Building a PC around Intel's Comet Lake CPUs is perfectly fine. As far as we know, the Core i9 10900K is the best CPU for gaming. What's at stake is how to get the most bang for your buck, and this equation becomes even more difficult when you're faced with the decision of choosing a CPU sold at retailers like Amazon or Newegg, or a CPU in a bin.

This is highlighted by the fact that Silicon Lottery, a retailer that tests chips and sells them based on their ability to overclock to specific parameters, sells the Core i5 10600K for the same price as Newegg and $10 less than Amazon The price is highlighted by the fact that Silicon Lottery is selling the Core i5 10600K for $10 less than Amazon at the same price as Newegg. Specifically, it starts at $289.99 at Silicon Lottery, the same price at Newegg, and $299.99 at Amazon.

This is a unique situation and raises the question of which is the best way to buy: the "recommended customer price" of $262-$263 that Intel offers on the ARK page is not actually the suggested retail price for the average consumer, but rather for Intel's direct customers buying in bulk (1,000 unit trays), but rather the suggested retail price for a large volume purchase (1,000 unit trays) by Intel's direct customers.

Be that as it may, Silicon Lottery is offering the same or slightly lower price than popular retailers for the lowest bin 10600K, which is guaranteed to run at a stable 4.7 GHz on all six cores. In stock configuration, the 10600K has a base clock of 4.10 GHz, an all-core boost clock of 4.5 GHz, and a single-core boost clock of 4.8 GHz. This means that a 200 MHz jump in the all-core boost clock is guaranteed.

While this is tempting, the flip side is that there is little chance of getting a chip that can perform better than the overclocking results listed by the retailer. The breakdown is as follows:

Untested chips may be able to achieve an all-core overclock of 5.1 GHz, but by the same token, 4.7 GHz may be the best. in Silicon Lottery's testing, the top 8 percent fell into the 5.1GHz bin, but all chips were able to achieve 4.7GHz on all six cores; while the odds of achieving an all-core 4.7GHz overclock are high when purchased at places like Amazon and Newegg, substandard results are not guaranteed.

At Silicon Lottery, the top 73 percent achieved 4.9 GHz and sold for $299.99. This is arguably the best value, or at least the safest option. Then again, the top 23 percent of chips tested hit 5.0 GHz and sell for $339.99.

Not all chips present the same dilemma. For example, the Core i9 10900K sells for $549.99 at Newegg (though out of stock), while Silicon Lottery has a price range of $589.99 to $949.99.