The top ten most popular CPUs on Amazon all come from AMD, with the Ryzen 7 5700X two years old at the top and Intel's best effort in 12th place.

It's hard to break away from certain norms when you've been following PC games for as long as I've. In the CPU market for example, I remember that the conventional wisdom was that AMD was the plucky underdog who was nipping at Intel's heels.

In the last few years, however, the metric has changed dramatically. Amazon's top-selling CPU list shows that AMD dominates the top ten, with Intel's best efforts barely making it to number 12 (via Tom's Hardware). The AM4-socketed Ryzen 7 (5700X) is at the top of the list. This Zen 3 CPU (at its current $130 price) seems to be a good compromise between price and performance.

Don't forget that the 5700X is a powerful eight-core processor with 16 threads. Its attractive price and outstanding performance have attracted buyers. The Ryzen 5 5600X is right below it, and the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is in third place.

Intel? The Core i5-13600KF is the best of team blue, but only manages to place 12th. It's a good chip for the price (currently on sale for $175), but the weight of AMD chips above it is noticeable.

The Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a new processor that has only been available for five minutes, but has already climbed to the fifth spot. It's no surprise that the Ryzen 7 9800X3D is so powerful, but at $479 it's not cheap.

It's still moving in large numbers, which should be a relief to AMD, since the rest of the Ryzen 9000 Series reportedly had poor sales when launched earlier this year.

Intel's Arrow Lake processors have also just hit the market, but they were not well received. Nick was impressed by the power efficiency, but not much else, when he reviewed Core Ultra 9 285K & Core Ultra 5 245. The sales reflect the negative reviews that have been published in multiple outlets.

Scroll down to number 39, where you'll find the Core Ultra 9 285K. It's hard to sell at $699 and with a performance that is less than stellar compared to the Core i9-14900K from the previous generation, which is currently available for $438.

Intel has more bad news to report. Uncertain whether this is a reflection on a lack in consumer confidence since the (now-resolved) crashing debacle of the summer or simply an acknowledgment of price/performance rates driving sales overall.

It's not good news for Intel, given its ongoing problems with its business as a whole. The biggest retailer in the world is showing a preference for the competition on the desktop CPU market.

If I was a time traveler, showing this list to Young Andy(tm), his tiny little brain would be blown. The times are changing, but if this list is an indication of the overall market, Intel appears to be on the back foot when it comes CPU sales.