One of the best AMD gaming CPU upgrades ever could be about to disappear

With stock of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D drying up around the world, the final boss of CPU upgrades for the AM4 platform is reaching the end.

Stock of the hugely popular AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D is all but dried up in retailers worldwide, hinting that one of AMD’s most impactful processors ever is finally on its way out. So if you are looking to finally upgrade your AMD AM4 system to the best gaming CPU you can buy for that platform, now is the time.

With its revolutionary 3D V-Cache tech, the 5800X3D – and other X3D processors – transformed AMD‘s gaming CPU performance, with the 5800X3D being the best gaming CPU around when it launched. However, that was two years ago and the PC landscape has moved on rapidly with AMD’s even more dominant AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D having stolen the 5800X3D’s crown while ushering in a new era of the AMD AM5 platform using DDR5 memory.

The old AM4 platform still holds its own – I’m using a 5800X3D-powered PC as I type this – but with AMD having also now launched its Ryzen 9000 series CPUs and being set to launch a new generation of 9000X3D chips, the aging 5000 series is not a choice we’d recommend for most gamers looking to build a new system. However, the 5800X3D remains the ultimate upgrade for those still holding on to their AM4 systems.

What’s particularly interesting about AMD possibly pulling the plug on the 5800X3D is that it only recently introduced a brand new 5000 series X3D chip, the 5700X3D. This CPU is essentially identical to the 5800X3D, with it housing eight cores able to process 16 threads at once and having a 64MB L3 cache chip planted right on top of the main CPU die (the X3D magic). However, the 5700X3D has lower clock speeds than the 5800X3D, with a base clock of 3GHz and boost clock of 4.1GHz. Those numbers compare to a 3.4GHz base clock and 4.5GHz boost clock for the 5800X3D.

As an indication of how low stock of the 5800X3D is around the world, we checked Amazon US, UK, Australia, and Canada and only the US and UK were shown as having stock. Best Buy is out of stock while Newegg shows stock available but shipping from Israel. Meanwhile, major local UK retailers Scan.co.uk and Overclockers.co.uk are both out of stock. Other reports show stock is also low in regions such as Germany.

We’ve reached out to AMD to find out if this is the mark of an official winding down of availability for the 5800X3D but haven’t received a response at the time of publication.

As such, for now, it seems that if you can find a 5800X3D and are tempted by the upgrade, you should pull the trigger, unless you’re happy to scour the likes of eBay for a secondhand model. Otherwise, the 5700X3D should be a solid alternative, even with its slightly slower clock speeds. It’s also far cheaper, at just $194 compared to $449 right now.

Even better, if you are in the position to upgrade your whole system, the AMD Ryzen 7800X3D remains the best gaming option right now, though you might want to wait until the 9800X3D launches even just to get the 7800X3D at a lower price.