Paying a premium for a 9700K binned at only 4.9GHz seems like a poor deal. According to them, all 9700Ks can overclock to that speed, and 69% can to overclock to 5.0GHz or higher, so you are basically paying extra to guarantee yourself one of the bottom-of-the-barrel worst overclocking chips. : P By buying a random CPU at retail, you should be guaranteed to get at least that, and there's a more than 2/3 chance of getting a higher clocking chip.
jsomiller44 :
This is a bigger increase than it appears. Normally only 2 cores run at the max speed. If the max speed is increased and all cores can run at that speed then this is more like a 10% speed increase.
For someone who is overclocking, it's not much of an increase at all. As I pointed out, Silicon Lottery claims 100% of the 9700Ks they tested overclocked to 4.9 GHz, 69% overclocked to 5.0GHz, and 28% to 5.1GHz. So, chances are that the average 9700K bought at retail will OC to 5.0GHz on all cores, and at the very least will overclock to 4.9GHz.
Then, consider that 5.1GHz is only a 2% increase in clocks over what the average 9700K can do with an overclock, or only a 4% increase over the absolute worst performing chips. They're selling the CPUs that they have tested to OC to 5.1 GHz for $570 plus shipping. This processor has a $374 MSRP, so that's a more than 50% markup over MSRP for performance that is only 2% better on average. Even compared to the currently marked up launch pricing due to low availability, Amazon is selling the 9700K for $410, so that's still about a 40% increase in cost over that.
I also wonder if Silicon Lottery is setting aside any chips that clock higher still, such as to 5.2GHz, to be sold at a higher price later on once they acquire sufficient stock. Meaning, these binned 5.1GHz chips might not even be the best that one could potentially get by buying a CPU at random.