The DIY PC market is currently going through a difficult period, with increasing component prices having scared away many consumers. Drawing on CPU sales data from German retailer Mindfactory for week 13 of 2026, TechEpiphany claims that desktop CPU sales have reached an all-time low.
In other words, consumers have mostly stopped buying new processors. This is not surprising because, like GPUs and RAM, CPUs have become more expensive in recent months. So people who could have upgraded to a new CPU, faster memory, and a better GPU no longer seem to want to do so.
It will therefore be interesting to see if the release of the Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus and Core Ultra 9 270K Plus can move the needle in Intel’s favor in the coming weeks. We think things might improve as RAM prices have started to come down.
TechEpiphany also reports that although AM4 processors are slowing down, customers continue to purchase aging processors such as the Ryzen 7 5700X, Ryzen 5 5500 etc. Not only are these processors much cheaper than the last generation Zen 5 processors, but they can also run on much cheaper DDR4 RAM.
Finally, the best-selling Intel processor in week 13 of 2026 was the Core Ultra 7 265K with only 10 units sold. The “KF” version of the chip launched at around $380, but can now be found on Amazon for just $249. This is, however, the only Arrow Lake processor on the list, with the rest of Intel’s processors sold being a mix of older 12th gen Core i5/i3 and 14th gen Core i5/i7/i9 models.
Overall, the situation has not changed regarding the relative position of AMD and Intel processors. The red team still dominates processor sales on Mindfactory. What has changed, however, is that the total number of CPUs sold would be lower than ever. This coincides with falling GPU sales and highlights the serious deterioration in the overall consumer DIY PC market.
