Wildcat Lake spans from $304 to $470 as Intel scrubs pricing from ARK
Posted by -protonsandneutrons-@reddit | hardware | View on Reddit | 32 comments
Notebookcheck is the original author, but TweakTown added more prices and important context about rebates, volume discounts, limitations of RCP and what-not.
| Wildcat Lake SKU | CPU config - 1T boost | Price, 1K tray units |
|---|---|---|
| Core 3 305 | 2+4 - 4.3 GHz | $309 |
| Core 5 320 | 2+4 - 4.6 GHz | $320 |
| Core 5 330 | 2+4 - 4.6 GHz (SIPP) | $309 |
| Core 7 350 | 2+4 - 4.8 GHz | $470 |
| Core 7 360 | 2+4 - 4.8 GHz (SIPP) | $426 |
Massive OEMs like Dell, HP, and Lenovo negotiate deep volume discounts for contracts that last for years. They operate under complex rebates, and once you factor in high-volume negotiations and subsidies, the effective cost per unit is significantly lower than $304. At first sight, the RCP can significantly skew a laptop's Bill of Materials (BOM).
As Notebookcheck mentions, every Wildcat Lake's RCP is far more than what the A18 Pro (also a 2+4 config) costs Apple: BOM estimates put the A18 Pro at $45 per unit (as of October 2024, chip-only, no DRAM). Apple also had the benefit of the iPhone 16 Pro series selling \~100 million units → bulk discounts.
Of course, "sources" claim Neo sold much more than the 4-5 million estimates, so newly-fabbed A18 Pro dies won't have the same price of "free" of the leftover dies.
DerpSenpai@reddit
They are charging more than Qualcomm charges Mobile OEMs for flagship phone chips which have faster CPUs and GPUs than this LMAO
Strazdas1@reddit
Of course they do, they have x86 advantage.
sahrul099@reddit
is the dimensity 9500 much cheaper than 8 elite gen 5?
DerpSenpai@reddit
The D9500 is more expensive to produce so most likely only slightly cheaper. D9500 has proper RT support
Alternative-Luck-825@reddit
wildcat lake gpu timespy 1660.while steamdesk timespy score 1600
Ghostsonplanets@reddit
TS isn't everything. You're much more front-end bound with WCL GPU given it has half the width of Van Gogh (although at 1.5x speed). uArch advancements will make it stay competitive with VGH in some scenarios while losing in others.
Alternative-Luck-825@reddit
steamdesk cpu ,passmark benchmark single core 2200 ,wildcat lake 4000-4200
Ghostsonplanets@reddit
I fail to see the meaningfulness of bringing CPU 1T performance when I'm talking about the GPU.
-protonsandneutrons-@reddit (OP)
Does Qualcomm also offer discounts, rebates, negotiations, etc. on the rumored 8EG5 prices? Intel does on for its laptop CPUs, as the article explains.
No doubt, though, that we need more competition: it shouldn't have taken the MacBook Neo for this aggressive push for quality, lower-end laptops.
Per IDC, the current average ASP for Windows laptops is $682, so roughly assuming median = average (it is not), we could say roughly half of all Windows laptops sold are sold under $682.
Qualcomm, MediaTek, AMD, etc. should all be focused on this segment, too, IMO. I don't know what AMD has, though, beyond quite old Zen2 / Zen3 parts. But maybe they're enough? There is their rumored Sound Wave, a quite small die, IIRC.
Qualcomm & MediaTek must have a ton of mobile parts (not unlike how MediaTek sheepishly rebrands its 'e' CPUs as last year's parts); Qualcomm has a leg up in already having many Windows OEM contracts & experience from X Elite.
DerpSenpai@reddit
AMD and Intel have the same strategy for the low end. 2+4 CPUs with Zen 5 or Panther Lake clocked lower with 2 GPU cores.
Qualcomm is using the 8 core X1 for this market for now.
MTK could start using their own external modem and make a chip for flagships phones and lower end PCs.
Phone chips in laptops only make sense if you externalize some phone part of the SoC components. The ISP and Modem. Apple and Samsung externalize the modem. Qualcomm and Mediatek will do it too sooner or later. When that happens. Those chips can be resold at competitive prices to laptop makers for entry level PCs. Like macbook Neo.
Warm-Cartographer@reddit
Ark price are not what OEM buy from intel, we already have laptop with wildcat lake for $450, explain to me how OEM manage that if they buy cpu for $300-400.
Also dont underestimate Wildcat lake, it should be close to Android flagship in both CPU and GPU, 8000 GB 6 score in Windows device is probably 10-20% behind of current mobile flagship CPU.
GPU should be much weaker but still close to previous flagship/Upper midrange and not entry level.
HavocInferno@reddit
Why even put a price into ark if nobody actually pays that much?
-protonsandneutrons-@reddit (OP)
RCP has two uses: one for OEMs buying, the second for relative price placement.
1) Because Intel is not going to list the five hundred possible prices OEMs might pay, if they buy units, if they get rebates, if they get a discount, if they bundle more Intel parts, if they take up MDF, etc. CP is a set price ceiling at the 1K units quantity.
2) For normal humans that do not directly buy laptop CPUs (99.9999% of r/hardware): RCP shows the relative price placement (not necessarily the absolute price, as the article painstakingly explained) between Intel CPUs. To get Wildcat Laptops extra-cheap, Intel is heavily focused on the rest of the laptop, instead of merely the CPU costs. See Project Firefly by Intel. Wildcat Lake CPUs alone are not enough when its RCP and other Intel CPU RCPs are similar. Again, RCPs are not the absolute price major OEMs pay: it is a fair ranking of relative pricing, however.
Alternative-Luck-825@reddit
this price 100% not true ,At the very least, the actual procurement price for OEMs cannot be that high; it’s almost impossible. Given that the final retail prices for these laptops fall between $450 and $750, do you still think it’s possible for the CPU to be priced at that level?
ProfessionalPrincipa@reddit
So RCP similar to Alder Lake-U but with cut down core, memory, and I/O configuration and made on a process that's allegedly cheaper to manufacture on. Great product...
Warm-Cartographer@reddit
It's faster in both CPU and GPU Vs Alderlake U, you get lunar lake like experience at low price, devices which can run cool or fanless. Unless you are ok with devices which use 50W+, WCL should be significant upgrade for budget windows devices.
ProfessionalPrincipa@reddit
They get to cut core counts, memory channels, and PCIe lanes vs RPL-U and ARL-U and maintain the same price points for themselves. That's not a win.
Warm-Cartographer@reddit
Which same price point? In this market where steam deck cost over $700 if someone make $450 laptop then it's really cheap, if not for WCL probably low-end X86 would disappear and there will be no budget laptop at all.
If you need more power there is lunar lake and panther lake, WCL is for budget users and for them it's huge upgrade over what they where getting before.
ProfessionalPrincipa@reddit
It should be obvious I'm talking about Intel to their OEM's.
Warm-Cartographer@reddit
Cpu to cpu wildcat lake should be cheaper not same that's why it manage to be same price as RPL U Laptop of past even though storage and ram are expensive now, that's my point. That thing is only around 80mm2, it's small and cheap to make.
Alternative-Luck-825@reddit
It is still noticeably weaker than Lunar Lake, particularly in the. The Wildcat Lake GPU scores around 1600 in benchmarks, whereas the 258V achieves 4200. In practical gaming scenarios, it performs at approximately 40% of Lunar Lake's capability. On the CPU side, multi-core performance is also about 20% weaker than Lunar Lake.
Its sole advantage is superior battery life; under low-load conditions, it is the most efficient processor in the entire x86 lineup. Real-world comparisons with the Neo have already surfaced: with a 59Wh battery compared to the Neo's 37Wh, it can sustain local video playback for 107 minutes starting from 15% battery, while the lasts only 71 minutes.
Farfolomew@reddit
Please note the big iGPU difference between the "Core 3 305" and the rest of the models mentioned. It only has one Xe-core, and thus its GPU TOPS is half what the others have. Stay clear of the 300s less than 320!
Also, not mentioned here is the "Core 3 304" which also only has one Xe-core. Additionally, it only has 1p4e rather than 2p4e CPU cores that all the others have.
-protonsandneutrons-@reddit (OP)
Ah, thank you for that: I forgot the lowest-end units also cut the Xe cores and P-cores even more.
Extreme-Arm4609@reddit
This is obviously wrong or incomplete information.
Like the pricing is nonsensical what's the point of this article it's obviously wrong or incomplete information
-protonsandneutrons-@reddit (OP)
There seems to be no awareness on this sub of how OEMs purchase laptop CPUs. Half the article of the very article you've commented under and presumably read explains how it usually works:
^^ direct quotes from the OP article, btw. RCP is more akin to a ceiling price at 1K units. Fewer than 1K units? Even higher than RCP.
//
"What is the point?" - RCP shows the relative price placement (not necessarily the absolute price, as the article painstakingly explained) between Intel CPUs.
There is a reason, to get Wildcat Lake laptops much cheaper than usual, Intel is focusing on [the rest of the laptop], instead of merely selling a cheaper CPU. This initiative was widely reported as "Project Firefly" by Intel:
https://videocardz.com/newz/project-firefly-unveiled-intel-wants-to-use-chinas-phone-supply-chain-to-build-cheaper-wildcat-lake-laptops
Wildcat Lake CPUs alone is not enough when its RCP and other Intel CPU RCPs are similar. Again, RCPs are not the absolute price major OEMs pay: it is a fair ranking of relative pricing, however.
Front_Expression_367@reddit
The headline sure doesn't help, but yeah, sometimes r/hardware is barely different from no r/hardware at all lol.
-protonsandneutrons-@reddit (OP)
The headline is accurate, as Ark only uses RCP for laptop CPUs. Which, if anyone didn't know, is neatly explained right in the OP article.
"Serious and intelligent discussion" is sometimes super hard to find.
nittanyofthings@reddit
Even if it was a retail sale that price wouldn't make any sense. And intel immediately scrubbed that information.
-protonsandneutrons-@reddit (OP)
For laptops, RCP has absolutely nothing to do with retail, e.g., Mouser is not bound by it.
Alternative-Luck-825@reddit
The pricing for actual products is already out. For the lowest-tier configuration—a Chinese brand model with a Core 305, 8GB/256GB, and a 1920x1080 screen—it is selling for $450. Most of the upcoming models are equipped with the Core 320; there is one laptop with 12GB/256GB, a 1920x1200 400-nit screen selling for $500. Furthermore, brands like ASUS, Lenovo, and Honor have all launched laptops featuring the Core 5 320 with 16GB/512GB and screens ranging from 1920x1200 to 2560x1600, priced between $600 and $700. Given these market prices for the complete machines, do you still believe the price of the CPU alone would be the figure listed in your previous table?
-protonsandneutrons-@reddit (OP)
That is discussed in the very article you're commenting under and presumably already read:
Intel's RCP is for 1,000-unit trays. When a company like Dell spins up a mainstream budget line (think the Inspiron series or entry-level Latitudes), they aren't buying in thousands. For a major platform like Wildcat Lake, Dell's procurement contract will easily reach into the hundreds of thousands or the low-million-unit range over the architecture's lifecycle.
The fact that some of these prices even overlap with Panther Lake SKUs ($500-$1,000+ per model) suggests that Intel's RCPs are just the ceiling, not the floor, for a complex web of OEM rebates and volume discounts. All in all, we can expect Wildcat Lake laptops from major brands to land in the $500- $600 range, or even lower.
RCP is more akin to a ceiling price.
996forever@reddit
Tray pricing on ark for mobile parts are completely meaningless.