Prepare to Pay At Least $600 for Intel's Core i9-9900KS

Tsing

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We already know that Intel's Core i9-9900KS will be expensive, but how much? According to a listing by Australian retailer Mwave, $600 could be the price for those who want a processor that can hit a 5 GHz boost clock across eight cores right out of the box.

The Core i9-9900KS seemingly sports the BX80684I99900KS part number. The Australian store put up the Core i9-9900KS for 899 AUD (Australian Dollars), which approximately converts to $607. Hardware detective momomo_us has managed to find the Core i9-9900KS at a U.S. retailer with a $603.66 price tag.
 
For historical consideration, the Core 2 Extreme processors were released at around $1000 over 12 years ago. While the price of the 9900KS seems extreme, especially given the current competition, for Intel's highest-end consumer processor, historically it isn't that expensive.
 
Hardware (especially processors) in Australia is notoriously overpriced in comparison to in the USA.

One time I was over there I got myself an i7-3770 for about $270AUD from microcenter, same processor locally was about $500AUD.

Too early to call it.

Question becomes - what does the market for the 9900KS look like? The answer is: Those few pushing the absolute limit
 
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jardows said:
For historical consideration, the Core 2 Extreme processors were released at around $1000 over 12 years ago. While the price of the 9900KS seems extreme, especially given the current competition, for Intel's highest-end consumer processor, historically it isn't that expensive.
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All fair points. However, if they think it will compete well in the segment, Intel is insane.
 
keljian said:
Hardware (especially processors) in Australia is notoriously overpriced in comparison to in the USA.

One time I was over there I got myself an i7-3770 for about $270AUD from microcenter, same processor locally was about $500AUD.

Too early to call it.

Question becomes - what does the market for the 9900KS look like? The answer is: Those few pushing the absolute limit
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Indeed, Mwave Australia selling 9900K for $799AUD or about $540, Ryzen 3900X is $809AUD or $547. I probably see Mwave Australia being 10% higher price than the states, at $550, the KS is still a hard pill to swallow.
 
Dan_D said:
All fair points. However, if they think it will compete well in the segment, Intel is insane.
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Agreed.
Let me state my less filtered opinion then:
It is nice to think that Intel's over-priced top-end processor is only ~$600 instead of the $1000 it was 10 years ago. At that price it's not competitive with AMD's offerings, but those who feign outrage at the price can use a little historical perspective to chill out.
 
Not too shocked by the price. On the AMD side I've been reading that one thing to consider is that the processors may cost lest but some(x570) motherboards are comparatively more expensive. I haven't confirmed this but have read it in some threads.
 
jardows said:
For historical consideration, the Core 2 Extreme processors were released at around $1000 over 12 years ago. While the price of the 9900KS seems extreme, especially given the current competition, for Intel's highest-end consumer processor, historically it isn't that expensive.
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This. I bet if Zen 2 weren't what it is today, this would have been a $1k+ release.
 
lostin3d said:
Not too shocked by the price. On the AMD side I've been reading that one thing to consider is that the processors may cost lest but some(x570) motherboards are comparatively more expensive. I haven't confirmed this but have read it in some threads.
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Don't have to go on just what you read in threads, easy enough to compare prices. Here's some apple-to-apple comparisons of ASUS offerings At the Egg:
ASUS Prime Z390-P - $149.99
ASUS Prime X570-P - $169.99
ASUS TUF Z390-Plus Gaming (Wi-Fi) - $169.99
ASUS AM4 TUF Gaming X570-Plus (Wi-Fi) $199.99
ASUS ROG Strix Z390-F - $199.00
ASUS AMD AM4 ROG Strix X570-F - $299.99
ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390 - $449.99
ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Formula AMD X570 - $649.99

At each level, with the same submodel, the X570 board is more expensive. While the Prime has a difference of $20, and the TUF is only $30, the ROG Strix is $100 more, and the Formula is a whopping $200 more! If you are staying more with mainstream motherboards, the price difference is negligible, it is only when you go for the higher-end "gaming" motherboards that the price difference in platform would start to come into play.

Of course, this doesn't tell the whole story as far as building a computer on the comparative CPU's, as the currently available SKU's from both Intel and AMD can run on lower-end platforms that cost much less. X470 motherboards are very comparable (if not sometimes cheaper) than Z370 motherboards, so at that point you would only be looking at performance per $ from the CPU.

And of course, if you are looking strictly at performance per $, you have to take into consideration the value (or lack thereof) that comes with AMD's included HSF, while the Intel processor does not include anything. On a budget-minded build, this will more than make up the difference in motherboard pricing.
 
jardows said:
And of course, if you are looking strictly at performance per $, you have to take into consideration the value (or lack thereof) that comes with AMD's included HSF, while the Intel processor does not include anything. On a budget-minded build, this will more than make up the difference in motherboard pricing.
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This is really the primary point of contention I have with your statement.

Budget coolers are 40 bucks for a decent air cooler these days. Sometimes the difference is far beyond that. I suppose it matters for the tier. But even the cheap air coolers that do well are 20ish bucks.
 
Grimlakin said:
This is really the primary point of contention I have with your statement.

Budget coolers are 40 bucks for a decent air cooler these days. Sometimes the difference is far beyond that. I suppose it matters for the tier. But even the cheap air coolers that do well are 20ish bucks.
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And, using the "lower end" X570 and Z390 motherboards, that difference erases the price premium for the AMD boards. That is my point.
 
jardows said:
And, using the "lower end" X570 and Z390 motherboards, that difference erases the price premium for the AMD boards. That is my point.
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Ah ok I gotcha.

There is a reason for the increased cost of the new motherboards other than the 'well we can charge more' mantra. The new traces for PCIE 4.x are more demanding to do. Are they THAT much more demanding... well that is a different story.
 
Grimlakin said:
Ah ok I gotcha.

There is a reason for the increased cost of the new motherboards other than the 'well we can charge more' mantra. The new traces for PCIE 4.x are more demanding to do. Are they THAT much more demanding... well that is a different story.
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I can't remember if it was Dan or Brent but one of them had mentioned that in another review.
 
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