The launch of the Ryzen 7 9800X3D was a massive success for AMD. Known as the new best CPU for gaming, the 9800X3D sold out within minutes at most retailers – including Amazon. While stock levels were recovering at a certain point and the processor enjoyed a decent amount of time in stock at the popular retailer, it is now (again) unavailable.

You can keep an eye on how the gaming chip is doing in our 9800X3D stock tracker, but for now, it’s tough to order one online. In what looks like an attempt to capitalize on the low availability, listings have started flooding Amazon with a cheap price tag.

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AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D

5 /5

Editor’s Rating

How We Review

Specifications

• Cores: 8
• Threads: 16
• Boost clock speed: 5.2GHz
• Base clock speed: 4.7GHz
• L3 cache: 96MB
• TDP: 120W
• Platform: AM5

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Multiple 9800X3D listings with $199 price tag appear on Amazon

At surface level, this looks like a classic scam – and it probably is. So, we wouldn’t recommend buying one of these and instead wait for the official 9800X3D listing to come back in stock. With even a tiny bit of investigative work, you’ll find that the sellers seem like spam accounts, and the $199 price tag (far below the CPU’s $479 MSRP) is too good to be true.

More interesting details can be found in the supposed specs lists. For example, we don’t think the 9800X3D is compatible with the LGA 1156 socket, nor is it manufactured by IBM. Plus, $199.89 for a “1.2GHz Cortex A8 Processor” doesn’t sound like a good deal to us. In any case, these listings clearly don’t look legitimate, so we hope no one falls victim to this scam.

While Amazon is generally a great place to find new PC hardware, it can serve as a host for these kinds of fake spam products. While you wait for the 9800X3D to be in stock again, have a read of our AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D review if you want to learn more about why it is the best gaming CPU on the market.

Some recent positive news comes from retailers such as Mindfactory in Germany, which reports sales in the thousands for the popular processor. We expect it to be hotly contested for a while, especially since Black Friday is a great time to upgrade your PC; not that we expect any deals on the 9800X3D specifically.

About the Author

Jack Goodall

At PC Guide, Jack is mostly responsible for reporting on hardware deals. He also specializes in monitors, TVs, and headsets and can be found putting his findings together in a review or best-of guide.