Forced to launch a price war, can AMD reverse its decline?

Generally, we use “diving” to describe a significant price reduction of a certain product, but what if a large number of products are lowered together? We usually call it a “diving competition”, cough, just kidding. Of course, I think calling it a “diving competition” is quite appropriate, but for products that plummeted by nearly 50% in less than two months, some people even call it an “air crash”. Considering that this is not a good vocabulary, it is better to “dive”.

Alright, that’s all for the irrelevant discussion. Let’s take a look at today’s protagonist AMD. On September 27th of this year, AMD officially released the Ruilong 7000 series processor. After several years, AMD finally replaced the motherboard interface and entered the AM5 era.
Considering the outstanding performance of AMD in the past few years, the AMD processor, once known as “exclusive to low-end computers,” has actually gained many fans, most of whom are dissatisfied with Intel’s previous toothpaste like updates. The performance of the Ruilong 7000 series has improved by nearly 20% at the same price, which was indeed a matter of conscience in the past. The only variable was Intel.
AMD-Ryzen-7000-1.jpg
Source: AMD
If Intel still hasn’t improved much as before, AMD may still be able to compete with its more fully featured AM5 motherboard and slightly lower price. However, Intel has come prepared this time, and the performance improvement of the 13th generation Core processors has exceeded many people’s predictions. In actual testing, the 13th generation Core processors can even challenge higher-level AMD processors.
This makes AMD very hurt, and Intel’s installation cost is much lower than AMD, which makes AMD even more restless. Even if it’s just to avoid being snatched too much market share, price wars are AMD’s only choice.
AMD is forced to engage in a price war
If it were in previous years, the Ruilong 7000 series could indeed be considered a good product, but it was overshadowed by this year’s 13th generation Core. First of all, let’s take a look at the price. The price of Ryzen5 7600X is 2249 yuan, while the official price of i5-13600K is 2699 yuan, with a difference of 450 yuan. It seems that the difference is not significant, so what about the performance comparison?
In terms of single core performance, AMD is rarely ahead of Intel, but not significantly. According to testing, it is within 5%, which means that the experience in most games and applications will not be significantly different. However, in the traditional dominant area of multi-core performance in the Ryosaur processor, the Ryosaur 7000 series suffered a complete defeat, with a performance gap of nearly 30% between the two.
The 30% difference can be significant in some games and applications that rely on multi-core performance. If calculated based on multi-core performance, the i5-13600K and even the Ryzen7 7700X can stabilize, only losing to the Ryzen9 7900X, which is a processor priced at 4299 yuan and originally competes with the i9-13900K.
WeChat screenshot_ 20221124183556.png
Source: Chaoneng Network
Of course, the Ryzen7 7800X, which has not yet appeared in theory, should be able to compete with the i5-13600K on multi-core platforms, but AMD has already lost by using a higher level product to compete with a lower level product. The only highlight of the Ryzen 7000 series is the Ryzen9 7950X, which did not fall behind in the head-on battle against the i9-13900K and once again maintained a leading position in multi-core performance, but fell far behind in single core performance.
In addition to its flagship products, it has been a comeback and comeback, but the products in the following categories have almost completely failed. Not only has the performance been lower than that of Intel processors of the same level, but the installation cost is also much higher than that of Intel. However, this time, it is the motherboard manufacturers who are backing AMD.
Regarding the price issue of AMD’s AM5 motherboard, I also mentioned it in another article and believe that if the motherboard price does not decrease, AMD is likely to lose a large amount of its hard-earned CPU market share. The cheapest AM5 motherboards are priced over 1000 yuan, and the MSI Mortar series, beloved by most players, is priced as high as 1699 yuan (starting price), far exceeding previous pricing of less than 1000 yuan.
WeChat screenshot_ 20221124183814.png
Source: JD
Moreover, Intel’s 13th generation Core follows the interface of the previous generation, which means that users of the 12th generation Core can seamlessly upgrade to the 13th generation. Moreover, the prices of motherboards such as B660 and Z690 released last year have already been significantly reduced. Compared to the new B760 and Z790 on most processors, there is not much difference. Supporting DDR4 further reduces installation costs.
It can be said that the Ruilong 7000 series has no advantage in comparison, only AMD still maintains its original price, and the only result is completely defeated by the 13th generation Core, giving up the market share accumulated over four years. So, price reduction has almost become the only way out for AMD. If you don’t want to be completely crushed by Intel, you must reduce prices as soon as possible, as soon as possible, and with great force. So what is AMD’s choice?
Of course, there has been a significant price reduction.
Record breaking price reduction
During the Double Eleven period, AMD, after a period of deliberation, began to significantly reduce the price of the Ruilong processor under the guise of promotion. Taking the Ryzen5 7600X as an example, the official price before the price reduction was 2249 yuan. During the Double Eleven period, the pre order price was directly reduced to 1699 yuan, with a price reduction of 550 yuan and an overall price reduction of about 25%.
Ryzen7 7700X, with an official price of 2999 yuan and a pre sale price of 2299 yuan on Double Eleven, with a price reduction of 550 yuan; Ryzen9 7900X, with an official price of 4299 yuan and a pre sale price of 3299 yuan on Double Eleven, with a reduction of 1000 yuan; Ryzen9 7950X, with an official price of 5499 yuan and a pre sale price of 3999 yuan on Double Eleven, with a price reduction of 1500 yuan.
Within less than two months of its release, the entire range of the Ruilong 7000 series processors generally saw a price reduction of over 30%, even setting a record for the fastest price reduction in AMD’s history. Although AMD’s AM5 motherboard is expensive and requires DDR5 memory, it is not a problem in the face of such a significant price reduction. You can think that AMD’s official price reduction has saved you the funds to purchase the motherboard.
221119936-Ryzen7000Series_ Stylized_ D-Custom-Custom.png
Source: AMD
Maybe someone roast that it has been almost half a month since the Double 11 Festival. What’s the point of talking about the price of the Double 11 Festival now? The significance lies in the fact that the daily price of the Ruilong 7000 series has almost copied the “activity price” of the Double Eleven. Although the price of Ryzen9 7950X has not dropped to 3999 yuan, the official price of 4499 yuan is still 1000 yuan lower than two months ago.
With such a significant price reduction, AMD’s processors have instantly regained the label of “cost performance”. Although the price of AM5 remains high, the price difference compared to Intel motherboards of the same specification is actually very small. On the other hand, the price of DDR5 memory has also dropped to the same level as DDR4 memory last year. For users upgrading across generations, AMD’s Ruilong 7000 series is a good choice.
Moreover, according to the previous example of AM4, the AM5 interface should also use at least three generations of processors. Based on the high specification configuration of the AM5 motherboard, seamless support for the next two generations of Ruilong processors should not be a problem. AMD aims to counter Intel’s leadership on the 13th generation Core by significantly reducing the price of existing products while reducing future upgrade costs.
Considering that Intel’s next generation will replace interfaces, this plan is clearly considered. If Intel can also be dragged into a price war, then consumers may have to laugh in their dreams. However, currently Intel has not followed up significantly and has only offered a small price reduction. However, the price reduction in the fragmented market is relatively obvious, which is to some extent an unofficial response to AMD’s price reduction.
As the battle on the CPU battlefield intensifies, AMD and Intel will continue to spare no effort in competing for the existing market. For friends who want to upgrade their PCs, they can wait for the second round of competition after next year’s CES exhibition.
The only unhappy thing may be fans who have pre ordered AMD processors for the first time.

By hmimcu