Intel Kills Off Core i9-9900K Speciality Dodecahedron Packaging

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. 

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. 

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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.