Intel rocked to its Core over Ryzen, price drops begin

AMD dropped its Ryzen processors onto the market a few days ago, hitting the #1 and #2 best-selling CPUs on Amazon within hours, breaking world records without breaking a sweat, and of course - hitting Intel where it hurts.

Intel has now reacted, as I thought they would - by reducing the prices of their Core range of processors across the board. Microcenter is already listing the processors with huge price reductions, with their flagship Core i7-6950X dropping by $300 ($1899 to $1599) while the Core i7-6900K drops by $200 from $1199 to $999, the Core i7-7700K has been slashed by $80 ($379 to $299). The full price cuts:

• Intel Core i7-6950X ($1599 US) - $300 Price Cut
• Intel Core i7-6900K ($999 US) - $200 Price Cut
• Intel Core i7-6850K ($549 US) - $150 Price Cut
• Intel Core i7-6800K ($359 US) - $140 Price Cut
• Intel Core i7-5820K ($319 US) - $100 Price Cut
• Intel Core i7-7700K ($299 US) - $80 Price Cut
• Intel Core i7-6700K ($259 US) - $140 Price Cut
• Intel Core i7-4790K ($279 US) - $90 Price Cut
• Intel Core i7-7700 ($289 US) - $50 Price Cut
• Intel Core i7-6700 (259 US) - $90 Price Cut
• Intel Core i5-7600K ($199 US) - $70 Price Cut
• Intel Core i5-6600K ($179 US) - $$90 Price Cut
• Intel Core i5-4690K ($189 US) - $70 Price Cut
• Intel Core i5-7500 ($189 US) - $30 Price Cut
• Intel Core i5-6500 ($179 US) - $50 Price Cut
• Intel Core i5-4590 ($159 US) - $60 Price Cut
• Intel Core i3-7350K ($159 US) - $20 Price Cut
• Intel Core i3-7100 ($114 US) - $15 Price Cut
• Intel Core i3-6100 ($109 US) - $20 Price Cut
• Intel G4400 ($49.99 US) - $20 Price Cut
• Intel G3258 ($49.99 US) - $27 Price Cut

Now the question remains: how long until other retailers begin dropping the prices of their Intel CPUs - and will they get cheaper? Intel must be feeling the threat of Ryzen quicker than anticipated, for the company to be reacting this quickly - it only means great things for not just AMD, but the world.

Consumers are going to win from this fight, as Intel can only react with price drops after a decade of CPU monopoly. AMD have been down and out for a while, but they're rising once again.