AMD made bank on its Ryzen chipsets on the strength of bored pandemic-era gamers who spent their stimulus checks on new PC builds. Ryzen CPUs offered arguably the best price-to-performance value back then, causing many to go all in on AM4-based systems. AMD has since switched to the next-generation AM5 platform, but there’s still plenty of room on the upgrade path for those not interested in shelling out hundreds or thousands on newer hardware. Take the top-line Ryzen 9 5950X, for instance, which has never been cheaper than the $364.99 price currently showing at Amazon (18 percent off).
The Ryzen 9 5950X is admittedly overkill for most people. It has 16 physical cores with 32 threads, 3.4GHz base and 4.9GHz boost clock speeds, a very manageable 105W TDP, and there’s plenty of thermal overhead for manual overclocking. There is probably not a single game this thing can’t handle, but AMD mostly had content creators, graphical designers, and software engineers in mind when forging this monster. In fact, if gaming is your most demanding task and you don’t need to max out demanding titles like Star Citizen at 4K, you could easily get away with something like the six-core Ryzen 5 5600 (40 percent off at $119.99) or the eight-core Ryzen 7 5700G (56 percent off at $157.99), both merely single-digit dollars more than their lowest prices at Amazon.
If you need an upgrade over your laptop’s trackpad or a replacement for the junk your employer included in your work-from-home kit, this deal on Logitech’s MX Master 3S warrants serious consideration. We’ve never seen it lower than its $83.72 price for the space grey model at Amazon right now (16 percent off). This version is specifically designed for Macs and iPads, but it’s still compatible with Windows-based machines. You can pair it with up to three different devices (via Bluetooth, no USB dongle included) for seamless switching.
The original Logitech MX Master 3 is heralded as one of the best mice you can buy for its comfortable ergonomics, solid build, quick responsiveness, accurate tracking, 70-day battery life with USB-C charging, and satisfying tactile mechanics. This 3S refresh improved on the original with a higher 8,000-DPI optical sensor and a clicker advertised as 90 percent quieter. We didn’t feel those improvements mattered enough for MX Master 3 owners to upgrade, but considering the older version has since been phased out, this is the de facto starting point for newcomers or those in need of a replacement.
