AMD is crushing Intel in desktop CPU sales at several popular retailers

AMD Ryzen Processor Retail Boxes — (Image credit: AMD)

Over the past several months, Intel has been able to cut into AMD's lead in desktop processor sales at Mindfactory, a major online computer parts store in Germany, but AMD still holds a commanding lead, the latest sales figures show. As in, three out of every four processors sold in July were AMD chips.

More precisely, AMD's desktop CPU market share at Mindfactory dipped slightly to 76% in July, with Intel accounting for the other 24%. AMD's share is down from 82% in June and 85% in May, as shown in the updated sales data charts shared by Reddit user ingebor (via TechRadar), who frequently provides these kinds of updates for Mindfactory.

This is not a case of cheaper CPUs skewing the results, either. At both Amazon and Newegg, the Ryzen 9 5950X priced at around $800 is the sixth best selling desktop processor. It makes you wonder what the split might be if AMD's two fastest Zen 3 chips—5950X and 5900X—were routinely out of stock in the early going.

Your next upgrade

Best CPU for gaming: the top chips from Intel and AMD
Best graphics card: your perfect pixel-pusher awaits
Best SSD for gaming: get into the game ahead of the rest

The good news for Intel is that even though Zen 3 is highly sought after, it has been able to pry away some desktop CPU market share at Mindfactory this year. AMD finished 2020 with an 83%-17% split with Intel. The updated sales graph goes back to April of last year, when AMD processors held a 91% share, to Intel's 8%.

This translates over to the revenue breakdown as well, with AMD chips commanding higher prices than in the pre-Zen days. AMD processors accounted for 81% of Mindfactory's desktop CPU revenue in July, compared to 19% coming from Intel sales.

Looking ahead, it will be interesting to see if Intel's Alder Lake launch flips the script. or has any kind of meaningful impact on what remains a wide disparity at Mindfactory. It's possible—recently leaked benchmarks showed Alder Lake's single-threaded performance being 22% higher than Zen 3. That would be an intriguing proposition if it holds up. We'll know soon enough, with Alder Lake on track to launch this year (possibly as early as October).

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).