Intel’s latest low-power eight-core Core i9-11900T and Core i7-11700T ‘Rocket Lake’ desktop processors with a 35W TDP for LGA1200 motherboards are already available in Europe and Japan. But there’s no sign of them in the U.S. yet. 

Most performance enthusiasts are eager to get Intel’s unlocked K-series processors with a 95W – 125W TDP that can boost their clocks sky-high and support all the latest technologies. But there are also enthusiasts who prefer small form-factor low-power builds, but would still like to have CPUs with eight or ten cores and all the latest technologies. Intel typically addresses these users with its T-series processors featuring a 35W TDP, but sometimes these chips are hard to get. 

Intel formally introduced its low-power eight-core Core i9-11900T and Core i7-11700T ‘Rocket Lake’ CPUs with a 35W TDP along with their high-performance i9-11900K and i7-11700K brethren on March 30, 2021. But unlike the ‘unlocked and unleashed’ K-series processors, the new T-series products were not immediately available at launch. Fortunately, the situation is starting to change.  

Akiba PC Hotline and Hermitage Akihabara report that the new 35W Core i9-11900T and Core i7-11700T CPUs in bulk and boxed versions are readily available in at least four stores in Tokyo, Japan. The higher-end i9-11900T model is sold for ¥60,478 – ¥62,700 with VAT, whereas the i7-11700T SKU is priced at ¥45,078 – ¥47,300 including tax. 

Geizhals.EU, a price search engine in Europe, finds that Intel’s Core i9-11900T is available in dozens of stores in Austria, Germany, and Poland starting at €455 with VAT ($462 without taxes). Meanwhile, there are no offers for the cheaper Core i7-11700T at this point. 

But at the moment, the new Rocket Lake-T CPUs are not currently available in the U.S. at Amazon and Newegg. In fact, the stores are not even taking pre-orders on these parts. The situation has already prompted enthusiasts of low-power SFF builds to start a thread at Reddit to monitor their availability. 

Intel’s latest Core i9-11900T and Core i7-11700T processors indeed look quite attractive. The CPUs feature eight cores with Hyper-Threading, 16MB of cache, a modern Xe-based integrated GPU and support up to 128GB of memory. Intel’s i9-11900T and i7-11700T CPUs feature relatively low base frequencies of 2.00 GHz and 1.50 GHz (respectively), but rather high all-core boost clocks of 3.60 GHz and 3.70 GHz (respectively). When installed into compatible motherboards, they can hit high frequencies and pretty much guarantee great system responsiveness and decent performance in mainstream applications (assuming adequate cooling). So while these are definitely niche chips, it’s not surprising that demand for these CPUs is fairly high.