Quote:AMD's 50th Anniversary is fast approaching on May 1, and several new postings at online retailers have revealed that AMD is on the cusp of releasing a new 50th Anniversary Ryzen 7 2700X to celebrate. (Hat tip to @Dayman58 for the spot).

Aside from the mention of a bundled Wraith Prism LED cooler, the listings tell us little about the chip, including what differentiates it from existing Ryzen 7 2700X models. The chip is listed for preorder at $340.95, which is well above the typical ~$295 street price, but that's to be expected with a collector's item.

Several of the sites haven't listed retail availability yet, but on further investigation, we found a retailer that claims the part will become available on April 30, the day before AMD's anniversary celebration.
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AMD has also released special edition chips in the past–the company released its Limited Edition Ryzen 7 2700 and Ryzen 5 2600X MAX bundles last year. Even though those chips, which come with a better Wraith Max cooler than the standard models, still haven't made their way to American shores, you can still find them for sale overseas.

Quote:Given that AMD hasn't changed the model number, we expect these processors to have the same specifications as regular Ryzen 7 2700X, but with some special packaging material, and perhaps some special laser engraving on the processor's IHS. AMD has used tin boxes in the past for its first FX-series processors, so the possibility of something similar cannot be ruled out. Since pricing of this SKU isn't significantly higher, we don't expect it to be of a higher bin (better overclockers) than regular 2700X chips.

Quote:Portuguese online retailer PCDIGA has listed the Sapphire AMD 50th Anniversary Edition Nitro+ Radeon RX 590 8GB graphics card for €299.90, or roughly $338.99, on the company's website.
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The 50th Anniversary Edition will look awfully familiar if you're a fan of Sapphire products. That's because the graphics card employs the same Dual-X cooler that Sapphire has been using for some time. On this occasion, however, Sapphire has dipped the 2.2-slot cooler in gold-colored paint instead of the blue or black color that we've grown accustomed to.
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The Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 590 8GB AMD 50th Anniversary Edition is currently selling for €299.90 (~$338.99) on PCDIGA. While Portugal complies to the VAT (value-added tax) rules dictated by the European Union, the country is free to apply its own rate with the condition that it must be higher than 15 percent. Computer hardware should fall under the standard 23 percent rate, so if we deduct it from the price, the graphics card's price drops down to $275.60, which is a $45 premium over the Nitro+ RX 590 8GB Special Edition. That's apparently the price you pay for a collector's item.

Quote:Gigabyte is also participating in AMD's 50th-anniversary festivities with its X470 Aorus Gaming 7 WiFi-50 motherboard that joins the ranks of AMD's 50th Anniversary Ryzen 7 2700X processor and Sapphire's Radeon RX 590 graphics card.

Quote:Now 500 of the chips are marked as "in stock" at Compsource, meaning you can purchase the chips now for $347.95. Connection.com has also listed a few of the specifications of the commemorative chips.

As expected, the new anniversary-edition chips come with the same 8-core 16-thread design as the original Ryzen 7 2700X, but according to the listing, this new chip comes with the same base and boost frequencies. Due to the nature of early product listings, these specs could also be incorrect and merely be used as a placeholder. If the listing is correct, the only difference in the 50th Anniversary 2700X model might lay in the packaging, engraving, or a commemorative certificate, but we're sure AMD has included some sort of incentive to pay the premium.

Quote:According to VideoCardz, AMD's latest ad not only reveals the Ryzen 7 2700X 50th Anniversary processor's packaging but also points to the possibility that the US chipmaker is preparing a special edition of its Radeon VII 7nm gaming graphics card. We've been unable to verify the source of the ad, so it's wise to take this leak with a bit of salt.
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The packaging for the Ryzen 7 2700X 50th Anniversary processor shows no hints of any changes to the product. In the Radeon VII's case, the graphics card is pictured on the front side of the box so we can at least note the superficial change: It appears AMD has decided to ditch the silver shroud for a red one, perhaps to reminisce on the Red Team's good old days.

The mysterious ad seemingly points to an April 29 launch date, which is only a few days away from today. We'll keep our eyes peeled and update you if any new information arises before launch day.

Quote:VideoCardz published two high-resolution images of the 2700X's box art, which is very similar to the current orange and grey design, except it uses gold and black instead and also has "AMD 50" emblazoned across the top of the box where the Vega graphics designation would usually be for the 2200G and 2400G. While the packaging is very nice and looks premium, the anniversary-edition's real standout feature is on the CPU itself.

Every 50th anniversary 2700X seems to be getting not just the "AMD 50" logo, but also an engraving of the signature of AMD's current CEO, Dr. Lisa Su. Dr. Su has almost obtained a cult of personality from hardware fans thanks to her speeches, such as the keynote at CES last January, and her central role in coordinating AMD's most recent launches for Ryzen and Vega, the former of which has made AMD certainly relevant again. Avid AMD fans will likely appreciate this small touch, though whether or not this signature will improve performance more than RGB is debatable.

Quote:If you had been in the market for a CPU and were wondering if the Gold Edition is somehow special, purely from a hardware standpoint, the answer is “no,” and further, “save your money” unless falling into a few categories. Those categories are: (1) You’re an AMD fan to the point that this product has some sentimental or personal meaning to you and (2), you were going to buy the included games anyway, at which point this would be a cost-saving move.

Quote:There's also a factory-overclocked model of the faster card on the way to celebrate the company's 50th anniversary. That move reminds us of competitor Nvidia's "Founders Edition" cards, as well as AMD's own "RX Vega Frontier Edition" card. The grey-and-gold heatsink shroud comes with Lisa Su's signature, and AMD says the Anniversary Edition will only be available direct from the company's website.

Quote:Apparently, AMD isn't celebrating its 50th anniversary in all parts of the globe, judging from recent reports regarding its AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary Edition. Apparently, the exclusive, limited-edition graphics card will only be available for US and China customers - two of the biggest worldwide markets, for sure. This is a strange decision from AMD, since a sold unit is a sold unit; however, this may be a sign of really limited availability of the graphics card and the hardware powering it.
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Even though AMD would love to sell as many of these limited edition graphics cards as possible, especially considering their $50 premium over the reference RX 5700 XT ($499 vs $449), that the company is artificially limiting availability speaks to an even more limited edition of the hardware than previously expected. This, in turn, may speak to a need to tighten up the belt on AMD's own distribution capacities lest AIB partners end up with unsatisfying amounts of hardware. This is just speculation, so take it for what it is; whatever the reason AMD did have to limit this release, I can see some grumbling customers on the horizon already.

Quote:It seems that AMD either had a) unrevealed plans to launch their online store on more countries and markets alongside the introduction of the Navi-powered RX 5700 XT, or b) a change of mind when it comes to permitted availability of their collectors', limited-edition graphics card for the rest of the world. Originally reported to only be launched in the United States and China, an AMD representative (under the handle dprairie_AMD over at Reddit) has seemingly confirmed that the company will be bringing its limited-edition graphics cards to more markets than previously expected - though it still isn't a global release. The statement from Reddit follows.