Micro Center Intel CPU prices have SKYROCKETED!

mazeroth

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I’m looking to build a mini itx Plex server using an Intel chip with Quicksync for HW decoding and encoding. I jumped onto Micro Center’s website this morning to check on Intel CPU’s and their prices have skyrocketed! I have a pretty decent memory and can remember things like prices very well. Here’s how much the prices have changed, from memory, from yesterday:


i3-9100F: Was $79.99 and is now at $139.99

i3-9100: Was $119.99 and is now $139.99

i5-9400F: Was $139.99 and is now $199.99

i5-9400: Was $169.99 and is now $249.99

i7-8700K: Was $279.99 and is now $399.99

For reference, the i5-9600K is still priced at $179.99, $70 cheaper than the inferior i5-9400. I'm speechless.

Please tell me these are just pricing errors.
 
I saw this happen just before Black Friday with the 9900KS - went from $569.99 (and an add'l $30 off when paired with certain mobos) to $699.99 (same $30 off) then as Black Friday hit to $599.99 with add'l $20 off with certain mobos (and that's where it sat until it sold out). I wonder if they do this big boost to shock people watching prices and then when they lower it (to a price higher than the earlier lower price) people buy?
 
What enticed me is they had an open box ASUS Strix Z370 mini itx motherboard (around $180 new) for $50. I added it to my cart and set it for in-store pickup. Perfect, a good mini itx board. I'll pair it with the i3-9100...nope. Yesterday, it was $119.99 with $20 off a motherboard. Today, $20 more and they took the motherboard discount off this CPU. No other CPU did they take the $20 off but the one I wanted. I can't win! :)
 
If my location had that open box deal I would be going to upgrade my rig to a 9600k tonight lol.

I think the sales have been a bit steeper than historical. IIRC they used to just sell a couple of the more popular models below cost and everything else at MSRP. I wonder if the recent sales have been just to reduce stock after Ryzen was better than expected. Or they may have returned prices to MSRP just to move excess 9600k Now that we are starting to see 10600s in the wild.

Given that they are still having firesales on the ryzen 2xxx models and even some 1xxx I wouldn't be surprised if they are just trying to not get stuck with a bunch of hard to move last gen CPUs again.
 
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Well, I went there and the motherboard didn't have all the accessories (listing said complete) such as the wifi antenna. The manager came over and said how about I knock another $20 off? Sure! So, I walked out with it for $30. Not bad!

I spoke to the guys in the BYOPC department and they said this has happened before, where the prices went up. Apparently, the purchasing department didn't renew their special pricing with Intel (or their distributor; I forget) and they had to put everything back to MSRP. They said it will probably be fixed soon. They also said they could probably get a manager to price adjust the CPU's back to what they should be, and they are hopeful the $30 combo is coming back, instead of the current $20 discount.
 
anyone who buys at those prices or the sick high prices for used one's at ebay, etc. needs to examine their life to see why they love to play the fool. I just checked 7700K prices and lowest price (used) is $310 OBO but the chip sold New for $305 when released in 2016.

How stupid can consumers get? Wait, don't answer that Q ... :cautious:
 
I would say it might be something due with Intel's supply issues but when I was at MC today the Intel cpu was packed while the AMD selection is generally spare but they must of got shipment of AMD CPUs in the past couple days.
 
Ooof - MC can kiss their foot traffic good bye if these prices stay like this lol.
 
I’m looking to build a mini itx Plex server using an Intel chip with Quicksync for HW decoding and encoding. I jumped onto Micro Center’s website this morning to check on Intel CPU’s and their prices have skyrocketed! I have a pretty decent memory and can remember things like prices very well. Here’s how much the prices have changed, from memory, from yesterday:


i3-9100F: Was $79.99 and is now at $139.99

i3-9100: Was $119.99 and is now $139.99

i5-9400F: Was $139.99 and is now $199.99

i5-9400: Was $169.99 and is now $249.99

i7-8700K: Was $279.99 and is now $399.99

For reference, the i5-9600K is still priced at $179.99, $70 cheaper than the inferior i5-9400. I'm speechless.

Please tell me these are just pricing errors.

Jesus. I actually bought the 9700K and 9400 for benchmark comparisons. It's insane those have gotten so much more expensive.
 
The 9900k is $449 - it's reasonably priced vs the 8700k.

the 9900ks is 599.99 - which is obscene.
 
I saw this happen just before Black Friday with the 9900KS - went from $569.99 (and an add'l $30 off when paired with certain mobos) to $699.99 (same $30 off) then as Black Friday hit to $599.99 with add'l $20 off with certain mobos (and that's where it sat until it sold out). I wonder if they do this big boost to shock people watching prices and then when they lower it (to a price higher than the earlier lower price) people buy?
Exactly, fake sales have been documented. Take a $100 item, raise the price to $120 and then put in on '"SALE" for $100.
 
The 9900k is $449 - it's reasonably priced vs the 8700k.

the 9900ks is 599.99 - which is obscene.

It should perform better in multi-threaded tasks than the 9900K/KF at stock speeds. Overclocked, it's far less of an improvement over the 9900K/KF. If your overclocking all you get is roughly 200MHz (that I've seen) for that extra $150.
 
anyone who buys at those prices or the sick high prices for used one's at ebay, etc. needs to examine their life to see why they love to play the fool. I just checked 7700K prices and lowest price (used) is $310 OBO but the chip sold New for $305 when released in 2016.

How stupid can consumers get? Wait, don't answer that Q ... :cautious:

It's that price because it's the best CPU available for the Z170/Z270 chipsets and is still quite competitive with the best CPUs in gaming when overclocked.
 
It's that price because it's the best CPU available for the Z170/Z270 chipsets and is still quite competitive with the best CPUs in gaming when overclocked.

"It's that price because it's the best CPU available"

So I'll go online TONIGHT and buy a BRAND NEW ONE for $15 more than the price for USED and actually have a 3 year warranty included and did I mention that the NEW ONE hasn't been OC'ed for the past 2-3 years? I hope you re-read what you said and come to realize that it makes no good sense whatsoever and please don't bring up the delid thing and oh, is there another vulnerability patch on the way? :barefoot:
 
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"It's that price because it's the best CPU available"

So I'll go online TONIGHT and buy a BRAND NEW ONE for $15 more than the price for USED and actually have a 3 year warranty included and did I mention that the NEW ONE hasn't been OC'ed for the past 2-3 years? I hope you re-read what you said and come to realize that it makes no good sense whatsoever and please don't bring up the delid thing and oh, is there another vulnerability patch on the way? :barefoot:

New 7700k on Newegg is $440.
 
There is no way I am paying these prices for a 1151 socket CPU period.

My 5820K HEDT was 279 at microcenter.

Do not tell me it is inferior, my sons rig is a 8700K and it is not noticeably faster on day to day use.
Intel is smoking crack at these MSRPs.
 
I’m looking to build a mini itx Plex server using an Intel chip with Quicksync for HW decoding and encoding. I jumped onto Micro Center’s website this morning to check on Intel CPU’s and their prices have skyrocketed! I have a pretty decent memory and can remember things like prices very well. Here’s how much the prices have changed, from memory, from yesterday:


i3-9100F: Was $79.99 and is now at $139.99

i3-9100: Was $119.99 and is now $139.99

i5-9400F: Was $139.99 and is now $199.99

i5-9400: Was $169.99 and is now $249.99

i7-8700K: Was $279.99 and is now $399.99

For reference, the i5-9600K is still priced at $179.99, $70 cheaper than the inferior i5-9400. I'm speechless.

Please tell me these are just pricing errors.
Well, well, does that make them better ?
It seems it's more a matter of non delivery. It looks like Intel has stopped production on plenty of their products. The only Intel products still somehow profitable are servers and laptops but this is going down too. Server market is based on already in place everything around Intel and still Intel contracts for several years. Laptop market is still there based on AMD Renoir not yet out. So server CPU need plenty of wafer surface and laptops is the only PC market left for Intel. Why would they lose money on Desktops where people building their own PC know what they put inside. So they just don't produce enough to satisfy Intel even diminishing number of fans.
 
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Got my 9700kf just under $300.
I'm super happy with my 1% lows compared to my 2600 setup.
My 1080ti is being fed better than my old 7820x at Max sustainable clock.
 
Got my 9700kf just under $300.
I'm super happy with my 1% lows compared to my 2600 setup.
My 1080ti is being fed better than my old 7820x at Max sustainable clock.

Speaking of the 7820X, that's what I'm currently using at 4.7Ghz and I'm not sure what to upgrade to next. I was thinking either a 3950X next year when prices have come down, or just waiting for the Ryzen 4xxx series.

The 7820X is no slouch, but I feel like tinkering with something new. :cool:
 
Speaking of the 7820X, that's what I'm currently using at 4.7Ghz and I'm not sure what to upgrade to next. I was thinking either a 3950X next year when prices have come down, or just waiting for the Ryzen 4xxx series.

The 7820X is no slouch, but I feel like tinkering with something new. :cool:

7820x & x299 was a solid platform for recording/streaming while playing.
It handled my Kubernetes and Sec related home labbing like a champ with 128gb of ram and a pair of 960 pros.
If you are at 4.7ghz I see no reason to upgrade unless you have a workflow or personal interest that demands change.

I went Ryzen bc I was on this weird trip where was playing vids instead of using my free time for anything professionally valuable.
I got a cheapie b450 and 1200 setup, 2600 came later, then a 1700x fell into my lap.
Ryzen arc became interesting after 1903 hit mainstream channel.
Any Ryzen build before 3200 ram stability updates and windows scheduler upgrades must have been miserable.
I got to round robbing cpus to see what I was doing would be affected by cpu resources.
I took an interest in wsl2 that faded quickly once I found the ragged beta issues.

Once a bunch of my interests were satisfied I went right back to an Intel build once I got the Sec certification I was chasing.
I can feel the 1% lows in the games I play, something is just off with Ryzen in the way game builds work on it.
I’ll stick with what I have for a while.

More than likely I’ll end up issued a 16” MacBook Pro for 2020, I like the new keyboard, I’ll spend most of my professional Dev time on that.

The 9700kf build is just something to screw around with on the weekends.
 
MC in Madison Heights Mi doesn't have much in stock and all prices went up and some alot! After seeing todays leak on the comet lake 10 core, I will wait for it in February. I just can't go back to AMD, trust issues i guess.
 
intel production shortages is pushing up the retail prices. the sad part is that they are inferior to amd equivalents so there is really no reason to buy intel except maybe that you want to reuse your existing motherboard.
 
MC in Madison Heights Mi doesn't have much in stock and all prices went up and some alot! After seeing todays leak on the comet lake 10 core, I will wait for it in February. I just can't go back to AMD, trust issues i guess.

AMD is terrible for GPUs.

But their Zen2 CPUs are seriously kicking Intel's butt and the new x570 platform offers more features than any equivalent intel motherboard, including notably pcie 4.0.
 
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Intel needs all their production for OEM building and servers and lets face facts the do it yourself building is now dominated by AMD https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Computers-Accessories-Computer-CPU-Processors/zgbs/pc/229189 . The thing I fear is this will only embolden AMD to test the limits on price on the Ryzen 4000 series when it releases as Intel will be far behind if the rumored 17% IPC uplift in general. I dont see prices getting cheaper in the short term for us.
 
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Meanwhile AMD prices continue to drop - $69 for a 1500x, $85 for a 1600 AF.

How did Intel let it get to this point??
 
I've noticed there is very little middle ground @ Microcenter these days when looking at an intel cpu upgrade.


My options are:
$400+: 2 options
$300+: 2 options
$200+: 0
under $200: 6 options.

I usually buy processors in the $200-$300 range....and I'd like to upgrade from my I5-8400. If I'm going to spend > $400 I'm going Ryzen 3900x, move my ram over & buy a board.
$300+ gets me +33% cores & no HT.
 
I predict a hard time for consumers as prices in Enterprise is also going up (and much better margins in that segment).
I have heard from our vendors that Intel has had a demand 30% higher that predicted.
Mellanox cards are even higher...+400% higher demand that expected.
And 7.38 TB SDD's ordered today...will be delivered in April.

And that is enterprise...private consumers can start crying now.
 
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