Intel cuts 10th-gen Comet Lake prices as AMD struggles with CPU shortages

[midian182]

What just happened? In the battle between Intel and AMD, team blue has long been the more expensive option, even as Ryzen closed the performance gap. But it appears that Intel is taking advantage of its rival’s supply issues by dropping the prices of some 10th-generation Comet Lake CPUs.

As spotted by Tom’s Hardware, Intel’s Core i7-10700F processor, as in the one with the multiplier lock and no iGPU, is down from $315 one month ago to just $229 on Amazon. You can also grab a Core i5-10400F for just $150 also on Amazon, while Staples is offering it for $142 -- though it’s already out of stock there.

As you can see from our Product Finder, which includes a price tracker showing the lowest and highest prices on Amazon over the last 120 days, several Comet Lake chips have been getting cheaper recently.

The Core i7-10700K, one of our ‘Best Gaming CPU’ picks, can be found for $344, down from its average of $384, while the Core i9-10900KF is $463.

In addition to the reduced prices, the other appealing element about the Comet Lake chips is that they’re actually available to buy. Because the company has its own manufacturing fabs, Intel isn’t fighting with other industries for capacity at TSMC, as is the case with AMD, which is also dealing with low Ryzen 5000 stock.

Intel’s 11th-gen Rocket Lake chips are expected to arrive in the first quarter of the year, though they won’t support motherboards with H410 or B460 chipsets. The company recently grabbed some CPU market share back from AMD for the first time in 3 years; by reducing Comet Lake prices, the firm appears to be capitalizing on these gains.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/88598-intel-cuts-10th-gen-comet-lake-prices-amd.html

 

[Irata]

Not sure it‘s a good idea for Intel to aim for the „budget bargain bin“ position.

That said, it seems they are not cutting prices to capitalize on anything but rather to get their CPU sold. Looking at my favorite retailers, even with Comet Lake being cheaper customers go for Ryzen 3000 and 5000 series instead by a large margin.

Either way, Comet Lake is not a bad deal or bad CPU at those prices if you invest in a good mainboard and cooling that can run them at constant PL2 like in the reviews.

 

[dnous]

The availability of Ryzen CPUs has gotten a whole lot better though. It could be that they are just trying to clear stock for the release of the 11th gen cpu's.

 

[Ludak021]

To me, as an i7 9700 owner, AMD and especially Intel offers are, meh. But, if a customer needing a new PC comes, and they can get 3xxx AMD or 10xxx intel, doesn't really matter unless you are not an ordinary end user, but a one that needs a render machine or do some AI work, than neither of these will be good enough.

 

[ET3D]

I never really understand titles like "Intel cuts 10th-gen Comet Lake prices" where the news item is then on Amazon prices.

If anything, I'd say that the reason is to clear stocks in preparation for Rocket Lake.

 

[Achaios]

Totally not worth it.

Out of curiosity, I checked prices at Amazon.de

10700KF sells for 318 euros (abt $400) while I can find the 5600X in over twenty local computer shops here in Greece for 330 euros.

10700F sells for 264 Euros (abt $ 350). Still not worth it to buy a lame, hamstrung CPU with terrible power consumption and thermals when you can get a top-of-the-line state-of-the-art non-hamstrung 5600X for 330 euros.

Noped out.

 

[anonymuos]

Did they cut prices for their laptop parts sold to OEMs? That's what matters more.

 

[Cycloid Torus]

I like seeing the competition - makes the 'scarcity' livable. Does anyone have an idea about how low they can go?

 

[Angga B]

Intel did have supply issues in recent past, including what would most people call as 'paper launch'. Yet I concur, their pricing here is good, as msrp. Ryzen 3 meanwhile, is skyrocketing, without any supply.

 

[bluetooth fairy]

Tiger Lake is coming soon?

 

[BadThad]

Just Intel clearing out inventory for the next gen and trying to make a dent in AMD at the same time.

 

[Aryassen]

Totally not worth it.

Out of curiosity, I checked prices at Amazon.de

10700KF sells for 318 euros (abt $400) while I can find the 5600X in over twenty local computer shops here in Greece for 330 euros.

10700F sells for 264 Euros (abt $ 350). Still not worth it to buy a lame, hamstrung CPU with terrible power consumption and thermals when you can get a top-of-the-line state-of-the-art non-hamstrung 5600X for 330 euros.

Noped out.

I'm actually biased towards AMD (I am the happy user of a 3600), but I still believe that the 10700F is actually a good offering, and it is not "hamstrung" (especially if you can tweak the motherboard to increase the TDP to maintain PL2 indefinitely - which seems to be very simple). I still would go with AMD, as I like the longevity of their platform(s), but I could totally understand if someone picked a 10700F right now (especially if (s)he can't find a decent a decent Ryzen deal in the vicinity): it should be a good and solid basis for a gaming rig.

I also agree with the comments suggesting that this might be just an attempt to clear stocks before the new gen processors, and/or to slow down AMD's market share grabbing...either way, at least some buyers may have a good deal, and that should be good, shouldn't it?

 

[Lew Zealand]

If there was a 10900F at $230 for my B360 board, I'd be all over it but no, only these LGA1200 processors get the price cut. Whatever...

 

[Dyper]

W 1250P/1270P Xeons also show price drops. I like that because the W480 Server boards are 40/50% cheaper than the Z490/X570 variants.

I always grabbed the best components for my DAWs but noticed that performance/longevity showed little difference.
But buying the best parts like Xeon’s at consumer prices is most compelling.

Wanted the 5700X/5800X with built in GPU but no further mention by AMD so maybe in 2024.

 

[PEnnn]

Don't forget to factor in the price of a new motherboard each time Intel vomits a new chip.

Cheaper you say??

 

[Crichton]

Don't forget to factor in the price of a new motherboard each time Intel vomits a new chip.

Cheaper you say??

I've seen the lower prices at my local Micro Center. Of course that's great. Then I looked up boards. B series non existent right now in store. Z series are still really expensive.

 

[Dyper]

Don't forget to factor in the price of a new motherboard each time Intel vomits a new chip.

Cheaper you say??

it’s why older matured designs are easier to get and I know they work with DSP Accelerators.
I got tired of new boards & chips for every new heat box Intel promoted.
Never got tired of their Xeons, just didn’t like premium prices.

This way in a few years 5000 series chips will be cheap and have matured.

 

[jpuroila]

Totally not worth it.

Out of curiosity, I checked prices at Amazon.de

10700KF sells for 318 euros (abt $400) while I can find the 5600X in over twenty local computer shops here in Greece for 330 euros.

10700F sells for 264 Euros (abt $ 350). Still not worth it to buy a lame, hamstrung CPU with terrible power consumption and thermals when you can get a top-of-the-line state-of-the-art non-hamstrung 5600X for 330 euros.

Noped out.

I mean... I'm generally an AMD-fan, but 10700F for 60€ less than 5600x is definitely not a bad price.

 

[meric]

I mean... I'm generally an AMD-fan, but 10700F for 60€ less than 5600x is definitely not a bad price.

10700 is a good chip but you get what you pay for. Intel b460 chipsets have their weaknesses. What I want to emphasize is that you may end up paying much more than the AMD system if you have to purchase an expensive intel motherboard in order to attain optimum features/performance.

 

[Shadowboxer]

In the U.K. the 5900X is the only zen 3 part consistently out of stock. However Zen 3 is consistently quite a lot more expensive than Intel’s 10th gen. I don’t think people who would have bought a 5900X would pick up a 10700F or whatever. So I think this is more Intel clearing stock to make room for their new gen.

 

[punctualturn]

Keep your garbage, Intel, do not want even for free.

I hope they start to lose so much money that they are forced to sell their headquarters and operate from under a bridge.

 

[imdarkbreeze]

I don't know where any of you, including the author, thinks the price has dropped. Maybe, MAYBE, they INTEND on dropping prices, but right now the prices for Comet lake CPUs are exactly the same as they've been for the last two or three months.

I bought an i3-10100 shortly after Christmas to do a build for my sister's aging machine, and it was EXACTLY the same price then that it is now. Stop being lemmings and believing everything the mouth in the side of the market face keeps telling you. There is no "sale", there is only Intel (And it's (willingly or not) marketing partners like Techspot, Tom's, etc.) telling you it's cheaper so you'll buy during a time when there is very little buying going on in terms of new builds and CPUs because most people know that the hardware is scarce and expensive right now.

Items Ordered Price
1 of: Intel Core i3-10100 Desktop Processor 4 Cores up to 4.3 GHz LGA1200 (Intel 400 Series Chipset) 65W, Model Number: BX8070110100
Sold by: Amazon.com Services LLC

Condition: New
$114.25

That's from my December invoice, and it's EXACTLY the same as what that part is currently selling for. Not to conjure thoughts of the orange one, but unfortunately, it would seem to be fake, marketing driven news.

Sorry Techspot, but the numbers don't lie.

 

[imdarkbreeze]

Keep your garbage, Intel, do not want even for free.

I hope they start to lose so much money that they are forced to sell their headquarters and operate from under a bridge.

This is dumb. AMD is no different than Intel, in ANY way, and if there was no competition in the desktop or mobile CPU markets, the prices of EITHER company would be significantly higher because what other choice would you have.

AMD has NEVER sold it's parts for less than Intel because it "likes" you, or wants to "help" you, or is your "friend" or a friend of the "people". It has ONLY, EVER, been because that's what they had to do in order to compete with Intel because they couldn't do it based on performance, until now, at least not for a VERY long time anyhow. And now that they either have or are neck and neck in the performance war, you will please note how the prices for AMD parts have climbed drastically, as expected from any consumer driven manufacturer.

What we NEED actually, is a third AND/OR fourth competitor making devices and CPUs that can actually compete in this sector, and do so at competitive prices, because THAT would drive the prices down across the board to some degree although if everybody has to pay more for the raw materials and labor, then the price of everything is going up no matter how many people are making a certain thing, and maybe more because with more people making it there is every possibility that the scarcity of the materials involved might directly drive prices up regardless.

Even so, in that scenario, eventually (Unless the materials shortage is a permanent factor) the cost would come way down as all involved companies try to offload their wares by undercutting their competitors.

But regardless of all that, you don't EVER want there to ONLY be ONE company, making ANYTHING you need, or else you're going to pay greatly, and through the nose for it.

 

[neeyik]

Sorry Techspot, but the numbers don't lie.

Your i3-10100 obviously isn't one that Intel has dropped the price on and the article clearly states that the decreases are only for some models.

The displayed i7-10700F, on Amazon at $229, had an original MSRP of $298.00 to $308.00 (link). And in the case of the 10700K model, the price tracker clear shows the prices coming down:

Intel Core i7-10700K

The Core i7-10700K is an 8-core, 16-thread CPU, same as the 9900K, but whereas the Coffee Lake part features a base clock of 3.6 GHz, the 10700K wo...

www.techspot.com

Currently at $345, whereas the original MSRP range was $374.00 to $387.00 (link).

 

[imdarkbreeze]

If you think "MSRP" is, or has ever been, something that actually gets used, then I can only chuckle at you and walk away. It's cute that you think that though.