New AMD Zen 4 7000-Series Pricing Leaks Surface Alongside Staggered Shipment Dates

The pricing of AMD’s launch salvo Ryzen 7000 processors has been leaked. We expect four new Zen 4 processors priced between $299 to $799 to become official shortly. Interestingly, in some additional pre-launch claims, we hear the delay between processor and motherboard availability will be almost two weeks. AMD’s "together we advance_PCs” event is scheduled for 7pm EST today, so we should see this pre-launch leaked pricing and availability data confirmed, or perhaps not. We hope today's motherboard launch delay report is not true, as it will leave potential buyers in limbo.

The Zen 4 CPUs, which will be unveiled this evening and will pioneer the AMD Ryzen 7000 series for desktops, are said to be the Ryzen 9 7950X, Ryzen 9 7900X, Ryzen 7 7700X and Ryzen 5 7600X. We have a list of the specs you should expect here. In summary, the top-end Ryzen 9 7950X offers 16C/32T, boosts to 5.7GHz, eats up to 170W, and costs $799, according to the leak. Meanwhile, the Ryzen 9 7900X boasts 12C/24T, and costs $549. The Ryzen 7 7700X with 8C/16T is said to cost $449, and lastly, the Ryzen 5 7600X with 6C/12T is priced at $299, according to WCCFTech’s sources.

The processors are manufactured by TSMC on its N5 process. They feature new Zen 4 cores and decent boost clock uplifts – though with some power draw increases, too – which look very respectable. However, the upgrades will have to make an impression in real-world use for them to successfully battle against Intel Raptor Lake. With the next generation of CPUs, Intel will have a budget advantage, as people can hold on to their Alder Lake motherboards / memory. AMD is moving to a brand-new socket after multiple generations with AM4 and to DDR5, so Ryzen 7000 upgrades are going to involve a weighty investment.

So, when can you buy a Zen 4 processor and motherboard? The answer, again according to the rumor mill, is kind of topsy-turvy. The quartet of processors mentioned above will be available at retail from Sept 15, says WCCFTech. However, the first AM5 motherboards, based upon the X670/E chipset, won’t be available until 12 days later – with an availability date of Sept 27 tipped by the source. There won’t be a very long delay for the more affordable AMD B650/E motherboards to become available this generation. According to the source, B650 boards will be released starting from October 10.