The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is already sold out everywhere, and scalpers are cashing in on desperate gamers wanting to get their hands on the latest gaming CPU, with prices skyrocketing as high as $999. We spotted that the CPU was sold out at Newegg just five minutes after it had gone on sale, suggesting that supply is a long way from being able to meet demand.
You can understand why so many people want this new AMD chip right now. As we found in our recent 9800X3D review, this new CPU offers incredible performance in games, with us awarding it the coveted top spot on our best gaming CPU guide. Even at its MSRP of $479, though, we thought this eight-core CPU was a little overpriced, and it’s certainly overpriced at these current scalper prices.
A quick look at eBay shows several 9800X3D chips going for between $650 and $799, and some are going even higher. We spotted one listing for the new CPU going for $999, and that doesn’t seem to have turned off potential buyers – 16 people are watching it right now.
The stock situation looks as though it’s going to take a while to resolve as well. In the UK, PC component retailer Overclockers has given its customers a stock update in a Facebook comment, and it’s not good news. “Our first batch is currently at UK customs and has already sold out, expected mid-to-late week of November 11th,” says the comment, adding that the “the second batch is also fully reserved and expected the week of November 18th,” and the next delivery then isn’t set to arrive until December.
Meanwhile, UK retailer Scan has also sold out of all its launch stock, but says it’s “expecting large quantities to arrive over the coming weeks to fulfil orders,” adding that “pre orders will be allocated on a ‘first come first served’ basis.”
The situation appears to be similar around the world, with Best Buy, Newegg, and Amazon all reporting no stock of the CPU in the US, and Korean tech enthusiast harukaze5719 says the situation is similar over there, and that “98X3D orders have been canceled or shipment day has been delayed,” in a post on X (formerly Twitter). We’ve reached out to AMD for comment on the situation.
This circumstance has echoes of the GPU supply issues seen during the Covid pandemic, when there was also a cryptocurrency boom fueling demand for the latest graphics cards. During this time, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 was impossible to find at its MSRP throughout most of its lifespan, as were most other GPUs. This time, however, there’s no cryptocurrency boom or pandemic holding back supply, and we’re hoping that 9800X3D stock will improve over the next few months.
In case it needs saying, yes the Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a great gaming CPU, but it’s not worth over $700, and we advise waiting for prices to come down rather than handing your money to scalpers.
If you want to build a gaming PC right now, we suggest buying a cheaper CPU for the moment, and then selling it to fund an upgrade to the 9800X3D once the supply situation settles down a bit – there’s a great Ryzen 5 9600X deal right now at Newegg, and while the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is currently expensive at $476 on Amazon, it’s still a much better buy than a 9800X3D at scalper prices.