Silicon Lottery has announced that it will be shutting down its business, marking an end to its pre-binned Intel and AMD CPU sales.
No More Pre-Binned Intel & AMD CPU Sales As Silicon Lottery To Shut Down Its Doors Next Month
Silicon Lottery has been operating for several years and has offered several pre-binned variants of Intel and AMD CPUs. The company started offering AMD CPUs with the launch of 1st Gen Ryzen but has been offering Intel CPUs all the way back to Skylake. The company has now announced that the business will be coming to an end next month.
We will be closing our store at the end of October. Thanks to all of our customers over the years for being so awesome!https://t.co/jEAPcM6lB0
— Silicon Lottery (@SiliconLottery) September 28, 2021
The company has cited several reasons why they are shutting down. Both Intel and AMD already offer tighter bins on their top-end SKUs leaving little headroom for overclocking to be achieved & Intel has moved to a solder-TIM since their 9th Generation CPUs, making delidding pretty much a pointless thing in terms of achieving better cooling. Silicon Lottery also states that the short supply of CPUs has taken a huge toll on their business and they couldn’t handle the delays in shipments any longer.
With that said, the last Intel Rocket Lake pre-binned CPUs that are listed (although out of stock) will be sold till 31st October 2021 while orders and delidding services will be delivered to customers by 30th November 2021. Silicon Lottery’s primary customers were overclockers and enthusiasts who didn’t have to go through several samples to get a golden chip but now, they would have to do so purely on luck. Following is the full statement by Silicon Lottery:
STORE CLOSING
Our online store will be closing on October 31, 2021. Any orders placed for our delidding service will need to be delivered to us by November 30, 2021 for completion. For warranty or other assistance after we close the store, contact us at the email listed on your packing slip.
We have had a fantastic time these past seven years at Silicon Lottery. This business has grown and made an impact on so many people, more than I ever imagined was possible. I personally appreciate all of you that I’ve been able to talk with over these years, from troubleshooting to general questions to speculation. It’s been so easy to connect with so many of you through this hobby we share.
We’re shutting down not for just one reason, but for a combination of many. As you may be aware, overclocking headroom has been dwindling these past several years with manufacturers offering higher frequencies at stock, better boosting algorithms, and tighter bins between models which reduces overclock frequency variation (the 11900K is essentially a binned 11700K, so with the 11900K we’re binning what has already been fairly heavily binned). This type of product segmentation is nothing new, but having such minor differences between two models is a more recent shift. Intel has also switched from a polymer TIM back to a solder TIM starting with their 9th generation CPUs, which has reduced the thermal benefits achieved from delidding. In addition, supply issues have taken a major toll on us, even before the pandemic started. Our orders with distributors for the last few releases have been nightmares of delays upon delays.
With all of this in mind, sales have fallen below the point where it makes sense for us to keep the store open. We know many of you are eagerly wanting Alder Lake CPUs, and we’re sorry that we won’t be able to fulfill your needs this time. We have seen your emails rolling in these past couple of weeks, and we’re sorry for not getting back to you guys earlier as we’ve been busy juggling this decision.
While we will be closed for the foreseeable future, it’s not necessarily goodbye forever. If things change in the market, in particular if overclocking headroom and variation increases for whatever reason, it’s possible we will get things rolling again.
We wish all of you the best, and to keep having fun tweaking hardware!