Raptor Lake Refresh non-K CPUs are seemingly more expensive than prior-gen models — overseas retailer lists non-K CPUs ahead of launch

Spanish online retailer CoolMod has published many new non-K Raptor Lake Refresh listings, including pricing information, giving us a good idea of what pricing might look like in America. Being from a Spanish retailer, the pricing includes VAT. The new models CoolMod listed four i9 and i7 non-K SKUs, three new Core i5 non-K SKUs, and two i3 models.

Converted to USD, the i9 models listed include the i9-14900, priced at $664, and the i9-14900F (its IGPless twin), priced at $637. The i7 models include the i7-14700 and i7-14700F, priced at $454 and $426, respectively. The i5 models consist of three models: the i5-14500, priced at $27; the 14400, priced at the same value as the i5-14500; and the 14400F, priced at $243. The two i3 models listed include the i3-14100 and 14100F, priced at $166 and $138, respectively.

The pricing structure for the new non-K SKUs is very similar to Intel's last several generations of Intel Core chips, with the K SKUs being roughly $50 more expensive than their non-K counterparts. The same goes for the F-series SKUs, which are approximately $20-$30 cheaper than their vanilla counterparts due to the lack of integrated graphics.

However, the one thing that isn't similar is the overall pricing of these new chips, which is noticeably higher than their 13th-generation counterparts at their original MSRP. (Let alone the highly discounted prices they are at today.) This is especially clear in the lower i5 and i3 lineups, with the Core i5-14400F costing well over $200 and the i3-14100 costing almost as much as an i5-12400F at MSRP.

Sadly, these higher prices have been expected for some time, with rumors dating as far back as August predicting a 15% price hike for these new Raptor Lake Refresh chips, which turned out to be inaccurate when the 14900K, 14700K, and 14600K came out. However, the higher prices may extend to the non-K SKUs.

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That said, it's worth taking this new information with a dose of salt since this further pricing information is from a Spanish retailer and not an actual retailer in the U.S. So, pricing could increase by several percent based on shipping costs and taxes.

The vanilla non-K Raptor Lake Refresh parts will struggle to compete with AMD's latest Ryzen 7000 series chips and even Intel's own older 13th Gen counterparts due to the minuscule performance improvements we've already seen with the Raptor Lake Refresh architecture on the 14900K, 14700K, and 14600K.