[Digitimes] Intel cutting desktop prices?

[jpiniero]

https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20190621PD205.html

Not much to read without the full article. Says up to 10-15%. Pretty notable since I don't think Intel has actually changed prices since Conroe.

 

[Vattila]

Ingebor's data — which tracks unit sales, revenue and ASP for AMD and Intel desktop processor sales at MindFactory (a large German retailer) — will be interesting in the coming months.

This is his latest update:

Source

 

[VirtualLarry]

Core wars, AND price wars? Really? *rubs hands with glee*. OTOH, that may not be great for AMD, if they get into a pricing war, as Intel has deeper pockets. Maybe that's how they might be trying to bury AMD? With cheap F-SKU CPUs?

 

[maddie]

Core wars, AND price wars? Really? *rubs hands with glee*. OTOH, that may not be great for AMD, if they get into a pricing war, as Intel has deeper pockets. Maybe that's how they might be trying to bury AMD? With cheap F-SKU CPUs?

Being a lower cost producer really really helps and for the next few years, this is AMD. Having a lot of financial resources helps, but a public company can only go so far in willingly destroying it's share price with a price war.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Or maybe, Intel is just reacting to the "reality of the situation", in that their CPUs are very nearly no longer "top dog", and therefore, they don't get the set the market pricing, AMD does. A position that AMD has previously been in several times, in both CPU and GPUs, before the advent of Ryzen and Navi.

 

[Ottonomous]

10% would honestly be too generous from Intel. I am calling fake news.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Maybe that's how they might be trying to bury AMD? With cheap F-SKU CPUs?

Intel's response to Matisse is, "F-SKU, AMD! F-SKU!"

. . .

@jpiniero

The last time Intel fiddled with many of their "public" MSRPs was during the Pentium D era. Smithfield was heavily discounted, right out of the gate.

 

[Asterox]

Or maybe, Intel is just reacting to the "reality of the situation", in that their CPUs are very nearly no longer "top dog", and therefore, they don't get the set the market pricing, AMD does. A position that AMD has previously been in several times, in both CPU and GPUs, before the advent of Ryzen and Navi.

"In real world AMD-s top dog cpu is Ryzen 5 2600", or best selling AMD CPU smacks Intel competition.

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/amd-ryzen-builders-thread.2499342/page-198#post-39848940

 

[jpiniero]

"In real world AMD-s top dog cpu is Ryzen 5 2600", or best selling AMD CPU smacks Intel competition.

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/amd-ryzen-builders-thread.2499342/page-198#post-39848940

DIY is only a small part of the market... to give you an idea Intel made 2.8B last quarter on just desktop alone, AMD (the entire company) made 1.27B. Losing DIY is rough but it's not the end of the world. It is the end of the world if OEMs start pushing Zen 2, so this price cut might be a way to grease the wheels a bit.

 

[DrMrLordX]

@jpiniero

Do remember that the Intel of the past issued vendor-specific discounts if they agreed to certain terms. Intel lowering prices publicly sends an entirely different signal - they're gonna charge you less no matter what you sell.

 

[jpiniero]

Do remember that the Intel of the past issued vendor-specific discounts if they agreed to certain terms. Intel lowering prices publicly sends an entirely different signal - they're gonna charge you less no matter what you sell.

You mean the Intel Inside program? ie: OEMs who participated got marketing dollars to spend.

 

[DrMrLordX]

You mean the Intel Inside program? ie: OEMs who participated got marketing dollars to spend.

Yes. Only more than that: Intel was essentially bribing OEMs not to sell AMD chips in the P4/A64 era. MSRPs stayed generally high-ish through that entire era until Pentium D, and even the high-end Pentium Ds still commanded high prices in retail.

 

[jpiniero]

Yes. Only more than that: Intel was essentially bribing OEMs not to sell AMD chips in the P4/A64 era. MSRPs stayed generally high-ish through that entire era until Pentium D, and even the high-end Pentium Ds still commanded high prices in retail.

Same program, except the money you got was based upon how much you sold and not also whether you sold machines with AMD or not.

It was only shut down like a year or two ago.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Right. In any case, this price reduction is completely above-board (if true) without any hooks or incentive programs to serve as a catch. It's just prices going down all across their lineup. Walmart is already selling the 9900k for $474 shipped, and we might see it go down to $450 or lower by August. That is, if the news is true.

 

[maddie]

Right. In any case, this price reduction is completely above-board (if true) without any hooks or incentive programs to serve as a catch. It's just prices going down all across their lineup. Walmart is already selling the 9900k for $474 shipped, and we might see it go down to $450 or lower by August. That is, if the news is true.

So, in the short term, squeezed by both limited product volumes and lower prices.

 

[DrMrLordX]

@maddie

Yup.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Here's a question, what will AMD respond with, if Intel cuts the prices of their i5-9400F (their 6C/6T, 3.9Ghz ACT CPU), to ~$100. Will AMD follow suit with a nice Ryzen 3rd-gen (or maybe even a 12nm 2nd-Gen mfg in GF fabs) 6C/6T for a similar $100 price-point, which AFAIK thus far, they haven't produced any 6C Ryzen CPUs without SMT. Not sure how feasable that would be performance-wise, but it could be an option.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Here's a question, what will AMD respond with, if Intel cuts the prices of their i5-9400F (their 6C/6T, 3.9Ghz ACT CPU), to ~$100.

Initially? Probably nothing. It took AMD awhile to release R3 chips and Raven Ridge in 2017. The low-end market just isn't a priority for them right now. Eventually we may see a 6c/6t R3 chip. In the short-term, I expect AMD will compete with discounted older products and Picasso.

 

[TheGiant]

maybe first time in history Intel does prices offense to defend its position
or they have something totally hidden to anyone super secret icelake 8C desktop....that icelake looks really good

 

[Kedas]

I think AMD is now capitalizing on the decision to keep the socket the same with future motherboards and hence having motherboards with a very wide range of CPU support.
You can buy a B450 and combine that with a very low cost CPU up to an 16 core high end CPU.

I need to advice an gaming PC for some kid that saved his money, this way I will be able to stay in budget and allow him if he has more money later to just replace the CPU and have a much faster system.

Even only having that option to upgrade gives them a piece of mind when buying a PC.
"if I want to I can put 16 cores in my PC"

 

[DrMrLordX]

I would not put a 16c chip on a B450 board. Don't let the TDP fool you. B450 + R5 3600 will be a budget overclocker's dream, I think. Lots of performance to be had for the money.

In contrast, a 9400F will "just work" and should come in at an even lower price (like $100). Not everyone needs more performance than that.

 

[TheELF]

DIY is only a small part of the market... to give you an idea Intel made 2.8B last quarter on just desktop alone, AMD (the entire company) made 1.27B. Losing DIY is rough but it's not the end of the world. It is the end of the world if OEMs start pushing Zen 2, so this price cut might be a way to grease the wheels a bit.

maybe first time in history Intel does prices offense to defend its position
or they have something totally hidden to anyone super secret icelake 8C desktop....that icelake looks really good

You don't do a price offense to defend your position while making twice the money of your competition...
It's probably just that intel has reached a point, after so many years, of producing 14nm so cheaply that 10-15% price cuts won't affect their margins at all while also maybe boosting their sales even more,so win win for intel.
And sonny cove is not super secret, they could release it anytime they want to for desktop no matter how expensive it would be for intel it would not bankrupt them, they would sell as many of them as they could make even at obscene prices.

 

[TheELF]

In contrast, a 9400F will "just work" and should come in at an even lower price (like $100). Not everyone needs more performance than that.

What the...how much is the 9400f in murica anyways?
With the prices I see 10-15% will not bring it anywhere near as low as $100.

 

[DrMrLordX]

@TheELF

It was $140 a week ago or so, now it's back up to $150. A 15% price reduction would bring it down to $128. Savvy shoppers would probably be able to pick off a cheaper one on sale/with rebates.

 

[Kedas]

And sonny cove is not super secret, they could release it anytime they want to for desktop no matter how expensive it would be for intel it would not bankrupt them, they would sell as many of them as they could make even at obscene prices.

They would have done it if they had something.
No, price cuts are there because they have to, not because they want to because they have a better product to be released.

The base frequency of that 15W sunny cove is very low, looks to me like a power hungry core. (screw the 15W) but the far future will tell.