Prices Intel Coffee Lake Procs Are Skyrocketing due to 14nm shortages
A while ago you have been able to read here that Global Foundries canceled 7nm to fully focus on 14nm, as that is the most profitable for them. That's was the first serious industry hint. The 14nm process sees massive productions delays and shortages, as a result, Coffee Lake at 14nm procs have risen in price significantly, some even 40% or 60%.
TSMC reported they cannot keep up with 14nm demand. Intel delays 10nm due to issues and later mentioned that instead of baking some series 300 chipsets chips at 14nm, they now order them as 22nm chip. My Dutch colleagues from the HWI noticed this as well and compiled a list of what is going on with prices of coffee lake processors, and the results are pretty shocking really, this is what has been happening in just three weeks time:
Lowest price with stock | |||
---|---|---|---|
1st of September | September 22 | Difference | |
Core i7 8086K | € 419 | € 459 | 10% |
Core i7 8700K | € 349 | € 420 | 20% |
Core i7 8700 | € 319 | € 425 | 33% |
Core i5 8600K | € 249 | € 299 | 20% |
Core i5 8600 | € 225 | € 298 | 32% |
Core i5 8500 | € 205 | € 256 | 25% |
Core i5 8400 | € 199 | € 279 | 40% |
Core i3 8350K | € 174 | € 200 | 15% |
Core i3 8300 | € 139 | € 169 | 22% |
Core i3 8100 | € 109 | € 175 | 61% |
Pentium G5600 | € 89 | € 100 | 12% |
Pentium G5500 | € 81 | € 97 | 20% |
Pentium G5400 | € 60 | N/A | N/A |
Celeron G4920 | € 51 | € 52 | 2% |
Celeron G4900 | € 38 | € 42 | 11% |
For example, if you are eying a Core i5 8400, then you should know it became 40% more expensive ever since the beginning of this month. The Core i3 8100 is now 61% more expensive compared to really September.
When you average the processors out, you will see an overall price increase of 23 percent, that's for the entire range with lots of fluctuations per CPU. It seems the shortages are substantial on the 14nm production lines, which makes me wonder what is to happen with the pending Core 9000 series launch, which also is based on 14nm coffee lake.
Distributors mention that there will be severely limited stock available for Core 9000 (8-core Core i9 9900K), even less than with the Series 9000 launch, and these processors suffered from shortages in availability for months after their release.
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Senior Member
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Joined: 2010-05-26
I think they want us all to become console gamers. Seriously as soon as a powerful next gen console is released with some version of Windows 10 and able to use ones Steam/Origin accounts then PC gaming will be doomed.
We'll see if that vision comes true in 2020 maybe with a console with 8cores on 7nm and also a GPU on 7nm add in some GDDR6 and an M.2 HD and console gaming will be able to match Mid/High end PCs.
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What if it is same as before? Back then 2C/4T mobile parts costed what desktop 4C/8T. Entire mobile paid for reduced desktop priced which kept AMD from getting good money.
So, is it now desktop paying for intel's ability to remain competitive in server business?
I don´t believe this is the case. Unless AMD can gain more than 20 or 30% of the server market overnight, Intel will continue to sell a lot of CPU servers as always.
things to consider, intel originally planned 10nm cannonlake for 2016, and as you know the HEDT/ server chips follow a couple years after usually, so here we are in q3 2018 and not only is intel producing consumer chips on 14nm , but also server chips (big chips), that and with the growing market for chips in general they have taken on more clients. intel didn't build fabs to handle this kind of load , 14nm load from intel's own chips should have begun dropping by now, but instead they are now maxed out because they dont have anything on 10nm yet.
This seems a plausible explanation for this situation. Server CPUs are already big and without a smaller node Intel has to make even bigger chips to increase performance and with the demand for servers growing steadily is normal for Intel to prioritise them over desktop CPUs that are sold for a much lower price... So maybe this is Intel´s way of saying that they will concentrate production on server CPUs and only a small fab capacity is going to be used for making desktop CPUs. Of course this will cause low supply and higher prices...
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I call false bs to hike prices.
They feel ripped of because they had to lower prices so much and now they want some of the piece of cake back.. xD
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I think they want us all to become console gamers. Seriously as soon as a powerful next gen console is released with some version of Windows 10 and able to use ones Steam/Origin accounts then PC gaming will be doomed.
We'll see if that vision comes true in 2020 maybe with a console with 8cores on 7nm and also a GPU on 7nm add in some GDDR6 and an M.2 HD and console gaming will be able to match Mid/High end PCs.
Sure they want. You just don't have to give in. If you think gaming on a console's difference to gaming on a PC is merely linked to using steam and origin accounts, and having PC hardware, you forget many things.
If you put a PC with the same specs / power as a console next to it, even at a higher price, I'd still not buy another stationary console again.
So all in all I guess you are a little exaggerating here.

I call false bs to hike prices.
They feel ripped of because they had to lower prices so much and now they want some of the piece of cake back.. xD
Well I see where you're going there... they aren't actually hiking prices, they're just returning to "normal" pricing again, yes yes

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1. The point of a PC is to offer a better experience than a console, otherwise there is no point in buying a PC (if that's it's main purpose).
2. There is so much cool PC tech offered like 21:9 screens, 4K screens, VR, high framerate screens and so forth, but you prefer to ignore all this and stick to this golden standard (1080p/60fps) that is frankly getting old?
1. How is 1080p @ 60FPS for the same price not better than a console (not to mention, no need to pay for a monthly subscription)? Is having a much wider collection of games, more input peripherals, and non-gaming applications not better than what a console offers?
2. 21:9 screens are good for workspaces but don't serve any advantage for the vast majority of gaming experiences. The human vision range is roughly 3:2, so a simply larger display is objectively more beneficial than ultrawide in most (but not all) scenarios. 4K, high-refresh rate displays, and VR are enthusiast platforms and also generally pretty expensive. So if you're willing to spend the money on such things, then you shouldn't have any complaints about the cost of enthusiast-grade PC parts.
Look at the Steam hardware survey and you'll find most people don't have such things. They're all "nice to have" but so are all luxuries. And luxuries aren't supposed to be affordable; otherwise, they're not luxurious. So by your complaints, that's like saying "I hate how expensive Lexus, Mercedes, Audi, and Rolls Royce are". It's not like you deserve a lower price just simply because you don't like it, because as long as people are willing to pay the higher price (which there are) then the price is justified and will remain that way.
Y'know how most games allow you to tweak the graphics settings? If you really care about getting luxurious features without paying a luxurious price, you're going to have to make sacrifices.
I don't say that it's super necessary to get all the best stuff but it's somewhat necessary if you want to keep up with, for example 4K gaming which is very demanding. I just remember that in the past, companies released upgraded products to a somewhat higher price but with a warranted performance increase compared to the older generation. Now it's the opposite, prices skyrocket while performance increases are slim or cartels drive the general prices up. Everything is so anti-consumer these days.
How vain. Nobody is forcing you to "keep up". Nobody of importance/significance cares if you have or don't have a 4K display. The grass is always greener on the other side. Are you bothered by 1080p or 2K 60Hz displays because they're actually inadequate for your needs, or because you think you need something better, because that's where the trends are going? If you get your 4K 120Hz+ 21:9 display where 3 years later a larger 8K model is released for the same price, is your currently display and the hardware driving it suddenly not good enough?
So no, the market isn't anti-consumer, you're just being a little too self-entitled. Get a higher paycheck or make some sacrifices. Until the market as a whole disagrees with the current pricing, it will remain high.
EDIT
That being said, Intel is likely going to regret increasing their prices here, because I'm sure the market will not be agreeable to it.