AMD could be working on a way to minimize RAM price hike pain — by bundling Ryzen CPUs and DDR5 memory

• AMD Ryzen 9850X3D bundles have been spotted in China
• They bundle the new CPU with 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a cooler
• This could be a way to give PC builders a break on the price of memory, and might be a plan AMD brings to other regions with any luck

AMD could have a plan to tackle the pain of component price hikes – most notably the rocketing cost of RAM – and that's to sell bundles with its imminent new Ryzen X3D CPU, or at least there's some evidence to indicate this in Asia.

Tom's Hardware highlighted a post on X from Uniko's Hardware which shows a bundle that AMD is reportedly launching in China, consisting of a processor plus cooler and system RAM.

What buyers get in this package is the new Ryzen 9850X3D CPU, which was recently revealed – and is about to go on sale, looking a great addition to AMD's gaming lineup – along with a Cooler Master cooler for this chip, and 32GB of V-Color memory (a pair of 16GB DDR5 sticks to be precise).

We don't have pricing yet, only a photo of this bundle as you can see in the post above. However, what's interesting here is that this appears to be an official collaboration between AMD and V-Color alongside Cooler Master, rather than a retailer simply throwing together its own bundle, hence the logos on the box.

There's another telling difference in that the motherboard isn't bundled here. Typically you'd get a CPU and memory plus motherboard in a bundle box, but here the latter is replaced by said cooler.

Analysis: a hopeful hint in a deeply pessimistic market

Presumably, the motherboard has been dispensed with to keep the cost down, as obviously a bundled cooler in its place will ensure an overall lower price (while still making sense as a partner for a high-end gaming CPU). And the main point of this bundle is, of course, to provide DDR5 RAM at a (relatively) palatable price alongside pushing AMD's new processor.

It is, of course, likely that the V-Color DDR5 RAM comprises of affordable 16GB memory sticks, so there'll be no high-end, speedy RAM here (as that would defeat the point of an affordable bundle). As observed by Uniko's, it's likely DDR5-4800 memory (meaning it runs at a speed of 4800MT/s, which is the slowest performance for DDR5).

As Tom's further notes, what's important in that regard is that AMD has been busy making it clear that the Ryzen 9850X3D doesn't need fast RAM. In fact, there's barely any difference in performance between DDR5-4800 and faster DDR5-6000 RAM with the 9850X3D, with a less than 1% difference in frame rates (across an average of 30 games – see the above slide courtesy of VideoCardz).

In other words, whatever DDR5 RAM you're using won't make any noticeable difference with the Ryzen 9850X3D. This is true of X3D processors in general, as their beefier cache (3D V-Cache which the naming convention 'X3D' refers to) means the CPU has to tap the system RAM less often, so the speed of that memory isn't such a factor in determining overall gaming performance.

This is all well and good, but will these bundles arrive outside of Asia? That's the key question here – this and exactly where AMD might pitch pricing. On the latter point, if the bundle isn't a considerable saving on the separate parts, there would hardly be much point.

As to whether the US, or Europe, or anywhere else will see Ryzen 9850X3D plus RAM bundles, we obviously don't know. But the fact that this is happening in China is certainly an indication AMD is mulling strategies to keep RAM pricing down for PC builders – given this is an official collaboration as noted – so I don't see any reason why that strategy might not apply to the wider global marketplace. Well, except for supply worries, naturally, but this is at least a hopeful hint that similar bundles could be in the works.

Meanwhile, standalone DDR5 RAM remains at ridiculous prices, even if it's discounted as we saw yesterday.

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