AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D
AMD's Ryzen 7 5800X3D is the company's first gaming CPU with 3D V-Cache, which adds a ton of L3 cache for even better gaming performance. It's on the older AM4 platform, but is still a potent gaming chip.
Although Ryzen 5000 CPUs are often reserved for low-end and midrange PCs since the AM4 platform is so old, there's one 5000 series chip you might want to use even in a high-end PC: the 5800X3D. The original Ryzen CPU with 3D V-Cache is still pretty good for playing video games, and for Prime Day, you can get one for just $280, which is a $170 discount.
Why it's still worth buying the 5800X3D
Although the 5800X3D is only a year old now, the underlying technology is much older. The Ryzen 5000 series debuted in late 2020, and the 5800X3D isn't really any different except for the special V-Cache chiplet, which bumps up the L3 cache from 32MB to 96MB. Yet that single change makes a massive difference in tons of games, and the 5800X3D was one of the best gaming CPUs, tied with the 5950X and 12900K on average when it came out.
At $277, the 5800X3D is primarily contending with newer Ryzen CPUs like the 7700X and 7600X, as well as 12th- and 13th-generation Intel chips such as the Core i7-12700K and Core i5-13600K. The thing is, the 5800X3D is still faster than most of these CPUs, as well as being significantly more efficient. If you expect to be playing at 200 FPS or more, you will definitely benefit from the increased horsepower of the 5800X3D.
The 5800X3D does have a significant amount of baggage: it's on a dead platform, it doesn't have a good upgrade path, and its multicore performance is pretty poor for its price. But if you're just interested in good gaming performance for a good price, the 5800X3D at $277 is pretty much it when it comes to good Prime Day CPU deals. And although you will have to upgrade your motherboard and RAM in order to upgrade to AM5 V-Cache chips, that's balanced out by cheap AM4 motherboards and DDR4 RAM.