CPUs

10th Gen Intel Comet Lake-S Processor Pricing Leaks out: More threads for more money

Intel’s 10th Gen Comet Lake-S desktop processors are expected to arrive in the next couple of months. However, until now, we haven’t had a clear picture of what Intel plans to do with regards to pricing. Will the Comet Lake-S parts cost less than their Coffee Lake counterparts or will they be even pricier?

We have the answer now (kind of). The pricing for a big chunk of the 10th Gen Comet Lake-S line has been spotted at a Czech online outlet: In general, the 10th Gen Intel desktop parts will cost more their preceding Coffee Lake chips. In the case of the Core i5-10600 (6C/12T), you’re looking at an extra 15 Euros. More concerning is the 9 Euro markup on the Pentium G6400, a direct successor to the G5400. That 9 percent is a greater than 10 percent markup for what is still likely a dual-core part.

The Core i5-10400 does see a price cut. This part will cost 227 Euros, compared to the present-gen Core i5-9400 that currently retails for $241.
While the price increase is unlikely to go down well with customers, it is somewhat justified by the substantial hardware upgrades. Since the 10th Gen Comet Lake lineup is yet another refresh of the 14nm Skylake core, there’s little Intel’s done in terms of architecture.

Instead, it is offering more cores and more threads at just about every price point. For instance, the Core i5-10400 will feature 6 cores and 12 threads, double the thread count of the i5-9400, bringing down the cost per thread. From this perspective, the markups seem justified since customers will be getting effectively double the multithreaded performance for about 10 percent more cash upfront.

It’s important to note that these prices aren’t final. If AMD knocks it out of the park, Intel’s price guidance to retails might change completely. We’ll update you if that’s the case.

Arjun

Penguin-published author, and journalist. Loves PC hardware but has terrible hand-eye coordination. Most likely to be found playing Total War or watching weird Russian sitcoms.
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