U.S. Retailer Lists Rocket Lake CPUs, Core i9-11900K For $599

11th Generation Rocket Lake-S CPU
11th Generation Rocket Lake-S CPU (Image credit: Intel)

Milwaukee PC (via Harukaze5719), a retailer that has been around since 1988, has shared the pricing for Intel's 11th Generation Rocket Lake processors that will soon vie for a spot on our list of best CPUs for gaming. The company didn't reveal the launch date but did affirm that the new 14nm chips are coming soon, meaning they'll be new entries in our CPU Benchmark hierarchy soon.

The Core i9-11900K will be this generation's flagship, and according to Milwaukee PC, the chip will retail for $599.99. For comparison, the Core i9-10900K debuted at $499.00, so we're looking at 20.2% increase in price for its successor, despite losing two cores, but we do caution that these could be either placeholder or inflated listings. Besides, the Core i9-11900K does bring the new Cypress Cove cores along with Intel's 12th Generation Xe LP graphics unit, so we should wait for in-depth performance testing before passing judgment. If you don't fancy integrated graphics, the Core i9-11900KF will save you $20.

From a price-to-performance standpoint, the Core i7-11700K will likely be one of the fan favorites again. The Rocket Lake part shares the same core configuration as the Core i9-11900K, albeit slower clock speeds. Apparently, the Core i7-11700K carries a $484.99 price tag, representing a 26.3% rise in pricing compared to the previous Core i7-10700K. At least from what we've seen so far from benchmark leaks, the Core i7-11700K paints itself as the new Core i9-10900K.

Intel 11th Generation Rocket Lake-S Pricing

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ProcessorPricing (Excl. VAT)Cores / ThreadsBase Clock (GHz)L3 Cache (MB)Part Number
Core i9-11900K$599.998 / 163.516BX8070811900K
Core i9-11900KF$579.998 / 163.516BX8070811900KF
Core i9-11900$509.998 / 162.516BX8070811900
Core i9-11900F$479.998 / 162.516BX8070811900F
Core i7-11700K$484.998 / 163.616BX8070811700K
Core i7-11700KF$454.998 / 163.616BX8070811700KF
Core i7-11700$389.998 / 162.516BX8070811700
Core i7-11700F$359.998 / 162.516BX8070811700F
Core i5-11600K$309.996 / 123.912BX8070811600K
Core i5-11600KF$279.996 / 123.912BX8070811600KF
Core i5-11600$264.996 / 122.812BX8070811600
Core i5-11500$234.996 / 122.712BX8070811500
Core i5-11400$214.996 / 122.612BX8070811400
Core i5-11400F$179.996 / 122.612BX8070811400F

Customers with tight budgets will be happy to know that the Core i5-11600K will only set them back $309.99. Out of the three major K-series parts, the Core i5-11600K accounts for the least price increase. The Core i5-11600K only costs 14% more than the widely popular Core i5-10600K. At launch, we crowned the Core i5-10600K as the ultimate mainstream gaming chip, but that was back before AMD's Ryzen 5000 series landed. We're excited to see whether the torch will pass to the Core i5-11600K.

Once again, gamers who plan to pair the Core i5-11600K could opt to grab the Core i5-11600KF. The iGPU-less variant easily nets them $30 in savings that can be put to good use in other components.

Intel 11th Generation Rocket Lake-S Pricing (Image credit: Milwaukee PC)

Intel has committed will launch Rocket Lake next month, and thanks to an MSI representative, we've narrowed the timeframe down to late March. The processors are backward compatible with the current 400-series motherboards through a simple firmware upgrade. However, motherboard manufacturers have already revealed their new 500-series offerings that are designed to extract every bit of performance out of Rocket Lake.

Rocket Lake is in all likelihood the last wave of Intel processors to grace the LGA1200 platform. Many consider it a band-aid to fend off AMD's Ryzen 5000 (codename Vermeer) army until Alder Lake is ready. Although Intel maintains the notion that the hybrid desktop chips belong to the "performance" segment, it remains to be seen whether there is any truth in the chipmaker's claims.

Zhiye Liu
News Editor and Memory Reviewer

Zhiye Liu is a news editor and memory reviewer at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.

  • everettfsargent
    Whatever the reviews are this is what I am going to do, compare apples-to-apples. That means comparing eight core parts against each other, 5800X vs i7-11700K and 5800X vs i9-11900K. If I need a 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18 core product then we move to Intel's last generation parts, either their HEDT or i9-10900K parts.

    AMD might also release another eight core part something like 5800XT or 5850X with a boost single core clock of say 5.0GHz. If I were AMD I would have been binning the higher end 5800X parts from the get go, call it Operation Counterstrike, building up an inventory of those parts, so that even if slightly slower in single core performance, would be in stock vs what is likely to be out of stock eight core Rocket Lake parts.
    Reply
  • JamesJones44
    I thought the official MSRP for the 10900k was $529 US (or at least that what the internet says). Seems odd they would jump those prices given the competition, but given the chip shortage and AMD coming out and saying high end CPU demand likely won't be met till July, maybe Intel is hoping to capitalize on being to able to supply these processors (maybe).

    Edit: Fixed typo.
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    JamesJones44 said:
    I thought the official MSRP for the 10900k was $529 US (or at least that what the internet says). Seems odd they would jump those prices given the competition, but given the chip shortage and AMD coming out and saying high end CPU demand likely won't be met till July, maybe Intel is hoping to capitalize on being to able to supply these processors (maybe).

    Edit: Fixed typo.
    These are retailors, well one, that hikes up prices because he's going to be the first to import them, prices in the first days are always blown up.
    Depending on supply this time they might stay blown up but I doubt it will be more then other years.
    Reply
  • Makaveli
    everettfsargent said:

    AMD might also release another eight core part something like 5800XT or 5850X with a boost single core clock of say 5.0GHz. If I were AMD I would have been binning the higher end 5800X parts from the get go, call it Operation Counterstrike, building up an inventory of those parts, so that even if slightly slower in single core performance, would be in stock vs what is likely to be out of stock eight core Rocket Lake parts.

    I'm on a 5800X and I can already boost to 5025-5050 on a single core.
    Reply
  • everettfsargent
    i9-11900K OC'ed to 8GHz on LN2 ... test bed setup ...
    bJgsdnpjyesView: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJgsdnpjyes
    Reply
  • Flemishdragon
    This price is a joke.. The chip is only worth 399$ if even so.... the 3800x you have for almost 300€(not sure what it is in $). And I would still not be interested consumes to much power (electric bills) and only 8 cores, really it's 2021?
    Reply
  • MarsISwaiting
    $600 for 8 cores CPU is too much today. no matter how it performs.
    Reply
  • Blackhawk69
    Better wait for alder lake with ddr5 & pcie 5.0
    Reply
  • ottonis
    So, here's my prediction: Assuming that AMD/TSMC will have sorted out any shortages and Ryzen5xxx CPUs will become abundantly available by summer 2021, Intel will then have to lower prices on their Rocket Lake CPUs in order to stay competitive.
    Intel's high introductory prices are only sustainable for as long AMD is suffering from shortages.
    With Rocket Lake prices gowing down, AMD will have to reduce their prices as well.

    Late summer should be a great time to get a 12 core Ryzen 3900 CPU that will hopefully be around 400 bucks by then.
    Reply
  • jwcdis
    everettfsargent said:
    AMD might also release another eight core part something like 5800XT or 5850X with a boost single core clock of say 5.0GHz. If I were AMD I would have been binning the higher end 5800X parts from the get go, call it Operation Counterstrike, building up an inventory of those parts, so that even if slightly slower in single core performance, would be in stock vs what is likely to be out of stock eight core Rocket Lake parts.

    I can assure you they will not be doing that, every single Ryzen 5000 is getting bought up, there is no reason for them to hold inventory and contribute to the global shortage when there is a buyer waiting
    Reply