AMD has slashed its Zen 4 processor prices in India. Is Zen 4 better value now?

Last Updated on January 9, 2023 by Nahush Gowda

AMD received a lukewarm response to its Zen 4 processors mostly because of the sky-high prices of motherboards and the overall cost to upgrade to the new DDR5, AM5 platform. Also with the release of Intel’s 13th gen processors, Zen 4 took a backseat since the 13th gen performed better in productivity.

All these major factors added to Zen 4 being an inferior value to Intel’s 13th gen. Now that it’s been over a month, AMD has slashed prices on the Zen 4 processors significantly and it’s time to see if Zen 4 is worth considering over Intel 13th gen strictly considering the value aspect of it.

The prices have dropped for all the processors although there is a slight difference between the SKUs and according to the region. Let’s talk about India primarily.

Ryzen 5 7600X has received the heaviest price drop by about almost 25% followed by Ryzen 7 7700X with a 20% drop.

The high-end Ryzen 9 5900X and Ryzen 9 5950X have received about a 17% drop while the US market has received more than 20% on Ryzen 9 processors. India could see a further drop in Ryzen 9 SKUs.

Let’s compare Intel’s prices to the dropped AMD Zen 4 prices

Only the i9-13900K has remained competitive in price to the Ryzen 9 5950X which is a clear win for Intel since the 13900K is a mighty processor albeit with some efficiency issues.

Ryzen 5 7600X vs Intel 13600K: Which is a better value for the money?

Ryzen 5 7600X is almost 30% cheaper than its competition Intel i5-13600K, for now. When it was out, we crowned 13600K as the value king because of its impressive performance in gaming, productivity and overall low platform cost.

Check: Ryzen 5 7600X performance and review

While Ryzen 5 7600X was not a bad performer, it lost mainly in multi-core performance while gaming performance was mostly similar with insignificant differences in the real world.

Here are some quick Ryzen 5 7600X vs 13600K performance numbers:

• In core-heavy performance in the likes of Cinebench and Blender Ryzen 5 7600X is slower by 47%!
• In Adobe suite applications like Premier Pro and Photoshop, Ryzen 5 7600X is about 15% slower.
• In gaming, both are similar in performance but if you look at absolute numbers, Ryzen 5 7600X is faster by about 5% in gaming, which would not matter at all if you have RTX 3080 or lower. It might only matter when you are running it in competitive e-sports titles.
• Ryzen 5 7600X consumes less power than 13600K by about 15% which is again, not very significant since you will be using a decent cooler on either of the processors.

The major difference in performance comes from multi-core performance in tasks like Blender, and Cinebench R23 because of i5-13600K’s 8 Efficient Cores along with 6 P-cores. If your primary focus is not productivity, the effective performance difference is not that significant for you.

Let’s compare the platform cost for both of them and see which is a better value.

The cheapest platform that you can get:

Considering the cheapest platform upgrade, the AM5 platform is 10% costlier. This is considering the cheapest motherboard you can get for them. AMD’s B650 motherboard is significantly better than the B660 motherboard for Intel. Even though the comparison is not fair, the price difference isn’t much.

Plus, B-class motherboards for Intel can’t overclock the processor while B-series for AMD can.

Also read: How to pick up the best motherboard for a new PC build

When you consider a decent motherboard of similar quality, the actual hardware buyers would consider, the overall cost will be something like this:

The value-for-money aspect is still in favour of the Intel i5-13600K because it will still cost less if you choose to opt for cheaper components. Even with decent, sensible hardware choices, Intel is 5% cheaper for better performance in productivity and similar performance in gaming.

This is a tough choice to make in reality because, despite the “value” being in favour of i5-13600K, AMD has some compelling advantages like a longer upgrade path with extended AM5 platform support, better efficiency and less power draw.

For me, the biggest advantage in favour of AMD is its upgrade path on AM5 and the use of DDR5 memory. In case you upgrade in future, you can carry over the same memory since DDR5 is going to be the standard now.

When you consider DDR5 for both as a point of comparison, the overall cost for Intel will go up making the Ryzen 5 7600X a much better value. 

Also read: Is it worth upgrading to DDR5 now?

In all fairness, the 13600K is an amazing processor and it will last a long time, the advantages of carrying over memory and processor upgrades on the same platform will not factor in too much now.

• If you are someone who needs a processor for gaming and also for productivity usage, 13600K is a better value.
• If you are only into gaming, both are good value and your choice will narrow down to budget restrictions. If not, Ryzen 5 7600X provides a better gaming value.
• If you are more concerned about future upgradability on the same platform and reducing cost in the long run, Ryzen 5 7600X is a better choice.

Ryzen 7 7700X vs Intel 13700K: Which is a better value for the money?

During the launch, Ryzen 7 7700X was somewhat a better value for gaming or even mixed usage when compared to the Ryzen 7 7700X. Now that price for 7700X has dropped by about 20%, let’s see if Ryzen 7700X manages to win over 13700K.

Here are some quick Ryzen 7 7700X vs 13700K performance numbers:

• In core-heavy performance in the likes of Cinebench and Blender Ryzen 7 7700X is slower by around 40%!
• In Adobe suite applications like Premier Pro and Photoshop, Ryzen 7 7700X ties in with the 13700K
• In gaming, both are similar in performance but if you look at absolute numbers, Ryzen 7 7700X is faster in gaming.
• Ryzen 7 7700X consumes less power than 13700K by about 15% which is again, not very significant since you will be using a decent cooler on either of the processors.

Just like 13600K, the major difference comes in the core-heavy workloads which are majorly due to Intel’s efficient cores. 13700K has 8 P-cores and 8 E-cores. If your primary focus is gaming, the performance difference will effectively be in favour of 7700X.

Let’s compare the platform cost for both of them and see which is a better value.

The cheapest platform that you can get:

When you consider the cheapest platform upgrade, 13700K will be cheaper than 7700X by 8.5%.

Realistically, most buyers would get better hardware and considering sensible hardware choices of similar quality (and AIB), the overall prices will be something like this.

Again, considering more sensible options, the 13700K platform upgrade will be cheaper by 8%, which isn’t much, but when productivity performance is considered, it does make 13700K look better.

Although, if you were to factor in overclocking and DDR5 memory which will start to impact performance in a processor like 13700K, the 7700X will be a better value processor.

Apart from price, there are certain advantages of the 7700X and AM5 platforms. Jumping on AM5 will give you a guaranteed upgrade path to at least 2 more generations and you can even carry the same DDR5 memory making your future upgrade cost less.

Upgrade cost is something that pays off in the future and doesn’t seem so significant now.

• When DDR5 and overclocking are factored in, Ryzen 7 7700X is a better value compared to the 13700K.
• If productivity is a point of reference, 13700K does provide better value, although there isn’t much difference.