About to buy an AMD Ryzen 7 9700X CPU? You might want to wait for this more affordable version

AMD has a cheaper spin on the Ryzen 7 9700X that drops the integrated graphics, and ASUS has spilled the beans on the processor (at least in theory).

2

This was spotted by Italian tech site Bits and Chips (as highlighted by VideoCardz), which found the Ryzen 7 9700F - note the 'F' suffix meaning it lacks the GPU - on the ASUS website.

The Ryzen 7 9700F (which has been rumored previously) pops up in the CPU support details page for ASUS motherboards on the official site if you type in the model name, confirming its existence - and presumably the fact that the 9700F is not far off launching. (Either that, or someone has made a silly mistake here).

The spec is confirmed too, and the 9700F is identical to the 9700X, except that the iGPU isn't present.

That's ideal for those who want a mainstream Zen 5 processor, but don't need integrated graphics - which is most of us who have a discrete GPU in our PC. (That said, should that discrete card go wrong, it is, of course, handy to have a backup option to boot your PC with - and you won't with an F series processor).

These are most likely chips with wonky iGPUs, of course, repurposed to be sold on with a cheaper price tag. The question is: how much cheaper will the Ryzen 7 9700F be, exactly?

The rumor mill suggests $250 in the US, or perhaps even a touch less, so that's a decent saving on what you'll pay for the Ryzen 7 9700X, which currently sells for around the $300 mark.

How long will you have to wait for the Ryzen 7 9700F? Well, remember this is still just a rumor, but in theory we shouldn't have longer than a few months to go until launch, considering ASUS has the chip in its motherboard database now.