not only has higher clock speeds, but it has two 8-core ccds (as opposed to two 6-core ccds) which reduces the impact of cross ccd latency (and means if you park one ccd for gaming it's functionally an 8-core cpu rather than 6-core). The top end chip also tends to hold it's value for resale significantly better, if you plan on selling your old cpu when you upgrade.
Overall, if you have the extra budget and regularly use your computer for extremely heavily multithreaded workloads, I'd say the 9950x bundle at $600 beats the 9900x bundle in value.
With regards to the ram included in these bundles, it's ddr5 6000 cl36 using samsung memory chips. This is rather disappointing, since compared to hynix memory the overclocking/tuning potential is substantially worse. That being said, if you'd just be leaving your ram timings at base expo settings anyways, the difference compared to even ddr5 6000 cl30 is quite minimal. Ddr5 6000 remains the mainstream sweetspot for zen5, since the memory controller hasn't been meaningfully improved from zen4. If you're willing to sell the ram, you recoup most of the cost of separately purchasing a higher end kit, 32gb ddr5 6000 cl30/cl32 can generally be found around $90 on sale (rarely $80).
I don't recommend "upgrading" to the 32gb corsair vengeance rgb kit unless you greatly prefer the aesthetics, you won't get any improvement in performance (in fact the primary timings are worse).
The 64gb kit you can "upgrade" to for $130 is dual rank ddr5 6000 cl30 using hynix memory, it'll have significantly better overclocking/tuning potential. That being said, with zen4/zen5, dual rank overclocking is more difficult than with single rank. If you need 64gb of ram anyways it might be worthwhile, but keep in mind there have been previously been sales of 64gb hynix kits for around $130, such as the $134 patriot venom 64gb ddr5 6400 cl32. You might theoretically get a better deal by selling the 32gb kit that comes with the base bundle and purchasing a higher end kit separately, but keep in mind prices have been volatile/rising.
All listed bundles, except for the 7600x bundle, should come with a free copy of Monster Hunter Wilds: https://www.microcenter
No mention of this is made on the bundle pages themselves, but if you scroll down on the cpu product pages the following information is provided:
"Get Monster Hunter Wilds™ when you buy select AMD Ryzen™ processors, AMD Radeon™ RX Series graphics cards or AMD configured systems.*
* Offer available through participating retailers only. 18+ only. Following purchase, product must be installed on system where coupon code will be redeemed. Void where prohibited. Residency and additional limitations apply. Full offer terms at www.amdrewards.
To Redeem your Game Key from AMDREWARDS.COM please follow the steps below:
- Step 1: Go to www.amdrewards.
- Step 2: Create an Account and Sign-in
- Step 3: Enter your coupon code. Then follow the steps-by-step process to redeem your reward(s).
- Step 4: Check the MY REWARDS page to view or activate your Game Keys.
*Offer available through participating retailers only. 18+ only. Following purchase, product must be installed on system where coupon code will be redeemed. Void where prohibited. Residency and additional limitations apply. Full offer terms at www.amdrewards.com/terms"It's also worth keeping in mind that the pc component market is highly volatile currently, particularly with all the market uncertainty around tariffs. If you'll need to upgrade in the near future, it may be better not to wait.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
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The msi x670e motherboard in the 9900x bundle is also substantially superior compared to the asus motherboard in the 7800x3d bundle. If you plan to upgrade to a 16+ core cpu in the future, I would recommend going with the 9900x or 9950x bundle for the higher end motherboard.
If gaming is your primary concern and productivity is a distant second, the 7800x3d is meaningfully faster. That being said, unless you primarily play specific sim/citybuilder/rts games that are especially cpu taxing, or have a very high end gpu, you likely won't see a major difference with gaming on the 7800x3d compared to the 9700x/9900x/9950x.
If your primary use cases are extremely heavily multithreaded productivity workloads, it may be worthwhile to spend $600 for the 9950x bundle. Not only does it have substantially better productivity performance compared to the 9900x, but it also has somewhat better gaming performance (I go into more detail in my previous large post).
Alternatively, if you only occasionally do productivity work, and it's not heavily multithreaded, you might be better off saving the $100 and getting the $400 9700x bundle. The 9700x has moderately better productivity performance compared to the 7800x3d, and is just about tied with the 9900x in gaming. The gigabyte motherboard in the 9700x bundle is in a relatively similar tier to the asus mobo in the 7800x3d bundle (aka. still much worse than the msi board in the 9900x/9950x bundles, and not recommended for high end upgrades in the future).