Intel released its new processor, the Core i9 11900K, a month ago. However, this has not diminished AMD’s success. If you look at the bestsellers in processors on Amazon, AMD is clearly ahead of its competitor Intel. MeinMMO highlights the current situation in a bit more detail.
AMD is currently very successful. This is evident not only from the strong business figures from Q1 2021, but also from how many people are willing to use a Ryzen processor for their gaming PC.
If you look at bestseller lists like those from Amazon or Geizhals.de, AMD’s Ryzen processors clearly dominate here over Intel’s processors:
- Intel has already lowered the prices for several processors. Thus, the Core i7-10700K cost only $319 instead of $387 and tried to put pressure on the Ryzen 7 3700 X.
- On Amazon, AMD’s Ryzen 7 3700X still dominates the bestseller list with several other Ryzen processors. The Ryzen 7 3700 X is priced at €279 (as of April 28, 2021), which is slightly cheaper than Intel’s i7-10700K (€319).
AMD dominates the Top 10 on Amazon – only two Intel processors represented
Here’s what it looks like on Amazon currently: On the German Amazon site, there are currently 7 AMD processors represented and two Intel processors. The tenth product is a computer stand, which we would classify more as an outlier.
The bestseller processors on Amazon.de (as of April 27, 2021, 16:00):
- AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
- AMD Ryzen 7 5800 X
- AMD Ryzen 9 3900 X
- AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- AMD Ryzen 9 5900 X
- Intel Core i5-10400F
- Intel Core i7-9700K
- AMD Ryzen 7 3800X
- AMD Ryzen 5 3600 (without cooler)
These 2 things stand out: Among the bestsellers, there are primarily mid-range processors. This mainly refers to processors that appeal to gamers who do not want to spend more than 150 – 200 euros and expect decent performance for gaming.
- The Ryzen 5 3600 and the i5-10400F are currently the most recommended processors for gaming among the Top 10.
- Entry-level CPUs like Ryzen 3 or Intel Core i3 are not found among the bestsellers.
Not only sales on Amazon show AMD’s dominance in the hardware market
Other figures also currently support AMD’s success. For twelve years, the colleagues at GameStar have been asking their readers which processor they have installed in their gaming PCs. Intel has always held the leading position and was significantly ahead of AMD.
In the current GameStar survey 2021, it can be seen that AMD has made significant gains and Intel has lost: For the first time, Intel and AMD are nearly equal. While Intel stands at 50.4%, the gap for AMD at 49.6% is the smallest it has ever been.
The dominance of Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 on Amazon is also reflected in the GameStar survey. Here, too, the mid-range is the most strongly represented. In Intel, this hardware segment is best represented with i5 and i7.
Currently, very few players are willing to spend several hundred euros for a high-end processor. How good both high-end CPUs from Intel and AMD are has now been examined by Linus Tech Tips. You can also find an article about it here on MeinMMO:
AMD is growing, but Intel remains the strongest manufacturer
The numbers fundamentally speak in favor of AMD; however, several factors should not be lost sight of:
On one hand, Intel is still clearly ahead of AMD in the monthly hardware surveys from Steam. Here, too, AMD’s share (28.84%) is slowly growing compared to Intel (71.16%) (via steampowered.com).
The Steam survey, while not covering the entire market, still provides a good picture of which hardware many gamers are currently using.
In gaming laptops, Intel is still primarily scoring. Here, Intel continues to have the upper hand, and this is likely to change only slowly. Only at the end of 2020, and especially during CES 2021, were many new gaming laptops with AMD processors introduced.
Another point to consider: If you look at the business figures, Intel still generates much larger revenues than AMD.
- In Q1 2021, Intel made a profit of $19.7 billion (via Intc.com).
- AMD reported a profit of $3.44 billion in Q1 2021. AMD was able to further increase its revenues compared to Q4 2020 (3.2 billion, via ir.amd.com)
Intel’s revenue is therefore many times higher than that of its competitor. AMD generates revenue from sales of next-gen consoles, processors, and its Radeon graphics cards.
In the first quarter, revenue alone in the “Computing and Graphics” segment was $2.1 billion. With the Radeon RX 6700 XT introduced at the beginning of 2021, AMD launched another graphics card.
Fundamentally, this shows the great success AMD has had with its new Ryzen processors in 2020 and 2021. While Intel is still stronger and larger, AMD is closely following its competition.
In the long term, PC gamers will benefit from AMD’s success with Ryzen processors, as Intel is thereby willing to lower its prices in the face of rising competition.
AMD’s success is important for PC gamers, if it weren’t for the lack of availability
Who benefits from AMD’s strength? In the long run, PC gamers benefit primarily from AMD’s success. Theoretically, you get more performance for your money than ever before – if the graphics cards were available at fair prices.
This is because Nvidia has closely monitored its competitor AMD and has already set its prices lower at launch than in the previous RTX 2000 series. However, there is currently no sign of this price advantage, as currently, no graphics cards are available at the official MSRP.
People are still buying graphics cards even at the high prices. Scalpers and resellers have already made over $15 million profit with RTX 3000 graphics cards.
As the scarcity persists, prices are likely to remain high. Even though AMD and Nvidia have already announced that the situation is expected to improve throughout 2021.
