Don't want to wait for a Ryzen 5000 CPU? Intel's Core i9 9900K is only $320 right now

[Nergal]

 

AMD's Ryzen 5000 series is the shiny new toy that everyone wants to own, but given the stock situation, you might be tempted to go in a different direction. Adding to the temptation is a tantalizing discount on Intel's Core 9 9900K. It's available for $319.99 at Newegg today, after punching in the coupon code 93XPZ52 at checkout.

The promo code chops $80 off the retail cost, and knocks the 9900K down to its least expensive price ever. And by quite a bit, too—the previous low was a brief dip to around $380 earlier this month.



This is a trend that will likely play out over the next several months, especially as the stock situation for the Ryzen 5000 series improves. For example, two weeks ago I highlighted a deal on a Core i7 9700K, which at one time was Intel's second-best CPU for gaming. While no longer on sale for $283, it has only spiked to $289.99 on Amazon and still a good value.

Like that CPU, the 9900K is based on Coffee Lake and flexes eight physical CPU cores with a 3.6GHz base clock. However, it also supports Hyper Threading, so you get 16 threads, and has a higher 5GHz boost clock (versus 4.9GHz), along with more L3 cache (16MB versus 12MB).

You could build a high-end gaming PC around the 9900K. Pair it with a top-shelf or mid-range graphics card and you'd be good to go.