The Ryzen 9 5900X, one of AMD's BEST AM4 CPUs, is STILL 50% off — but only for another few hours

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By Brendan Lowry
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This chip may be last-gen, but it's still fantastic, especially at this low price.

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While AMD's Ryzen 7000 series of Zen 4 CPUs on the AM5 chipset represent the latest and greatest that Team Red has to offer DIY PC builders, you shouldn't feel rushed to upgrade if you've got an AM4 motherboard ready to go. That's because last-gen Ryzen 5000 series chips still offer great performance, and thanks to this lingering Cyber Monday discount, you can get one of the best ones — the Ryzen 9 5900X — for only $288.99 at Amazon. 

That's a whopping 49% off its usual $569.99 price, making this an absolutely stellar markdown. Don't wait to pull the trigger if you're interested, though, because Cyber Monday is over, and that means this deal could go away any moment.

AMD Ryzen 9 5900X | $569.99now $288.99 at Amazon

AMD Ryzen 9 5900X | was $569.99 now $288.99 at Amazon

One of AMD's best last-gen CPUs for both gaming and productivity has fallen to just half of its usual price for a limited time, making now a fantastic time for AM4 motherboard owners to upgrade from an older processor.

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✅Perfect for: AM4 chipset users looking to upgrade to a high-end CPU that delivers strong performance for both gaming and productivity

❌Avoid if: You have an AM5 motherboard, or only care about improving your gaming performance (more on why below)

👍Price Check: $289 at B&H

Deals STILL AVAILABLE!

Old but gold: The perfect upgrade for AM4 users

AMD comparing the Ryzen 9 5900X against the older 3900XT in 2020.  (Image credit: AMD)

While AM5 motherboards and DDR5 RAM are a lot less expensive than they used to be, not everyone is ready or able to move away from a chipset they've been using for the last five generations of AMD Ryzen CPUs. For folks still using AM4 — either by choice or out of necessity — picking up a Ryzen 9 5900X for $289 would be an amazing upgrade. And even if you're using a particularly old board like something from the 300-series, all you'd need to get it up and running is a quick BIOS update.

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Released in 2020, the Ryzen 9 5900X is one of the top CPUs from the Zen 3 generation; it was surpassed only by the mighty Ryzen 9 5950X. With 12 cores, 24 threads, a 3.7GHz base clock, a 4.8GHz boost clock, and 64MB of L3 cache, it's an excellent CPU for anyone in need of strong performance for both gaming and productivity workloads.

The processor is PCIe 4.0 and works with DDR4 RAM (you'd need AM5 to use newer DDR5 modules). Though the base memory clock speed it supports is 3200MHz, you can push that higher with some overclocking.

Performance-wise, the Ryzen 9 5900X is roughly on par with Intel's 13th Gen Core i5-13600K, and with this Cyber Monday deal, it also costs just about as much as one, too. That's some incredible value you should seriously consider taking advantage of if you're still on AM4, especially if you've currently got an aging chip from older generations like the Ryzen 3000 series.

Something to keep in mind is that while this is the best AM4 CPU deal available right now overall, folks strictly interested in gaming performance should consider the Ryzen 7 5800X3D. It surpasses the 5900X in that regard thanks to its 3D V-Cache, though falls behind on productivity due to the loss of four cores and eight threads. It's on sale for only about $30 more — $322.49 at Newegg (was $449), to be specific — so ultimately, the processor you choose should be dependent on what you want out of your rig.

Regardless of which one you get, though, you had best act fast. Now that Cyber Monday has ended, many deals are now off the table, with more going offline hour-by-hour. We suspect that both of these ones won't last long, so be quick about pulling the trigger on one.

Brendan Lowry
Brendan Lowry

Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he's been an avid fan since childhood. You'll find him doing reviews, editorials, and general coverage on everything Xbox and PC. Follow him on Twitter.