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Intel launched its new Skylake processors at Gamescom last week, but it seems there just aren’t enough of them to go round.
Several system builders have told PCR they are seeing stock shortages for Intel’s two new 14nm 6th Generation Core computer processors – the i5-6600K and the i7-6700K.
YoYoTech MD CK told PCR: "Skylake is a great opportunity, especially with DDR4. But the only fear I have is that we are seeing some issues in the delivery channel around Skylake. I’ve been assured by Intel they will get that right.
"We’ve got our Skylake CPU stock, but not as much as we wanted."
Overclockers UK – which ran a promotion for customers, offering them an X99 6-Core system for £50 less than an equivalent i7 Skylake system – have also seen stock shortages.
"We tested Skylake extensively against X99 and we came to realise that although Skylake is very good on the single thread, X99 is good for multi-threading. By giving honest information, the customer can choose for themselves," Miodrag Relic, business development director for Caseking group (which owns Overclockers).
"Over the past week, we’ve sold as many CPUs that we usually sell in a month – just X99 processors. We were the only ones in the UK who promoted it like that and it looks like we were correct."
Overclockers UK executive director Steve Ling added: "We also knew there would be a shortage of Skylake parts as well, so that’s helped a little bit from that point of view as well. It can be frustrating when vendors launch products and there’s hardly any stock."
Relic explained: "We have stock, but we have experienced similar sorts of issues to the rest of the channel. So we’re not better or worse from that point of view, because Intel always try to spread stock evenly across the channel. We don’t know why there has been stock issues, but by putting emphasis on X99 as well as Skylake, we haven’t experienced as much of an issue."
Chillblast’s sales director Ben Miles also reported a shortage of Skylake – as well as some of AMD’s 300-Series graphics cards.
"New AMD graphics cards in the Fury series are extremely exciting, offering compelling performance in a small, quiet footprint," he said. "Demand on these parts however is far outstripping supply – unless AMD can get more into the channel it leaves NVIDIA in a position to clean up on sales.
"The same holds true for Skylake – amazing technology but massive shortages in the channel."
Intel did not respond to PCR’s request for an explanation of the stock shortages.
Which UK-built Skylake systems are on the market? Check out our roundup here
