The Power of Marketing - AMD's Ryzen Hype Train Hyperloops On

AMD did it again: building-up such a tremendous speed on its new products' hype train that the Ryzen 7 1700X, Ryzen 7 1800X, and Ryzen 7 1700 managed to jump straight to first, second, and fourth spots of Amazon's list of best-selling CPUs, respectively, dethroning even Intel's mighty i7 7700K. Granted, it isn't hard for the processors from one or the other manufacturer to quickly jump and wrangle about the spots on retailer's best seller lists - there Are only two manufacturers of consumer-grade, high-performance x86 CPUs. But keep in mind: this is a pre-order we're talking about, with nothing but leaks and marketing maneuvering for consumers to base their purchase on.Caveats in knowledge on Ryzen's performance and real-world displays of prowess notwithstanding, the promise of 8-core, 16-threaded high-performance chips with a traditional x86 design and a promising SMT approach (at tears-of-joy-inducing price points) have been enough to entice consumers. At least, judging by how some retailers have already run out of stock on the new Ryzen processors. Amazon and Newegg, arguably the two most relevant retailers of PC hardware in volume, have burned through their 1800X stocks already, only three days after the pre-order floodgates were opened.

While AMD plans on shipping one million pieces of Ryzen silicon for launch, it would seem that either demand was underestimated, production isn't at the level it should be, or there was a miscalculation on the needed inventory for such powerhouses as Amazon and Newegg. TigerDirect, NCIX and MicroCenter still carry some Ryzen 1800X stock though, so if you must, by all means, put your hands on a sample of AMD's prodigal son, jump straight to it.