AMD has won enthusiasts with its Zen 3 architecture, and if you are building a new PC, Zen is a mature architecture at this point, as are the accompanying X570 and B550 chipsets. Ryzen 7 5800X is much more than Ryzen 9 parts. readily available, but availability has been somewhat of an issue. They tend to be discounted, including right now.

Amazon is selling the Ryzen 7 5800X for $397.99, $51.01 below list price. The price has often dropped to this price over the past few weeks, so perhaps we are seeing a permanent price drop (time will tell). Either way, you get a high-performance Zen 3 CPU for less than MSRP.

The 5800X is one of the best CPUs for gaming and is ideal for mid-range setups. It's an 8-core/16-thread part with a base clock of 3.8 GHz, a maximum boost clock of 4.7 GHz, and 32 MB of L3 cache. It's an all-around workhorse, and can meet both gaming and productivity needs with aplomb.

Motherboards with AMD's X570 chipset typically start at around $130; MSI's MPG X570 Gaming Edge WiFi sells for $119.99 after rebate (down from $159.99) at Newegg. And if you want to build a micro ATX configuration, ASRock's B550M Pro4 is on sale for $89.99 (down from $114.99). As a mature platform, there will be no shortage of motherboard options.

Hopefully you already own a GPU, otherwise building a new PC from scratch is a daunting task. If so, the 5800X, while not the sexiest of the Zen 3, is a great mid-range foundation.