Where are all the Coffee Lake CPUs?

Are Intel’s newest CPUs missing in action?

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Officially launched yesterday to glowing reviews, Intel’s newest platform, Coffee Lake, is a sure bet to be coveted by PC enthusiasts and users still holding on to aging Sandy Bridge gaming PCs. The new CPUs are seen by many as a direct response to AMD’s successful launch of its Ryzen platform back in March. It had been previously hinted that only a few of the Coffee Lake CPUs and motherboards would be available for launch, but finding those parts is proving to be very difficult for PC gamers itching to upgrade.

The possibility that Coffee Lake would face a holiday season shortage was initially reported by the folks over at SweClockers earlier this week. The report claimed that CPU availability would be incredibly scarce through the end of November and that normal retail propagation would not be seen until the beginning of 2018.

In the States, online retailers Amazon and NewEgg offered extremely limited availability of the CPUs in the wee hours of October 4, ahead of the official launch. Since then, the only one of the Coffee Lake CPUs that has been available is the Core i5-8400. Typically, gamers flock towards the K-series Intel CPUs and the Coffee Lake-based Core i5-8600K and Core i7-8700K are nowhere to be found. US retailer Microcenter, known for pricing components based on demand, has the 8700K listed at $499, more than $130 over MSRP, though it has none in stock as of this writing.

Retail scarcity of Coffee Lake could lead to price gouging, as was seen a few years ago after the launch of Intel’s Skylake-based Core i7-6700K, which saw the CPU regularly sell for over $400. For right now, those craving a sip of Coffee Lake will need to buddy up to their preferred retailers or be willing to play the F5 game on their PC part retail websites of choice. For more information on Coffee Lake, check out our review roundup.

Contributing Tech Editor

Chris Jarrard likes playing games, crankin' tunes, and looking for fights on obscure online message boards. He understands that breakfast food is the only true food. Don't @ him.

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