Intel Kills Off Core i9-9900K Speciality Dodecahedron Packaging

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Intel posted a product change notice (PCN) yesterday announcing that it is axing its specialty dodecahedron packaging for its Core i9-9900K processor. Intel's fancy translucent twelve-sided package debuted with the Core i9-9900K as a response to AMD's elaborate packaging that comes with its Threadripper processors, and like those chips, it didn't have to make room for a bundled cooler, as Intel doesn't include one. 

(Image credit: Intel)

Intel later pressed the box into service with its Core i9-9900KS, a highly-binned variant of the Core i9-9900K, but now Intel tells its customers they will need to place their last orders for the packaging by June 26. As for the translucent blue dodecahedron, Intel's PCN says the company will replace it with the standard Intel cardboard box. 

As for Intel's reasoning behind the change, the odd-shaped box presented packaging challenges that Intel covered in a previous PCN (seen above), but the elaborate shipping required to protect the semi-delicate boxes limited the number of chips the company could ship per bulk package, and obviously created quite a bit of waste. It also required numerous foam inserts for stability. The excessive bulk packaging and increased shipping costs, not to mention the fact that the Core i9-9900K is no longer the flagship chip, probably contributed to the change. The Comet Lake flagship comes to market in its own revamped packaging, as seen below.

(Image credit: Intel)
Paul Alcorn
Managing Editor: News and Emerging Tech

Paul Alcorn is the Managing Editor: News and Emerging Tech for Tom's Hardware US. He also writes news and reviews on CPUs, storage, and enterprise hardware.

  • JayNor
    a tomshardware story about a box. disappointing.
    Reply
  • JarredWaltonGPU
    Gotta say, as someone that got not one but two of these dodecahedron packages, I'm happy they're going away. Same for the massively bulky Threadripper packaging. I care a bit about the wastefulness aspect, but really they're just damned inconvenient to store anywhere. One cubit foot of space to ship a part that only needs about 1/50 that volume.
    Reply
  • cryoburner
    JayNor said:
    a tomshardware story about a box. disappointing.
    I guess it could be relevant for someone still wanting to buy a 9900K, and expecting to get the fancy box. Of course, by this point, the 9900K is kind of a pointless product for anyone building a new system, and unless someone really wants to reuse their existing motherboard to upgrade from something like a 9600K, they would likely be better off picking up the slightly-better performing 10700K for over $100 less.

    JarredWaltonGPU said:
    Gotta say, as someone that got not one but two of these dodecahedron packages, I'm happy they're going away.
    You're just not thinking like a dodecahedron. What they really needed was a dodecahedron-shaped cardboard box to ship these in, loaded into a dodecahedron-shaped shipping trailer. And they should be able to store efficiently, so long as you live in a geodesic dome.
    Reply
  • GenericUser
    My brain first thought that picture of 5 of them together in a box was actually a box of oddly shaped chocolates for a second.
    Reply
  • Exploding PSU
    I'm going to miss that engram-shaped box, even though not a chance in heck I'd buy something that high end
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    JarredWaltonGPU said:
    I care a bit about the wastefulness aspect, but really they're just damned inconvenient to store anywhere. One cubit foot of space to ship a part that only needs about 1/50 that volume.
    Yes, the "packaging war" was ridiculous, I'd much prefer that they took the marketing-centric retail packaging R&D budget and put it into lowering retail prices. I'm fine with retail packaging that focuses on making sure the goods get to destination safely instead of being show pieces. If they still want the showy packaging, save it for Special/Limited Editions or something.
    Reply
  • archfrog
    I'm glad they're going away, had to find a YouTube video to figure out how to open mine :)
    Reply
  • jkflipflop98
    GenericUser said:
    My brain first thought that picture of 5 of them together in a box was actually a box of oddly shaped chocolates for a second.

    Get this man some chocolates, STAT!
    Reply
  • gdmaclew
    I'm not the least bit surprised. Whenever someone does something as a reaction to something else (AMD packaging for Threadripper) it is usually temporary.
    Intel did a "look at me too" to show it was just as innovative as AMD.
    Now that the novelty has passed Intel isn't "interested" anymore.
    Reply