AMD Ryzen 5 processors hit some retailers, 3 weeks early

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AMD has already shaken up the enthusiast market with their 8C/16T flagship Ryzen 7 1800X processor, and now the Ryzen 5 family - which will aim directly at Intel's current-gen Core i3 and more importantly - Core i5 market.

Ryzen 5 processors will be cheaper, and offer more CPU threads for the money than any Core i3 or Core i5 processor - with the flagship Ryzen 5 1600X arriving as a 6C/12T processor at 4GHz for just $249. Intel has its Core i5-7600K with 4C/8T at $239 right now on Amazon, meaning AMD offers 4 additional CPU threads with Ryzen 5 1600X at just $10 more - or, the cheaper Ryzen 5 1600 with 6C/12T and its lower price of $219.

AMD will be launching its Ryzen 5 family of processors on April 11, but some retailers are selling the CPUs early - with resellers in Europe already selling Ryzen 5 chips. Someone posted on Reddit, saying that someone purchased a Ryzen 5 1600 processor in Brazil.