AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D CPU is real and launches on July 7 - but with a major catch

AMD's Ryzen 5 5600X3D has been one of the more interesting nuggets from the CPU rumor mill of late, but this processor is no longer a purported piece of hardware - it's really happening, although there's a weighty caveat attached here.

The Ryzen 5 5600X3D will be available from Micro Center only (in the US, and no other regions), and as the tweet carrying the revelation notes, you'll be able to buy it at your 'local' store, which rules out purchasing the chip online. And not everyone lives that near to a Micro Center, of course.

The 5600X3D will carry a price tag of $229, but there will also be a bundle deal. This consists of the 5600X3D and ASUS B550-Plus TUF motherboard along with 16GB of G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4 memory, all of which you'll be able to snag for an asking price of $329.

Micro Center will also offer a pre-built PC - the PowerSpec G516 - which is constructed around the 5600X3D, and also comes with an AMD RX 6650 XT GPU, 16GB of system RAM, and a 500GB NVME SSD. No pricing has yet been given for that, though.

Stock of the new-but-last-gen 3D V-Cache processor is expected to last a few months, so Micro Center is carrying a fair few units, by the sound of things. The retailer notes that the CPU will only be available while stock lasts - naturally - so depending on how fast it sells, you may have to move somewhat swiftly.

We almost forgot the specs of the 5600X3D. It's a 6-core (12-thread) CPU with a base clock of 3.3GHz and boost to 4.4GHz, with 96MB of L3 Cache.