Thursday, June 1st 2017
AMD Trims Prices of the Ryzen 7 1700 and 1700X
AMD recently cut the price of its current flagship desktop processor Ryzen 7 1800X from its USD $499 launch price to $469. At the time, it left prices of the Ryzen 7 1700 and Ryzen 7 1700X untouched. It looks like the two received small price-cuts as well. The Ryzen 7 1700X is now priced at $349 in leading online stores, down from its launch price of $399. The Ryzen 7 1700 (non-X), on the other hand, is now selling for $319, down from its launch price of $329. The two cuts may seem minor, but could help AMD turn up the heat against Intel's Core i7-7700K and its upcoming "Kaby Lake-X" Core i7-7740X and i5-7640X.
Based on the 14 nm "Summit Ridge" silicon, the Ryzen 7 1700 and 1700X are eight-core processors. The 1700 ships with clock speeds of 3.00 GHz, with 3.70 GHz boost, while the 1700X ships with higher 3.40 GHz clocks, with 3.80 GHz boost, and XFR, which adds a further 200 MHz to the boost clock. The Ryzen 7 1700 includes an AMD Wraith Spire RGB cooling solution, while the 1700X lacks a stock cooling solution.
Update 03/06: AMD reached out to us and commented that this is not an official price-change. It could be implemented by local retailers or distributors.
Based on the 14 nm "Summit Ridge" silicon, the Ryzen 7 1700 and 1700X are eight-core processors. The 1700 ships with clock speeds of 3.00 GHz, with 3.70 GHz boost, while the 1700X ships with higher 3.40 GHz clocks, with 3.80 GHz boost, and XFR, which adds a further 200 MHz to the boost clock. The Ryzen 7 1700 includes an AMD Wraith Spire RGB cooling solution, while the 1700X lacks a stock cooling solution.
37 Comments on AMD Trims Prices of the Ryzen 7 1700 and 1700X
I just checked now for the sake of the argument the last 3 games bechmarked by the the guys at techspot as they do also cpu tests and the results are:
- For Honor - 113 fps average
- Battlefield 1 - 102 fps in dx12, 83 in dx11
- Titanfall 2 - 122 fps
www.techspot.com/features/gaming-benchmarks/
That's more than decent, so perception and brand sells, not pure performance. Its easier when you go to work and say ... yeah ... i bought that new i7 ... instead of justifying to colleagues what is Amd and why did you buy that one, when everybody is saying it is a bad cpu ...
BTW 4 core parts sell because they are cheaper, not because people wouldn't want more cores and I really think 2 cores should be only for the ultra low power devices. In 2017 there should not be any desktop with 2 cores.
Interesting that for chips that DIDN'T sell they sold enough to turn a profit and couldn't keep up with manufacturing during the first year. Now you can read the reports yourself and see that shipments decreased in 2012 and 2013, but that does not mean they sold zero units. They were still selling units at expected rates while also having to maintain contractual orders with GF that exceeded shipments, which meant a net loss due to inventory and ordering costs.
Either that or Intel's hold and pedestal presence in buyer's minds is so great that even Ryzen is facing somewhat low sales. And that has nothing to do with the quality of the product, which is, as we know, excellent.
Based on AMD RyZen 7 release pricing:
RyZen 7 - 1700 (8 core) = $350
RyZen 7 - 1700X (8 core) = $399
RyZen 7 - 1800X (8 core) = $499
We see a simple pattern. $100 difference between adjacent processors designated with "X" suffix and a $50 difference between processors of the same number with / without the "X" suffix.
In order to predict (i.e speculate) AMD Threadripper pricing we can continue that pattern working our way up from the 1800X:
RyZen 9 - 1955 (10 core) = $550
RyZen 9 - 1955X (10 core) = $599
RyZen 9 - 1956 (12 core) = $650
RyZen 9 - 1956X (12 core) = $699
RyZen 9 - 1976X (14 core) = $799
RyZen 9 - 1977 (14 core) = $850
RyZen 9 - 1977x (14 core) = $899
RyZen 9 - 1998 (16 core) = $950
RyZen 9 - 1998X (16 core) = $999
We can then price adjust with the recent price drop. However, it might still be too early to say if AMD is done adjusting prices downward for the RyZen 7 line.
Part of AMD's problem though is that even though the RyZen 7 1800X launched with a very reasonable price with respect to its performance and competition (Core i7 6800K / Core i7 6850K) you have to consider the target audience. Most enthusiasts aren't enthused about the idea of spending ~$500+ on a processor. Those willing buy AMD processors understand that they can buy either the 1700 or 1700X for a lower price and still achieve about the same performance as the 1800X when OCed.
That makes the 1800X a poor choice for most enthusiasts. So its reasonable to assume that the 1800X isn't selling well among those who have more sense then money.
I'd speculate that the OC potential for AMD Threadripper will be no greater then RyZen 7. So clocks significantly over 4.3GHz on air are unlikely IMO and IPC will likely be no different as well.
People are really going to have to have a legitimate need for all those cores and threads for it to make sense to spend north of ~$500 USD (possibly starting at ~$550 / ~$600 USD) on a CPU alone.
Especially so if all they want to do is play games and they are well served by a ~$330 Intel Core i7 7700K with 4.2 base and 4.5 turbo boost (that can OC beyond default).
But this is something we already knew. The Intel HEDT line wasn't really intended for gaming and thus would have been an expensive choice. The same is likely true for Threadripper which would probably be better suited for server and workstations uses.
bensbargains.com/bargain/intel-core-i7-7700k-4-2ghz-quad-core-kaby-lake-cpu-543724/
An i7 7700K about 6 months ago was $400, then 2 months later (Feb/March) it went to $350, then found over and over for $300, what AMD is normal given the market disruptions. Intel has dumped price >25% in a two quarters, and folk have a have a problem with AMD chasing them...