Best Intel Ivy Bridge Prices and Deals (Chart)
The release of Intel’s Ivy Bridge CPU line (we gave an overview of the spec differences here) brings the question of ‘where’s the best place to buy an Ivy Bridge CPU?’ We’ve scoured the Interwebz all morning and, luckily, have found a handful of retailers that are offering extremely competitive prices. Here’s a listing of all the major retailers (online and physical) and their corresponding Intel Ivy Bridge prices:
Intel Ivy Bridge Price Chart
MicroCenter’s gained notoriety for having some of the best hardware pricing out there, but with the caveat that – quite often, anyway – purchasers must be local for pick-up; that's not the case this time around. You can order online at excellent priecs, and in some cases, they're even giving $50 off motherboard purchases with the purchase of a new CPU. Let's look at all the competition (note: please double-check all links before any purchases are made):
| Price | |||||||
| i5-3450 | i5-3450S | i5-3550 | i5-3570k | i7-3770 | i7-3770S | i7-3770k | |
| Amazon | $204.99 | $222.12 | $219.99 | $249.99 | $319.99 | $342.17 | $349.99 |
| Newegg | $199.99 | $199.99 | $219.99 | $249.99 | $319.99 | $319.99 | $349.99 |
| Microcenter | $159.99 | not listed | not listed | $189.99 | $259.99 | not listed | $289.99 |
| TigerDirect | $199.99 | not listed | not listed | $209.99 | not listed | $319.99 | $319.99 |
| CompUSA | $199.99 | not listed | not listed | not listed | not listed | $319.99 | not listed |
| Fry's | not listed | not listed | not listed | $249.99 | not listed | not listed | not listed |
| NCIX | $220.12 | not listed | $224.28 | $233.65 | $299.55 | not listed | $382.01 |
Need help deciding what to buy? Comment below and ask us if you even need an Ivy Bridge CPU -- in most cases, the answer is no. Enthusiasts will enjoy them, but they're not 'required' by any means (for gaming, anyway). Let us know your situation and we'll get you an answer!
-Steve "Lelldorianx" Burke.
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2012-05-03 10:23:17 | Lelldorianx
Nice, Michael! The Z77 motherboard should be a lot of fun to play with, from a nerdy standpoint. I agree with your post -- for those who already have Sandy Bridge, it's really not likely going to pay off. Just wait on Haswell and see what happens.
Ivy Bridge is great, but it's not enough for a general user/gamer to upgrade from Sandy.
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2012-05-02 15:56:49 | Michael Leach - re: New PCKeegan wrote:I'm getting ready to buy an entire new PC. I was thinking of doing something like your $679 i5 Hardcore Gaming Rig from January (2012), but just replacing the processor with one of these new third generation processors. For the processor, I was planning on the i5-3570k, or perhaps the i7-3770k. Should I pay an extra $100 dollars for the i7? I am a hardcore gamer who wants to make a long term investment in a machine that will remain competitive for several years. I play everything, including very demanding games like Battlefield 3 and the Witcher 2. However, other than gaming, I don't do very many tasks that are very resource intensive. Thank you!
Really, the main difference (as far as I understand it) between the i5 and i7 is multi threading. Most games don't take advantage of this capability, so as far as it being worth the extra $100, I'd say no way.
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2012-05-02 15:52:19 | Michael Leach - Just got the i5 3550 instead of the i5 2500k
I was planning on buying the 2500k, but it is the exact same price as the 3550 is currently selling for on newegg, so I decided to get the newer CPU instead. Purchased with a z77 chipset motherboard so I could take advantage of the PCI Express 3.0, SATA 3.0, and USB 3.0. I think that if you don't yet have an i5/i7 and are looking to upgrade, there's no reason not to get the ivy bridge version; but if you have a sandy bridge, it's probably not worth the upgrade costs.
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2012-04-30 17:02:22 | Keegan - New PC
I'm getting ready to buy an entire new PC. I was thinking of doing something like your $679 i5 Hardcore Gaming Rig from January (2012), but just replacing the processor with one of these new third generation processors. For the processor, I was planning on the i5-3570k, or perhaps the i7-3770k. Should I pay an extra $100 dollars for the i7? I am a hardcore gamer who wants to make a long term investment in a machine that will remain competitive for several years. I play everything, including very demanding games like Battlefield 3 and the Witcher 2. However, other than gaming, I don't do very many tasks that are very resource intensive. Thank you!
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fahd wrote:i am getting a 690.. so will ivy bridge give me more fps for my games?
That's extremely vague. Can you give us more information? What kind of games will you be playing? What are the system specs?
If you're getting a 690, money isn't a concern of yours... the short answer to "do I need it?" is "no, you don't need it." That said, it really depends on what games you're playing and if you're doing anything else other than gaming.
From Around the Web
I currently have an i3 2120 in my system.
The plan was to upgrade when ivy bridge came out to an i5 3570k.
This summer I plan on making upgrades on my build and I was wondering if I should just wait till Haswell to replace my CPU?
I only game on my computer.
It will mainly be diablo 3, WOW, TERA, GW2, BF3, and anything new coming out that will interest me