Update 5/21/2019, 7:30 p.m. PT:
We found the Z390 Aorus Xtreme Waterforce 5G Premium Edition Bundle bundle for $1600 at Newegg after it was originally spotted for €1800 by Computerbase.de. We contacted Gigabyte to verify that the 5.0 GHz reported by Newegg is erroneous, after noticing that Newegg linked back to the Gigabyte's original 5.1 GHz (51x CPU multiplier) description. With any luck, Newegg's description will be amended by the time you read this.
Update 4/4/2019, 6:20 p.m. PT: Gigabyte says that the bundles should have a ~$1,599 MSRP, but it hasn't confirmed availability in the U.S. yet.
Original article:
Gigabyte is getting into the chip binning business and selling Core i9-9900K's pre-overclocked to 5.1 GHz in the process. Gigabyte understands that many builders would rather be customizing than overclocking, and some simply don’t have the money to bin their own $520 CPUs, so the firm decided to offer its top-paying customers a way to save time, aggravation, and maybe even a bit of cost without making them feel like they're economizing with its newly-launched Z390 Aorus Xtreme Waterforce 5G Premium Edition Bundle.
The bundle pairs an Intel Core i9-9900K that’s been pre-overclocked to 5.1GHz with Gigabyte’s $900 Z390 Aorus Xtreme Waterforce, which was already a $550 Z390 Aorus Xtreme that had been bundled with a $350 monoblock. Phew.
"The BIOS has also been pretuned so that users won’t have to configure the settings to avoid complications and confusion for hitting all cores at 5.1GHz and higher while overclocking. Additionally, GIGABYTE engineers have already stress tested these motherboards at higher loads compared to that of standard configurations to ensure the reliability of these boards so that users can enjoy extreme performance with all cores at 5.1GHz or higher and excellent stability." - Gigabyte press release.
Supply shortages have already pushed the Core i9-9900K to around $520. If Gigabyte can keep the added cost of its CPU at or below $600, we can’t think of a reason someone who’s willing to spend $900 on a mainstream motherboard and water block wouldn’t want to toss a few extra bucks at the overclocking-certified sample.
Immediate availability has been announced, but not confirmed. We also await official pricing information.
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Image Credits: Gigabyte
