I bought a Ryzen 7 7800X3D from AliExpress!
ATTENTION THIS ARTICLE NEEDS SOME CLEANING UP WITH PHOTOS BEING ADDED SOON 🙂
Did I get scammed? Does it even work, and what’s the benefit of considering buying one of these from AliExpress? How do you buy a 7800X3D safely? That’s what we are here to find out! 😀
I paid exactly $343.05NZD, including GST (Tax). Also, I paid with Revolut and in USD to make sure it’s as cheap as possible.
Here is the video of the 7800X3D from AliExpress:
Timestamps:
0:00 – 0:28 Intro
0:29 – 2:40 Why buy from AliExpress?
2:41 – 5:53 What’s the catch? Risk and Cost Breakdown
5:54 – 7:24 Alternatives and Comparisons
7:25 – 8:31 Is It Legitimate?
8:32 – 10:33 How to get a 7800X3D safely. With a Discount!
10:34 – 12:19 Is it worth it?
12:20 Final Thoughts
Why would you do this?
At the moment there are multiple listing for 7800X3D’s on AliExpress for quite heavily discounted prices I mean at least in comparison to normal retail pricing.
They will usually be under $390USD with shipping, and you could get even more off by using a cashback system or even an AliExpress coupon as well.
I purchased mine two months ago for $343.05USD including 15% GST otherwise known as VAT.
Whereas right now in New Zealand it currently costs $829NZD or $503USD for the retail. Even on Amazon AU or Amazon US it wasn’t worth it at the time. BUT things have changed and are changing for pricing so please make sure to watch the cost breakdown and risk section of this video.
I like the 7800X3D from AliExpress is a logical upgrade for people who are currently on a low or mid-end cpu on am4 such as 5600 looking to upgrade their whole system. It’s a full platform upgrade and will keep up with even the top of the line GPU’s at the moment. It can also be a great way to get a monster system on a budget with a b650 board. Even having a look at my RTX 3070 benchmarks comparing some games on m R7 5700X3D and my R7 7800X3D there are significant gains to be had with AM5. I mean have a look here not to bad if I say so myself. 1% lows are better making games smoother and the average fps is up. Even the shift to DDR5 memory helps a lot.
Easy enough for me, the reason I did this is because it’s so much cheaper than purchasing it in my own country.
Risk & Cost Breakdown and what’s the catch?
The biggest risk and catch here is that your unit is a DOA or has issues down the line. What you are giving up for this price on AliExpress is the warranty and guarantee that the unit can be replaced later on. Some sellers do give some sort of warranty but remember that you will probably have to send the unit back to China which could be a pain. At least in my experience, AliExpress’s refund policy has been pretty good, but that’s usually only on lower value goods. I’m not sure how good it would be on an item of this value. Also since these are OEM CPUs, AMD won’t help you either they don’t offer any warranty support for CPUs sold outside their official retail channels. Once the AliExpress return window closes, you’re pretty much on your own.
The other risk is that these could potentially I’m not saying that they are, 2nd hand units which have been used. From the looks of it my 7800X3D unit looked pretty much brand new with no issues that I could see. I still think it’s a good deal even if it is second hand if prices continue to remain high.
Another consideration is that the 7800X3D is over two years old now and the price for retail units should drop towards the end of the year and with newer Ryzen CPU’s being released. But if price at the moment is sustained by the fact that it is still one of the best gaming cpu’s at the moment. If you pair this with a lower end B650 motherboard you will have one monster of a computer that will last you years. Considering as well that ram speed is technically less significant for the 7800x3d chip as well the cost of an entirely new 7800X3D build is even less.
A quick cost break down. I saved over $200NZD or $121 by purchasing it from AliExpress. Yes, I don’t have a long-term warranty anymore, but I can now put that money towards something else in my system, like lower-latency RAM or a better GPU. You could even buy a low-end motherboard with that money, and you will have a monster of a price-to-performance pc. I’ll focus a bit more on comparisons in the alternatives and comparisons section.
Alternatives & Comparison
A major problem that I personally have is that I could have got this CPU for a similar price last year so around $650NZD or $395USD which really annoyed me. But I guess at the time the 7800X3D was significantly overprice in New Zealand and I really don’t want to pay over $700NZD for this CPU.
The 9800X3D is also in competition with the 7800X3D but its $1000NZD or $606USD for myself. There are discounted 9800x3ds being sold on AliExpress for $785.45NZD or $476USD excluding GST, but its just way too much money for myself. It can be a good option but to be honest the 7800X3D is still more than enough for most cards and I’m not running a 4090 or 5090.
For this price in New Zealand I can only get a 7700 for $600NZD. On AliExpress the 7700 is also discounted and so is the 7500F which both can be amazing budget buys.
Is It Legit?
Yes as far as I can tell my R7 7800X3D is real and legit. The pads looked fine, no burn marks or inconsistencies on the pads or the top ihs. It functions the same as any other 7800X3D and performs well in the benchmarks I’ve tried with my RTX 3070 and my RX 9070XT. CPU-Z shows all the correct information and looks good to me.
The only difference is that it’s an OEM CPU, meaning it’s made for system integrators and not for consumers, BUT that’s only a difference in name, not in performance. T his also means as mentioned before that you will be foregoing a warranty since basically everything on AliExpress does not have a warranty.
I’ll address on how to get a legit one safely coming up soon.
How to Get One Safely and on a Discount.
The easiest way is to go onto OZBargin Linked in the description and search 7800X3D. That way you will be linked to a seller who other users have potentially bought from. I’ll link the seller I bought from as well in the description.
Some general advice for AliExpress as well. If you your going to buy from any seller sort by orders to see the item with the most orders and the highest rating. Actually read the reviews as well and see if there are ones with photos as they are more likely to be real people usually.
Now for the discount. AliExpress usually has a discount week at the start of every month with some decent coupon codes and discounted items. This is usually the cheapest time to buy one. If you browser OZBaragin as well often people will put deals to the 7800X3D pretty regulalry if the price falls. Also if your not from the United States paying via paypal in USD and not converting it will sometimes give you a better price for the converted currency. Also using something like Revolut can be good for a better conversion rate. A cashback system as well such as Topcashback or Cashrewards can be easy ways to save a bit of money. I personally use cashrewards pretty often. I’ll leave my affiliate links in the description.
Is it worth it?:
If you’re building fresh, I’d suggest pairing this with a low-end B650 board for around $200 – $250 NZD, and nice low-latency RAM like DDR5 6000 CL30. That combo will destroy any game you throw at it while keeping total costs way lower.
The best part about this purchase is that I’m now on the AM5 platform. Unlike AM4, which is basically finished, AM5 will continue to support future Zen 5 That means when I want to upgrade again, I won’t need a new motherboard or RAM just drop in a new CPU. It makes the 7800X3D not just a beast now, but also a smart move for future-proofing.
It looks like AMD should support it for a bit longer going forward. Well I hope at least. In the future the 9800X3D is also an upgrade path if you really need and its good to be on a platform that has PCIE 5.0 as well.
Final Thoughts – Was It Worth It?
Although I don’t have a warranty, I still have the R7 7800X3D, which is more than enough of a CPU to last me for a long time.
The money that I saved can easily go towards a better gpu or motherboard to bring the total costs of the build down.
If this CPU dies in a year, I’ll have to eat the cost. That’s the gamble. But for me, saving $200 right now makes sense especially if I can sell it second-hand later and recover some value. Just like I said in the 5700X3D video, you’re trading warranty peace-of-mind for upfront savings
Looking back, I took a risk, and for now, it paid off. My 5700X3D dying sucked, but this 7800X3D from AliExpress gave me a way to move forward without blowing my whole budget. Just like last time, I’m still cautious about the warranty side of things, but I’m happy with the gamble I made. Your situation might be different but if you’re in a country like NZ where tech tax is brutal, sometimes AliExpress is the only way forward.
Are you thinking about buying a 7800X3D or any other CPU from AliExpress let me know in the comments.
YSTech: https://ystech.org
YSTech Article: https://ystech.org/7800x3d-aliexpress
5700X3d AliExpress Video: https://youtu.be/4qgZ8FDARII
The 7800X3D I Bought: https://bit.ly/beezito-7800x3d-aliexpress
OZBargin: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/product/amd-ryzen-7-7800x3d
Cashrewards (Affiliate Link): https://refer.cashrewards.com.au/x/PhrZuj
-YS