Intel’s Graphics-Free Chips Are Also Savings-Free: Same Price, Fewer Features
by Ian Cutress on January 16, 2019 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
- Intel
- Core 9th Gen
We recently reported on the fact that a range of new mainstream Intel desktop processors are coming onto the market without the integrated graphics enabled. This processors, indicated by the ‘F’ designation (not to be confused with Intel’s chips with an integrated fabric, also called ‘F’), have had their specifications released for a short while, except for the price. Intel is now happy to fill that part in.
Intel’s pricing scheme is a little different to AMD. Rather than provide MSRP, or Manufacturer Suggested Retail Pricing, or SEP, Suggested Etailer Pricing, Intel provides ‘tray’ pricing. This value is the company’s list price for OEMs buying literal trays of CPUs, in batches of 1000. We usually write this as ‘1ku’, for one thousand units. OEMs, like Dell or HP or Supermicro, will happily buy thousands of CPUs, often with a single year warranty. This is in stark contrast to the end-user buying a retail unit obviously only wants one processor and often wants a longer (in most cases, the retail box has a three-year warranty).
The on-shelf price of the processor in a retail box, with or without a cooler, is not listed by Intel. The company leaves it up to distributors and then retailers to determine the market value of such a product. This is why the Intel Core i9-9900K, the current flagship of Intel’s 9th Gen Core desktop processor line, has a ‘tray’ price of $488, but actually came to market on Amazon at $582.50, before settling at its current price of $529. This is also why there has been a debate about whether our comparison between the AMD Athlon 200GE ($55 SEP) and the Intel Pentium G5400 ($64/1ku) is suitable, given that only certain regions with an oversupply seem to hit the Intel price point.
With all that being said, here is Intel’s pricing for the new ‘F’ CPUs:
| Intel 9th Gen Core CPUs | ||||||||
| AnandTech | Cores | Base Freq |
Turbo Freq |
IGP | IGP Freq |
DDR4 | TDP | Price (1ku) |
| i9-9900K | 8 / 16 | 3.6 GHz | 5.0 GHz | UHD 630 | 1200 | 2666 | 95 W | $488 |
| i9-9900KF | 8 / 16 | 3.6 GHz | 5.0 GHz | - | - | 2666 | 95 W | $488 |
| i7-9700K | 8 / 8 | 3.6 GHz | 4.9 GHz | UHD 630 | 1200 | 2666 | 95 W | $374 |
| i7-9700KF | 8 / 8 | 3.6 GHz | 4.9 GHz | - | - | 2666 | 95 W | $374 |
| i5-9600K | 6 / 6 | 3.7 GHz | 4.6 GHz | UHD 630 | 1150 | 2666 | 95 W | $262 |
| i5-9600KF | 6 / 6 | 3.7 GHz | 4.6 GHz | - | - | 2666 | 95 W | $262 |
| i5-9400 | 6 / 6 | 2.9 GHz | 4.1 GHz | UHD 630 | 1050 | 2666 | 65 W | $182 |
| i5-9400F | 6 / 6 | 2.9 GHz | 4.1 GHz | - | - | 2666 | 65 W | $182 |
| i3-9350KF | 4 / 4 | 4.0 GHz | 4.6 GHz | - | - | 2400 | 91 W | $173 |
| Relevant Intel 8th Gen Core CPUs | ||||||||
| i3-8350K | 4 / 4 | 4.0 GHz | - | UHD 630 | 1150 | 2400 | 91 W | $168 |
| i3-8100 | 4 / 4 | 3.6 GHz | - | UHD 630 | 1100 | 2400 | 65 W | $117 |
| i3-8100F | 4 / 4 | 3.6 GHz | - | - | - | 2400 | 65 W | $117 |
The only CPU in this list which doesnt have a non-F is the overclockable Core i3-9350KF, showing a 1ku price of $173, which is a few dollars more than the previous generation Core i3-8350K ($168/1ku), and has a turbo frequency.
Normally when a part of a processor is fused off, usually cores, we expect to see a decrease in the listed price. In this instance, Intel is putting the same tray price on its GPU-free processors to make them also savings-free. Given how tray price is often not connected to the retail price, it will depend on how many processors actually make it to market or to retail (if any end up in retail packaging) to see if they will actually be sold at a lower price than the parts with integrated graphics.
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IGTrading - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link
I don't understand why people still buy Intel ... for almost any reason ...Ok, if your code is 40% faster do to some architectural particularity ... ok. But other than that ??!
Even gamers ... Those that went AMD, can use Zen, Zen2 and so on. Those that chose intel ... often need to change the motherboard as well.
SharpEars - Wednesday, January 16, 2019 - link
This isn't all that ridiculous. Intel wants to get rid of chips with defective IGPs. Unless a review sites shows OC advantage, and there won't be any as many posters already indicated due to the IGP being disablable in the BIOS and deep sleep states of silicon that is not in use, Intel will not sell any of them at prices equivalent to their IGP-enabled offerings.So, they are just wasting their time - bad marketing.
HStewart - Wednesday, January 16, 2019 - link
Actually if you think about it - how many people use integrated graphics on desktop chips - how much extra power does it used on system - only benefit I see in integrated graphics - if you graphics card goes bad - you still have integrated.Are you really loosing features if person does not use it.
JoeyJoJo123 - Wednesday, January 16, 2019 - link
Premiere Pro supports hardware accelerated H.264 encoding via integrated GPUs in Intel chips. In some cases using the Intel GPU can halve your export times. Some mini builds may prefer to have an iGPU and utilize a thunderbolt 3 GPU dock for its modularity/portability.There's not a whole lot of pros for the Intel iGPU, but there are some.
MrSpadge - Wednesday, January 16, 2019 - link
The resale value drops, as you could sell it to many people not wanting power hungry gamer GPUs for their office PC. Granted, most of them have laptops nowadays, but that market is still there.eva02langley - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link
The move is not ridiculous... selling it at the SAME PRICE IS!BurntMyBacon - Friday, January 18, 2019 - link
The "F" is for FAIL.I'll leave it to you to figure out whether that applies to the silicon or the marketing.
Opencg - Wednesday, January 16, 2019 - link
This is just the clear expression that intel doesnt care what it costs for them to make something. They only care what they can get for it. And they will always take as much money as they can.Intel, bad core values show clearly. Next time take off at least a few dollars. At least a token jesture. We are fucking sick of evil companies.
bldr - Wednesday, January 16, 2019 - link
This is just the clear expression that you don't understand how all for profit companies in the world work. If you are under the illusion anything you purchase has a cost related to its production cost I suggest you broaden your horizons. While this practice sucks for the consumer, it's hardly and "evil" Intel thing. Every product sold is sold at the highest price the market will bear. The price will lower when the sales figures require it to.Oxford Guy - Wednesday, January 16, 2019 - link
"it's hardly and 'evil'"Given that the planetary ecosystem is collapsing due to human "development", and especially the "massively consume and waste" model, I have to disagree.
As for corporate morality... in short: They are amoral by definition. That is in the conventional sense of the word, not "lacking", which the prefix "a" can also mean. They are designed to fleece the masses to enrich the few, which includes all aspects of the masses' resources (including the people themselves and all aspects of the/their environment) – at least those they can lay their hands on (which is pretty much everything, as technology expands its reach).
What few realize is that the corporation is, by definition, an evil conspiracy against the people. That may sound silly but it's a fact. It's also a fact that pale-skinned children went on strike to demand a 55 hour workweek instead of a 60+ hour workweek in the US. Just because the exploitation is more hidden from our citizens today doesn't mean it's not still around. It also doesn't have to be that drastically terrible to constitute exploitation.