[SOLVED] How low will i9-9900k price get?

[rickypicky5]

I currently have a Z390 motherboard and I'm thinking about upgrading my i5-9600k to the i9-9900k that should do me fine for at least another couple of years.

I can grab one now for $430, which is a pretty good price. I'm thinking that the price may go lower in the coming months due to the 10 series recent release.

What do you guys think?

 

[GarrettL]

 

[Phaaze88]

^

But seriously, good luck with that, if the pricing of the older Intel cpus - both retail and 2nd hand - is anything to go by.

 

[digitalgriffin]

Phaze is quite correct. Even 3770 chips sell for $250 on ebay, (last I checked). Intel hasn't been forced to lower prices until very recently thanks to AMD. In fact, intel for years had a policy of not lowering prices on older processors, but rather slowly increase the prices on new ones as a way to increase margin and sell old stock at the same price.

That said, a 9700K is often a better gaming chip. 8 cores/8 threads so it may actually clock higher and most games don't use more than 6 threads. As a bonus you don't have to worry about pesky side channel HT attacks on your processors security.

Just something to consider to save you some coin.

 

[logainofhades]

They will not drop in price. Intel does not slash pricing, of their old products. Sell your current CPU, and motherboard, and get a 10600k, and a Z490 board. At least then, if you feel the need to upgrade again, in the near future, you will have some upgrade options.

 

[rickypicky5]

I'm not seeing anything in your reply. Am I missing something?

 

[rickypicky5]

^

But seriously, good luck with that, if the pricing of the older Intel cpus - both retail and 2nd hand - is anything to go by.

Last November you could get an i9-9900K for $419 at Microcenter. I thought it might hit sub $400 at some point before the end of this year.

 

[rickypicky5]

They will not drop in price. Intel does not slash pricing, of their old products. Sell your current CPU, and motherboard, and get a 10600k, and a Z490 board. At least then, if you feel the need to upgrade again, in the near future, you will have some upgrade options.

A new motherboard with a different chipset means a new copy of Windows as well. I'm not sure I want to do that since the i9-9900k with 8 cores and 16 threads will do me good for a few years.

 

[InvalidError]

What do you guys think?

Intel has pretty much quit slashing old CPU prices before/after launching new CPUs 15 years ago, so don't count on those. The vast majority of "price drops" since then are just vendors deciding to take a hit to their profit margin to get rid of whatever little excess stock they may have. As others have written, many 5-10 years old Intel CPUs still sell for close to MSRP even when used.

A new motherboard with a different chipset means a new copy of Windows as well.

Only if you have the OEM version. Retail licenses are transferable between systems, just need to de-activate the previous system and activate the new one using the product key or linked account.

 

[Phaaze88]

Last November you could get an i9-9900K for $419 at Microcenter. I thought it might hit sub $400 at some point before the end of this year.

You still have to buy a good cooler for it, plus a motherboard around 200USD or higher - to avoid VRM thermal throttling.
That all offsets that price.

 

[rickypicky5]

You still have to buy a good cooler for it, plus a motherboard around 200USD or higher - to avoid VRM thermal throttling.
That all offsets that price.

Yeah I wasn't counting on my Corsair H60 cutting it with the 9900K.

I figured a good 240mm AIO like an Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240. I already have a pretty good Z390 motherboard.

 

[Karadjgne]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/233395756860

This was the best cpu when it came out, and a staple of many for several years. Comparatively it cost about the same as the 9900k at release.

So you figure out just how much a 9900k will drop.

 

[rickypicky5]

Only if you have the OEM version. Retail licenses are transferable between systems, just need to de-activate the previous system and activate the new one using the product key or linked account.

I have OEM. One of these days I'll wise up and get a Retail license.

 

[mdd1963]

Many are still waiting for the 7700K to drop in price....

(I see some used samples on Amazon with $467 price tags, entirely ludicrous given outstanding R5-3600 pricing....)

 

[mdd1963]

I DO agree that a 9900K would be quite an upgrade/longevity insurance over the 9600K...from 6 threads to 16! (It would be hard to fathom such a CPU not being 'enough' processor for ...well anything, for at least 3-4 years, frankly)

 

[rickypicky5]

I DO agree that a 9900K would be quite an upgrade/longevity insurance over the 9600K...from 6 threads to 16! (It would be hard to fathom such a CPU not being 'enough' processor for ...well anything, for at least 3-4 years, frankly)

That's kinda the way I'm looking at it. Other than the cooler, and I could swap out the Noctua NH-D14 from my daughters computer for my H60, I'd be good for the next few years. $430 is a pretty good price. Plus I'm hoping I can get a reasonable price (maybe 140-150) if I sell my i5-9600K.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Intel CPUs don't depreciate too much, at least not at a fast rate.

 

[Karadjgne]

I think they'll start soon. With the price droppage of 10th Gen to put Intel back in competition with Amd, you can pick up a 6/12 10600k for less than $300. Ppl will balk at spending $300 for a used 4/8 8700k (new is closer to $400) and an 8/8 9700k is $370.

And that'll trickle all the way down to 3rd gen pricing on ebay where i7-3770K is already down to @ $100ish.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

a used 4/8 8700k (new is closer to $400)

8700k is 6/12

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I think they'll start soon. With the price droppage of 10th Gen to put Intel back in competition with Amd, you can pick up a 6/12 10600k for less than $300. Ppl will balk at spending $300 for a used 4/8 8700k (new is closer to $400) and an 8/8 9700k is $370.

And that'll trickle all the way down to 3rd gen pricing on ebay where i7-3770K is already down to @ $100ish.

And yet the nearly identical (better in some ways) 2600k is $65, since the 3770k is the best that socket had to offer. Similarly, since the 9900k was top end for 1151 socket, it will retain value as upgrades for current 1151 owners.

 

[InvalidError]

And that'll trickle all the way down to 3rd gen pricing on ebay where i7-3770K is already down to @ $100ish.

"Already"? Under the 90s' price wars and substantial annual performance gains model, that would have happened within 3-4 years, not 8+. It was long overdue.

Similarly, since the 9900k was top end for 1151 socket, it will retain value as upgrades for current 1151 owners.

The main reason Intel's CPUs from the early 2010s held up so well is that nothing worth incurring the cost of a whole platform upgrade was available until recently, so no reason for people to favor a platform upgrade over just a CPU upgrade on an existing platform. Now that AMD is back in the game and its CPU prices are dropping like flies when the next-gen models launch (at least for now), the status-quo on Intel's side won't hold up quite as well.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

https://ibb.co/p1jTFMf
The first few i7 7700k sold on eBay as of 7/8/20, making sure to get rid of the Chinese scam ones. Around $250 for a CPU that gets beat by a (supposedly at least) $120 3300x, or even more so by the $165 3600.

Even though AMD has been back in the game beating these CPUs, they still have retained a lot of value since they are top of the line for LGA1151 v1.

I predict the same thing will happen to 9900k prices since they are top of line for LGA1151 v2.

Though I am not a fortune teller, and we do not know what will happen with AMD and Intel in the future.

 

[Karadjgne]

I9 9900k is $494 new. The 10700k is intrinsically the same cpu, but slightly better, same 8/16 and better/more realistic power management (the 9900k a 95w TDP cpu? Lol, yeah, right).Price... $404.

The 9900k won't be a viable upgrade for many, although most Z390 boards will support it, to get its performance you gotta have a top line mobo and above average psu and well above average cooling. And most upgraders will be coming from a 9400f on a budget board. Intel made the same mistakes as amd did with the FX 9590, their supposed flagship model. They specialized it to the point where it's performance per $ is out of whack.

When you can buy a 10600k + decent mobo for less than the price of a 9900k, why even bother upgrading? And the 11600k will supposedly be better still, topping the 9900k performance.

The only ppl buying a 9900k 5 years from now will be the same type of ppl suckered into buying a 9590

 

[InvalidError]

The only ppl buying a 9900k 5 years from now will be the same type of ppl suckered into buying a 9590

Completely different things there: the 9590's price crashed almost immediately after launch since it couldn't deliver performance anywhere near good enough to justify its pricing while the 9900k was king of the hill for a year and should still hold up quite well against mainstream CPUs four years from now.

Depending on what AMD and Intel launch over the next couple of years, the 9900k may still be a viable upgrade for people who aren't interested in a whole platform upgrade and with the DRAM market's boom-bust cycles, it is quite likely we'll see another prohibitively expensive DRAM phase during the DDR5 transition that will make platform upgrades unpalatable for a while.

 

[Karadjgne]

Well to be fair, the 9900k has dropped almost $100, and pretty recently, but you are correct about the FX, that bombed hundreds of $ in its first year. But performance wise, the 9590 was also king of the amd hill for many years, a large OC 8350/8370 came close, but couldn't beat it, IF you could tame it. Most couldn't and had to downclock into the 8 series OC range.

Right now, the cheaper 10600k is only a few fps behind, the 10700k tops it. And that's not including the bump upto the 10900k family. When 11th gen drops, it should be surpassed by the 11600k-11900k, putting it in 7th place, barely ahead of 8th and 9th place 10600k - 9700k. That's a sizable drop for a flagship in just 2 generations, not even the 4790k dropped as far vs the 6700k/7700k (discounting Broadwell fiasco).

I just don't see the 9900k really holding good value in the long run. Supply will far outweigh demand. Who'd buy a used 9900k with all its thermal issues when it's beaten by a cheaper platform with half the needs? Upgrading now, sure, I can see that, plenty of impulse buyers dumping the 9900k in favor of a 10900k, but in 5 years? Doubtful. They'll be a dime a dozen. They'll be what 3rd, 4th gen are now except probably not in the Indo-Asiatic markets since those boys already have summertime heat issues.