If you’re in the market for a new CPU, this week’s Amazon Prime Day sale (July 16-17) offers a great opportunity to get a powerful processor for gaming and general productivity at a deeply discounted price device. In fact, Amazon has launched a series of impressive deals on AMD Ryzen and Intel Core CPUs. Most AMD deals are exclusive to Prime members, like all official Prime Day deals, but everyone can take advantage of the limited-time Intel deals.
Prime Day AMD and Intel CPU Deals
AMD Ryzen Processor
Intel Core Processor
On the Intel side, 12th and 13th generation processors are also included in the sale. The average price is around $100, but some high-end processors have even deeper discounts, such as the Intel Core i9-13900KF, which is $190 off, bringing the price down to just $440. In the CPU wars, AMD’s discounts are on average more substantial, with discounts of up to $270 on Ryzen 9 7000 series desktop processors.
For those unfamiliar with how Intel names its CPUs, all products on sale may look the same. However, there is an easy way to decode the product name, such as Intel Core i9-12900KF. For example, the “12” in 12900KF means this is a 12th generation processor. The 900 indicates the exact model you’re looking at, while the KF indicates that this is a high-performance CPU (K) that requires a discrete graphics card (F).
Simply put, models with “13” are newer than models with “12”. To learn more about Intel’s naming conventions, you can find a detailed overview on the company’s website. Intel processors also differentiate between “P-cores” and “E-cores,” which are shorthand for Performance and Efficiency Cores. Intel also uses i3, i5, i7 and i9 to name its processors. Generally speaking, the higher the number, the better the processor, at least compared to contemporaneous models.
Some great Intel sales beyond the 13900KF: Intel Core i7-12700K for $190 (originally $230), 12700KF for $176 (originally $245). You can upgrade to the 13th-generation version for $281 to get four more efficiency cores and four additional threads, as well as an increase in maximum clock speed.
Meanwhile, AMD Ryzen processors also use 3, 5, 7 and 9 as well as four-digit numbers to differentiate their processors. In our listings you’ll see a mix of 5000 series and 7000 series models. AMD began releasing its 8000 series CPUs earlier this year, but there aren’t many models currently available for purchase. The best value can be found on the 7000 and 5000 series – which, despite its name, are just one generation behind the 7000, as the 6000 series was only made as a mobile CPU.
The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D is one of the biggest discounts, selling for $469 (originally $699). “X” means that the AMD processor is designed for overclocking, while 3D means that the processor uses vertical cache stacking technology to increase L3 cache, which is good news for games. 7950X3D has 16 cores and 32 threads, with a maximum frequency of 5.7GHz. Meanwhile, the Ryzen 9 7900X3D is priced at $327 and has 12 cores and 24 threads with a maximum clock speed of 5.5GHz. According to CPU User Benchmarks, the performance difference is minimal, so if you’re interested in one or the other, you’ll have to decide whether the small increase in speed is worth the extra money.
For the 5000 series, the Ryzen 9 5900X is very affordable at $224 (originally $570). This unlocked desktop processor has 12 cores, 24 threads, and a maximum clock speed of 4.8GHz. It has been one of the best-selling AMD processors on Amazon.
If you need help comparing different options, the previously mentioned CPU User Benchmarks are a good resource for direct comparisons between processors.
