Hardware Intel Sandy Bridge launch was pointless

I could have picked up a Series 6 motherboard here in Denmark (even locally) for a couple of weeks. Alas, what to put in it...

 

Who stocks them?

 

Hmm, methinks the Intel PR dept have been meeting in secret with Mr Jobs on how to create marketing hype prior to launch!

 

Maybe the original review should be changed to 'Preview' - like the Zacate Motherboard article. There aren't even any confirmed UK prices....

 

Not confirmed but predicted by a (usually) reliable source. I posted this in another thread here...



PC Pro have posted some predicted UK launch prices, £174 (inc VAT) for the 2500K looks good if true.

Source: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/processors/363982/intel-sandy-bridge

 

It does make you wonder where PC Pro got their prices from though - or did i miss that in the article?

I'm used to bit-tech's reviews having links to the relevant web-stores when they quote a review price. PC Pro might say £174, but if it appears at £199, would that affect the review scores? (for value at least).

Anyway, looks like a good product (especially the 2500K).

 

Maybe the lads @ bit-tech can tell us where PC Pro got the predicted prices from, they are a sister magazine after all.

 

Calling a german retailer by phone asking for prices resulted in the following:

Core i7 2600K - 309€
Core i5 2500K - 219€
Core i5 2500 - 209€
Core i5 2400 - 189€
Core i5 2300 - 184€
Core i3 2120 - 139€
Core i3 2100 - 119€

All CPUs are in stock and officially ready for shipping January 9th according to the nice person on the phone.

The only thing not available at this point (not in stock atleast) are miniITX-boards other then the intel DH67CF.

 

Assuming those DE prices include 19% VAT, the 2500K translates to £187 @ 1 EUR = 0.854536 GBP/1 GBP = 1.17023 EUR.

 

Yes, the prices I got told are including 19% VAT ofc. And thanks to EU-trade-laws I've to pay another 4% VAT ontop of those prices, as I live in Finland where there's 23% VAT.

Nevertheless it's still less expensive for me to order from german shops instead of buying hardware directly in finnish shops.

 

Welp, I'm reasonably happy with my i7/950. I've been deliberately buying things just slightly before they're replaced for the last three upgrades or so, which saves paying a 25% price premium for a 10% speed increase.

The Cult of the Latest Thing includes idiocies like personalised numberplates, and I'm not particularly interested in it.

 

@Fingers66 unfortunately we now have 20% VAT, so I'm expecting to see the 2500K for about £200. Good thing I'm not upgrading for about 6 months.
Of course by then there'll be something else new round the corner, but at least I know I'll be on a fairly stable CPU/Mobo combination for a year or two.

 

Lame. Good thing I'm not in the market at the moment.

Thanks for the article on sandy bridge anyways. You guys do good work.

 

Could this be an excercise in generating hype? Teasing the crowds just a little before they can buy the product? (well, outside of asia anyway)

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the end result being increased interest in the chips and therefore higher sales?

 

Don't actually see what the problem is. Other sites were publishing their benchtests early anyway so Intel have just said to hell with it, you can all publish them now.

Can't see any threat from AMD against SandyBridge and neither can anyone else.

 

I have no idea how you managed to round £174 up to £200 with just a 2.5% VAT increase.

 

£145 * 1.2 = £174

The pic and link was taken from a PC Pro article published yesterday (03/01/11) and shows VAT @ 20% included in the figures in brackets.

My reference to VAT @ 19% is a reference to the VAT payable in Germany.

 

Sorry for the late reply. PC Lager stocks some boards. Granted, it's only ASRock, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

 

These are top processors for decent prices there is never a bad time to bring something like that to market Intel are doing the right thing brining good tec to people it help drive the home market forward and expands the limits of what people at home can do. A paper lanch is again conumer focused due to the fact that anyone in the know will now read review and hold off on buying new CPU and mobos till they can get there hands on these so its a big win win. the LGA1366 his looking like an overly expensive monster in comparision still i will have gotten over two years out of mine before it retires