Intel Quietly Raises Prices for 12th-Gen Alder Lake CPUs, Now Cost More Than 13th-Gen
Inflation bites.
Intel has raised the pricing of its 12th-gen Alder Lake processors in its online Ark product database, reflecting a 10% increase in pricing for the company's previous-gen desktop PC chips. In some cases, that can be a ~$60 increase in the price for a chip.
For now, the company's newer 13th-gen Raptor Lake processors, which come with more cores and drastically faster performance, are actually less expensive than the previous-gen models. However, we expect the Raptor Lake models to also see price hikes soon, perhaps giving AMD a leg up in the pricing department.
Intel announced during the first quarter of 2022 that it would increase chip pricing, but didn't share details. The company again reiterated that message back in June during its earnings call in the wake of losing $500 million in the second quarter of 2022 - one of the worst quarters in the company's history. However, Intel again did not specify which products would see price hikes or how much it would raise prices.
Row 0 - Cell 0 | Original Price | New Price | Increase | Percentage Increase |
Core i9-12900K | $589 | $648 | $59 | 10% |
Core i9-13900K | $589 | - | - | - |
Core i7-12700K | $409 | $450 | $41 | 10% |
Core i7-13700K | $419 | - | - | - |
Core i5-12600K | $289 | $318 | $29 | 10% |
Core i5-12400 | $192 | $211 | $19 | 10% |
Core i3-12100 | $122 | $134 | $12 | 10% |
We now know that Intel's client CPUs will not be spared - we noticed that the pricing for several key Alder Lake SKUs had been altered on the Ark database, but Intel hasn't formally announced the price hikes yet.
Intel lists a $10 price range for its processors ($589 to $599, for example), but for simplicities sake, we used the lower number in the above table. Intel has hiked the Alder Lake desktop CPUs by 10% across the entire range spanning from the Core i3 to Core i9 models. In the case of the highest-end Core i9-12900K, we see an increase of $59.
We also see the same price hikes for the graphics-less F-series models, which typically come at a discount, and the 65W and 35W "non-K" models that sell at even lower prices.
In an odd twist, that means the previous-gen Alder Lake models are now more expensive than the current-gen Raptor Lake chips. However, the latter comes with more cores and is significantly faster, topping both our list of the best CPUs for gaming and our CPU Benchmark Hierarchy, so we expect those chips will also see price hikes in the coming days.
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Intel's Raptor Lake currently enjoys both a performance lead and a significant price-to-performance advantage over AMD's competing Ryzen 7000 processors. However, Intel's price increases could change the pecking order, particularly in the lower price ranges, like Core i3 and Core i5.
We've reached out to Intel for more information and will update as necessary.
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.
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PCWarrior I wonder whether this move is to make 13th gen look better value now that the lower end 13th gen parts are going to be released and are going to be compared to their predecessors. Also this may intend to create an artificial sense of urgency to consumers to BUY NOW while the retail prices are still low and have yet to adjust to the higher prices.Reply -
bolweval FYI, I just got a 13700k at Antonline through their Ebay channel for $399(new), they are selling the 12900k for $379.99. For whatever reason their chip prices are a bit cheaper through Ebay..Reply
https://www.ebay.com/str/antonline -
bit_user
It was reported last summer that Intel warned its channel partners of impending price increases on Alder Lake, likely for that very reason. At this point, it's probably too late - the warning already came and served its purpose of trying to stem the losses in that bloody quarter and now Intel can say "we warned you". Maybe there are a few retailers who have yet to reprice their CPUs, but I'm guessing any new orders submitted to Intel will be fulfilled at the new prices.PCWarrior said:this may intend to create an artificial sense of urgency to consumers to BUY NOW while the retail prices are still low and have yet to adjust to the higher prices.
I wonder if it could have anything to do with the Sapphire Rapids ramp up. Intel said the manufacturing process for Raptor Lake was slightly improved (let's call it "Intel 7+" : ) so maybe those are on a different production line than SPR and not immediately competing for fab resources. -
cyrusfox
As the 13700k outperforms the 12900k on every metric, except the packaging :) and no need to update bios on 600 series boards, it is impossible for the 12900k to maintain a higher actual market price than the 13700k.bolweval said:FYI, I just got a 13700k at Antonline through their Ebay channel for $399(new), they are selling the 12900k for $379.99. For whatever reason their chip prices are a bit cheaper through Ebay..
https://www.ebay.com/str/antonline -
bit_user
For those wondering why anyone would still buy a 12th gen part, let me direct your attention to this specs comparison:cyrusfox said:As the 13700k outperforms the 12900k on every metric, except the packaging :) and no need to update bios on 600 series boards, it is impossible for the 12900k to maintain a higher actual market price than the 13700k.
https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/compare.html?productIds=134594,230500
We see the 12th gen part advertise several features the 13th gen equivalent lacks:
Intel® Optane™ Memory Supported (irrelevant, in practice - it's expensive, was already hard-to-find, and now discontinued)
Intel vPro® Enterprise
Intel® Threat Detection Technology (TDT)
Intel® Active Management Technology (AMT)
Intel® One-Click Recovery
Intel® Hardware Shield Eligibility
Intel® Total Memory Encryption - Multi Key
Intel® Total Memory Encryption
Intel® Stable IT Platform Program (SIPP)
Intel® Virtualization Technology with Redirect Protection (VT-rp)In other words, it's likely that enterprise customers will eat the higher cost and stick with the older, slower 12th gen models. -
edzieba
Well good news! Budget builders only had to remain in a quandry for a couple of hours, as the i5-13400F is now listed for a mere $4 over the pre-price-bump 12400F RRP, for an extra 4 E-cores and some other improvements (double L2 cache, 400MHz boost clock bump).Why_Me said:This news suck. The i5 12400F has been a mainstay for budget builds. -
Chung Leong The steady cost reduction of electronics used to be the one thing that pushes inflation down. Now we're seeing this kind of price increases. On a previous generation part no less. And while demand is severely depressed.Reply -
PCWarrior
No. The 13400F is $196. This is $2-$12 higher than the NEW price of the 12400F. The new price of the 12400F is $184-$194 whereas its original price was $167-$174. So yeah there is a price hike of $22-$29 gen over gen. That is 12%-17% higher.edzieba said:Well good news! Budget builders only had to remain in a quandry for a couple of hours, as the i5-13400F is now listed for a mere $4 over the pre-price-bump 12400F RRP, for an extra 4 E-cores and some other improvements (double L2 cache, 400MHz boost clock bump).