We’ve seen the CPU market undergo rapid alterations in 2017, as the battle between AMD and Intel reached a level of ferocity not seen the Phenom II days of 2010. This change in the previously calm CPU market kicked off with the release of AMD’s Ryzen CPUs in March, and will now only escalate with the launch of Intel’s Coffee Lake CPUs.
Ryzen has so far proven highly successful, and AMD’s pricing of Ryzen SKUs has put significant pressure on Intel. Specifically, AMD has sought to undercut Intel’s performance-competitive Kaby Lake CPUs, which in turn has lead Intel to drop its CPU prices.
Kaby Lake is now on the verge of being replaced by Intel’s new Coffee Lake CPUs, which have higher core counts than their immediate predecessors. Launched on October 5, Coffee Lake is now available from several retailers, but select models will be hard to obtain.
The i7-8700K Coffee Lake flagship chip is exclusively available from Newegg as of October 6, and it’s currently sold out. The i7-8700 is available from more retailers, but it’s also sold out everywhere. The i5-8600K is sold out on Amazon, and although it’s available from Newegg, the online retailer has indicated that there is a limit of one per customer and that the CPU will not ship for 15 to 20 days. The less expensive Core i3-8100 is also sold out on Amazon but is available on Newegg.
With several models sold out, this could point to a supply shortage of the new CPUs. To assist you with shopping for a new Ryzen or Coffee Lake CPU, we have listed where you can buy all of these processors for the least amount of money. We will endeavour to keep this list updated, and to keep you informed of any new developments in the CPU price game.
| CPU/Current Price | Starting Price | Cores/Threads @ Clock Speed | Review |
|---|---|---|---|
| $109 | 4/4 @ 3.1GHz | ✗ | |
| $129 | 4/4 @ 3.4GHz | Read The Review | |
| $169 | 4/8 @ 3.2GHz | ✗ | |
| $189 | 4/8 @ 3.5GHz | Read The Review | |
| $219 | 6/12 @ 3.2GHz | Read The Review | |
| $249 | 6/12 @ 3.6GHz | Read The Review | |
| $330 | 8/16 @ 3.0GHz | Read The Review | |
| $400 | 8/16 @ 3.4GHz | Read The Review | |
| $500 | 8/16 @ 3.6GHz | Read The Review | |
| $550 | 8/16 @ 3.8GHz | ✗ | |
| $800 | 12/24 @ 3.5GHz | Read The Review | |
| $1000 | 16/32 @ 3.4GHz | Read The Review | |
| $117 | 4/4 @ 3.6GHz | ✗ | |
| $168 | 4/4 @ 4.0GHz | ✗ | |
| $182 | 6/6 @ 2.8GHz | ✗ | |
| $257 | 6/6 @ 3.6GHz | ✗ | |
| -- Sold Out | $303 | 6/12 @ 3.2GHz | ✗ |
| -- Sold Out | $359 | 6/12 @ 3.7GHz | Read The Review |
