Since the start of the year, Intel faced their toughest competition in over a decade. Unlike competition in the new mobile sector, the struggle is for the traditional desktop space. AMD launched their new Ryzen processors to great fanfare. This finally brought strong competitiveness in over a decade. Facing a resurgent competitor, it appears Intel has turned to price cuts to maintain dominance.
Over the weekend, Intel slashed the prices for their i3 7350K processor to $149. The 7350K features 2 cores built on the latest 14nm Kaby Lake architecture. With an unlocked multiplier for overclocking, the chip appeared to be a pre-emptive strike against Ryzen. With up to 4 threads available and 4MB of L3 cache, the 7350K is a valid entry level gaming CPU. The plan appeared to target the chip at budget gamers on 1080p monitors looking for a cheap CPU upgrade.
Unfortunately for Intel, the initial $184 launch price is no longer sustainable because of Ryzen. For just $189, AMD is offering the Ryzen 5-1500X with 4 cores and 8 threads at 3.5 GHz – 3.9 GHz. The Ryzen 5-1400 quad-core parts are even cheaper at $169 with slightly reduced clocks. There is also the fact that at $184, Intel priced the chip too closely to their full fledged 4 core i5 units as well.
As a result, Intel is now pricing the i3 7350K at $149 which should help give the chip some breathing room. Once you throw in the cost of a cooler though (as the 7350K lacks a stock cooler), the price is about on par with the Ryzen 5 1400. Time will tell Intel’s price cut is enough or is just a beginning of a sliding trend. With AMD’s budget Ryzen 3 set to launch in the near future, it won’t be long till we find out.
Great article Thanks !
To me, the 7350K, no more than 110 is acceptable and at least provide a decent stock cooler with it. Not to mention, Intel has to compete within themselves, especially now the HyperThreaded Pentiums are nearly as powerful as the i3s, and at a much lower price.
I bet this price cut won’t be enough to stop Intel bleeding in this segment as soon as the Ryzen 3 is out.