Intel Rocket Lake-S price leak indicates Core i9-11900K to be 10% cheaper than Core i9-10900K and close to Ryzen 7 5800X, but lack of MSRP info makes pricing comparisons difficult

Intel briefly previewed the 11th generation Rocket Lake-S Core i9-11900K at CES 2021 during which the company claimed that the processor will edge-out the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X in gaming. While the Core i9-11900K may indeed have an advantage in gaming, the success of the 11th generation Intel chips will depend a lot on competitive pricing. Rocket Lake-S is still a few months away from availability, but few retailers seem to have already posted retail pricing information.

Belgian retailer 2compute has posted the entire 11th gen pricing list on its website. According to this retailer, the 8C/16T Core i9-11900K will retail for €499.70 (US$604) without VAT and €605 with 21% VAT. The retailer also lists the Core i9-10900K's pricing as €549 (US$664) without and €664.29 with VAT making it nearly 10% dearer than the Core i9-11900K.

Also, the Core i5-11400F is listed at €145.50 (excl. VAT) while the Core i5-11400 retails for €169.40 (excl. VAT). The price difference here is understandable as the Core i5-11400F lacks integrated Xe graphics. Similarly, the Core i9-11900KF is also priced lower compared to the Core i9-11900K at €475.80 (excl. VAT).

Interestingly, 2compute's price list suggests that the reduced prices in 11th gen Rocket Lake-S are only applicable to the Core i9 series. The Core i7, Core i5, and Core i3 seem to be priced higher than their Comet Lake-S counterparts.

Though the non-VAT prices of the Core i9-10900K seem to be around U$664 at 2compute, Intel's MSRP official MSRP is at US$499 and Newegg is currently selling it for US$549. In fact, various retailers seem to be quoting different prices for the Core i9-11900K (from @harukaze5719 on Twitter) with only a couple of them showing it priced about 10-11% lower than the Core i9-10900K. Since Intel hasn't officially announced the MSRPs for Rocket Lake-S yet, it is difficult to say which of these prices are closer to what Intel has in mind.

For perspective, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X is originally listed for US$450 on Newegg but is currently selling for US$579. 2compute's non-VAT approximate pricing at US$604 for the Core i9-11900K seems to suggest that Intel will look to price Rocket Lake-S very competitively so as to offer a viable alternative to Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 desktop chips.

Intel is expected to launch the Rocket Lake-S lineup by the end Q1 2021. Hopefully, some of the demand and supply issues will even out by then, and we will get to make a more meaningful price comparison.

Buy the Intel Core i9-10900K on Newegg