Following the release of a product change notification, Intel has revealed that it has retrofitted an assembly line for Coffee Lake. Until now, Intel has been producing Coffee Lake CPUs in Malaysia, but will soon be shipping 8th generation i5 and i7 processors from Chengdu, China.
Even though the i7 8700k could be the best gaming CPU right now depending on which games you are playing, actually getting a hold of one has been difficult. The above suggested retail pricing combined with a lack of stock has reduced its price to performance value, but that does not seem to be stopping many consumers from still trying to buy one.
What will potentially put a dent in sales for Coffee Lake, however, is the price reduction of Ryzen. Over the weekend, Ryzen CPUs hit record low prices. The Ryzen 7 1700X reached a new low of just $229.99 at Microcenter beating the Ryzen 7 1700 by $20. At leading online retailers, Ryzen is still available at considerable discounts.
Most noteworthy Ryzen discounts so far are as follows (Ryzen had already received price cuts after launch, but these makes them ever more attractive):
- Ryzen 3 1200 was $109 is now $99
- Ryzen 5 1600 was $200 is now $190
- Ryzen 5 1600x was $220 is now $200
- Ryzen 7 1700 was $300 is now $270
- Ryzen 7 1700x was $350 is now $280
- Ryzen 7 1800x was $420 is now $320
- Ryzen Threadripper 1920x was $799 is now $650
- Ryzen Threadripper 1950x was $999 is now $800
An increase in supply of Coffee Lake CPUs could certainly help out the price situation for those interested in shopping for an Intel processor. Intel business partners must be ready to receive retail boxed processors by December 15, 2017 that carry the "made in China" label instead of made in Malaysia, so expect to wait a few more weeks before there may be more stock available.