We don’t usually recommend buying previous generation chips, but all three of these chips are available (or close to) at lower prices all the time while we’re in the grip of an unforgiving silicon shortage. This makes them powerful alternatives if you are looking to upgrade an existing system, or even create a new platform with previous generation hardware.
For comparison, the current-generation eight-core AMD Ryzen 7 5800X and eight-core Intel Core i7-11700K processor weigh in at $399 when you can find them in stock near the MSRP, which means the three chips in today’s Amazon Prime Day deal are about $150 cheaper for the same number of cores. This means that you will pay about $34 per core for previous generation chips while more modern chips weigh in at $50 per core.
Of course, previous generation eight-core chips aren’t nearly as fast as the newer models, but you can refer to the standard CPU hierarchy for a crystal-clear display of performance delta between newer and older chips. Here is an excerpt from how we break this down for each segment, with scores in each category correlated with the fastest market segment in each category (higher is better):
| price | 1080p / 1440p Games | Multi-threaded performance | Single thread performance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intel Core i7-10700K / F | $259 / $239 | 86% / 90% | 28% | 82% |
| Ryzen 7 3700X | $279 | 77% / 81% | 27% | 76% |
| Core i7-11700K/F. | $399 / $389 | 92% / 95% | 34% | 94% |
| Ryzen 7 5800X | $399 | 97% / 97% | 33% | 93% |
Overall, the Core i7-10700K seems to be the better choice based on performance alone. However, remember that this chip does not come with an assembly cooler, while the Ryzen 7 3700X processor does. Additionally, the Ryzen 7 3700X supports PCIe 4.0 while the 10700K uses the slower PCIe 3.0 specification.
For more Prime Day savings, check out our Prime Day live blog and lists of the best Prime Day PC and laptop gaming deals, the best Prime Day SSD deals, the best Prime Day deals, the best Prime Day deals from Dell for gaming and the best Prime Day hardware deals in general. Our sister site, TechRadar, has a broader list of Amazon Prime Day deals that includes product categories we don’t usually cover, such as smart home appliances, TVs, and phones.