AMD accuses Intel's Arrow Lake of being a 'horrible' product and implies a lack of options for consumers has caused the Ryzen 7 9800X3D shortage

HardwareProcessorsAMD accuses Intel’s Arrow Lake of being a ‘horrible’ product and implies a lack of options for consumers has caused the Ryzen 7 9800X3D shortageWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor

TheRyzen 7 9800X3D, the currentbest CPU for gaming, launched just a little while ago and its impeccable performance has already caused shortages. AMD says the level of demand is partially down to Intel’s launch of the rather underwhelming Arrow Lake.

As told to a writer atTom’s Hardwarein a roundtable interview with AMD executives, AMD blames part of the severe demand for its current best chip on Intel launching a mediocre product in the hotly anticipated Arrow Lake. Okay, AMD put it a bit more harshly than that, saying “We knew we built a great part. We didn’t know the competitor had built a horrible one.”

On this, we tested out both theIntel Core Ultra 9 285KandIntel Core Ultra 5 245Kback in October and they are certainly underwhelming, though we wouldn’t quite call them horrible.

However, a ‘just okay’ launch of a hotly anticipated set of CPUs, especially when you consider theCPU instabilitiesthat still negatively impact the consumer view on Intel, these chips needed to be better to compete with AMD, which is currently performing really well.

Historically known for making the best CPUs in the world, Intel has had a bit of a fall from grace and the newest CPUs aren’t helping it.

AMD itself didn’t have a flawless showing at CES.Early Radeon RX 9070 benchmarksare certainly positive but the cards themselves weren’t given a release date, benchmark results, or even price point. We can say the fps in some games looks healthy but won’t be able to say much more until we know what we’re comparing it to in the market.

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It isn’t yet clear when the 9800X3D will trickle into the normal market at its intended price point but it’s a good chip, and one worth waiting for. I recently upgraded to the previous chip, theAMD Ryzen 7 7800X3Din my own personal rig and can happily state it still performs excellently.

Hopefully, Intel can start to claw its way out of the hole it has dug itself, even just so it’s easier to get ahold of the best CPUs.

Catch up withCES 2025:We’re on the ground in sunny Las Vegas covering all the latest announcements from some of the biggest names in tech, including Nvidia, AMD, Intel, Asus, Razer, MSI and more.

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