Store prices for new Core i5 and Core i7 processors

You may already know that today is an official launch day of Sandy Bridge microprocessors, dubbed by Intel as "2nd generation Core" CPUs. In contrast to majority of past launches, when it took from one to several days for microprocessors to materialize in stores, the new Sandy Bridge CPUs are already available in retail. We found at least seven Core i5 and Core i7 models in stock in large online and brick-and-mortar stores, including Amazon.com, Newegg.com, TigerDirect.com, NCIX (US) and Microcenter:

Model	Official price for 1K parts	Amazon	Newegg	TigetDirect	NCIX (US)	MicroCenter
Core i5-2300	$177	$194.75	$184.99	$189.99	$198.00
Core i5-2400	$184	$202.51	$194.99	$199.99	$220.77 (OOS)	$149.99
Core i5-2400S	$195	$206.94 (OOS)	$204.99
Core i5-2500	$205	$221.35 (OOS)	$209.99	$209.99	$217.80
Core i5-2500K	$216	$232.43 (OOS)	$224.99	$229.99	$236.62	$179.99
Core i7-2600	$294	$316.69 (OOS)	$299.99	$299.99	$341.56 (OOS)	$249.99
Core i7-2600K	$317	$338.86 (OOS)	$329.99	$329.99	$341.57

A few processors, listed by Amazon and NCIX US site, are shown as not available or not released yet. These are marked as OOS (Out Of Stock).

US retailer MicroCenter currently has three processors in stock: Core i5-2400, i5-2500K, and Core i7-2600. While the choice of CPUs is not as good as from other retailers, the MicroCenter has the best deal on these models - about $50 lower than the cheapest price from any other store on our list. The processors are available in store only, and limited to one 1 CPU per household.