No cheap Ryzens?

[HangTime]

Was contemplating upgrading an old PC to a cheap (as in A320 cheap) setup, but they don't actually seem to have any budget parts? I mean even the ancient and slow Ryzen 3 1300 is £90. It feels like you have to spend a lot so I'd be better off getting a 5000 series for main rig and then relegate old CPU or something.

Is this just the way things are these days and you have to scour the second hand market to get something for cheap atm?

 

[HangTime]

Ryzen 5000 series has never been meant to be cheap. There are so many facts supporting this claim.
Do you remember the pre-launch speculations when everyone expected Ryzen 7 to be 12-core, Ryzen 5 to be 8-core, etc...

Nothing materialised, actually the worst happened - AMD increased the pricing and made the Ryzen 7 5800X a terrible underperforming 8-core with heavy factory overclock up to 105 watts.
Which increased the maintenance requirements over the users further.

That's fine but I'm talking Ryzens in general, I doubt most A320 boards have a BIOS update to support 5000 series / VRMS too weak etc anyway. I want a cheap Ryzen of any generation.

Basically the issue I'm facing is, AM4 boards are really cheap, but the CPUs aren't. There's loads of them all bunched up in the £1xx bracket, which made me thing there's not much point getting anything except a 3600 or whatever, but then I thought if I'm going to spend that much, I may as well spend a bit more on a 5000 series to replace my 2700x and then put the 2700x in the cheap system.

You're probably aware but just in case. The only Ryzen CPUs with an integrated GPU are the APUs (have a G after the numerous like 3400G).

So if building an A320 system you'll need a GPU unless you pick up an APU.

Yeah I've got a GPU, although if the price is right I'd probably get an APU to reduce power/heat etc.

 

[HangTime]

Having ordered one of these 3600 - A bare CPU in an antistatic bag, in a small padded box

So no cooler then, that's a bummer.
Looking at Ryzen prices, they really haven't shifted at all, I paid £141.70 for my 2700X over 18 months ago.
Starting to get tempted by going the intel route (10600 or whatever) if I can find a cheap board. This 'cheap' upgrade seems to be ending up as a midrange upgrade, so I'll probably bin the idea.

 

[HangTime]

1600AF were like £90 when launched which was OK but don't seem to have dropped in price and availability pretty limited now. This is kind of what I'm getting at, I knew you could get a 1600AF for under a ton like 18 months ago but now when I go to look thinking OK maybe I'll find a 2600 at that price or something, but anything semi-decent is priced into treble figures.

What's interesting is that unlike the GPU market, mid-high end CPUs are still in stock at normal prices, so it's just the bottom end of the market that seems to have concertinaed, as you say maybe it's all swallowed up by OEMs but the interesting part is it hasn't really driven up the rest of the market that much. Which is why there is this chaotic £1xx market with all these different chips in, it makes you wonder who is actually buying the weaker cpus when superior ones barely cost any more money. I've seen 3700X under £200, these weaker chips aren't making a lot of sense by comparison.

 

[HangTime]

That isn't true. My 3600X was around £225 when I bought it and I sold it for around £125.

The 3600X second hand is an absolute steal and can be found on the popular second hand marketplaces.

Not sure what you mean by "isn't true", breaking down what I said:

• It doesn't have a cooler
• Ryzen prices look similar to 18 months ago [to be clear when I said haven't shifted at all, I'm comparing to then when I bought my last Ryzen. The 3600X was around £160 then iirc]
• I paid £141.70 for my 2700X
• I have been tempted by Intel

I just had a look at the 3600X on a famous auction site, scrolling down and down every single one I've come across (that isn't "parts only") has sold for well over £100.
The point of this thread was about the lack of cheap Ryzens, I've said a couple of times there are loads bunched up in the £1xx range, and this 3600X example just reinforces that. The point is you can't get something weaker for much cheaper, there is no decent option at £80 or whatever.

So what this leaves me with is an option of paying say £140 on a 3600X b-grade, which kind of defeats the point of the budget upgrade, or buying a 5900X and then relegating my 2700X to the budget rig.

 

[HangTime]

If ryzen had made a 4 core 8 thread CPU 2-4 years ago that would meet your price point.

They did, the Ryzen 1400 is 4c8t, but it still costs ~£100, which makes no sense to a consumer when a 3600 is £140. There's also the 2500X, but you don't seem to be able to buy them any more for a sensible price.