SSDs and AMD processors are at the top of the “must buy” list in South Africa, according to local tech hardware retailers.

Speaking to MyBroadband, the local retailers said there were multiple popular hardware products in 2019 – but a few items stood out.

SSDs are taking over

Matthew Vismer of Raru told MyBroadband that SSDs were the most commonly-purchased hardware product on their ecommerce platform.

“The tech is becoming so affordable that people are moving away from mechanical media altogether, in favour of solid-state storage,” said Vismer.

Vismer added that all the different types of SSD that Raru stocks were popular this year.

This includes traditional SATA SSDs, which usually come in a 2.5-inch form factor, as well as high-performance, slimmer SSDs of the M.2 form factor.

M.2 NVMe SSDs offer superior speed and performance, albeit at a higher price, and are popular with gamers and power-users.

This is because they are able to operate directly through the PCI-e interface rather than through your computer’s SATA connection.

AMD on the rise

Rory Magee, founder of Wootware, said that AMD processors have been among the most successful products on their store.

“With the launch of Ryzen 3000, AMD has taken the market by storm,” he said.

“We’ve seen a tremendous increase in demand for AMD processors in all segments including gaming builds, workstations, media PCs, and builds for content creators.”

AMD’s Ryzen 3000 range is its latest set of processors and offer significant performance improvements over the previous generation.

The Ryzen 7 3700X is comparable to the i7-9700K, while the 3800X is comparable to the i7-9900K, but are more affordable than their counterparts.

AMD also claims that the 3900X offers 16% more performance than the competing CPU from Intel.

Popular peripherals

Both Magee and Vismer believe that peripherals are likely to be popular over the festive season.

Magee said that they were confident of great peripheral sales due to previous experience.

This could be due to the relatively low price of peripherals compared to computer components – making them a more affordable Christmas gift.

Common and affordable peripherals include headphones, keyboards, and mice.

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