According to CPU price drops: Core Ultra 7 265k & Ryzen 5 9600X, 92 reviews are now recommended
Should you buy the Intel Core Ultra 7 265k or AMD Ryzen 5 9600X? The verdict was reached early last year. However, based on price drops, both are now worth more than just consideration in their class. The Core Ultra 7 is approaching €350, the Ryzen 5 is around €200. A price-performance overview. Contents Core Ultra 7 265k & Ryzen 5 9600X now recommended for price reductions on Core Ultra and Ryzen 9000 Price reductions in applications Performance Price in games The Core Ultra 7 265k is recommended the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is recommended Socket AM5 Vs. Socket LGA 1851: The platform question
Price cuts on Core Ultra and Ryzen 9000
Intel rightly had to make a lot of criticism about the start of Intel’s Arrow Lake in fall 2024. Rarely before has a platform been so unfinished, the performance was not consistent enough in the end, because often no more or even less than the predecessor – and of course the newcomers were much more expensive. The updates (microcode) postponed by Intel did not bring any general performance increases, but they did solve many serious problems. And the prices returned. Not only in Core Ultra, but also in Ryzen 9000 far from the ubiquitous high-end gaming processors of the x3D class.
Two processors from the editorial team, which are also smaller, have been particularly eye-catching in recent days: the Core Ultra 7 265K and the Ryzen 5 9600X. Both have been recommended. The articles provide details on the respective processors. Intel Core Ultra 200S in the test: Core Ultra 9 285K, 7 265K, and 5 245K are efficient processors, and Ryzen 5 9600X & Ryzen 7 9700X in the test: AMD’s single-core king and efficiency master.
Price-performance ratings
Current market prices
Price-performance in applications
Price-performance in games
The Core Ultra 7 265K is recommended
Several factors come together in the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K. In any case, it has always been a better choice not to buy the flagship, but a model below it, because the price difference is greater than the performance difference. But the Core Ultra 7 265K has also dropped significantly in price in recent months. The RRP of €429 is now clearly undercut.
Intel Core Ultra 7 265K at maximum clock
From the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K to the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, this means prices range from €365 to €612—around €250. Or vice versa: the 285K costs 70% more than the 265K.
As usual, the additional performance isn’t even to be found in this area. In the best case, it’s 15% in applications, usually less. At the current price of the Core Ultra 7 265K, not only is it cheaper than the flagship of the new Arrow Lake family, but the previous generation Intel Core i9-14900K is now almost 90 euros more expensive.
One major problem is the Ultra 7 265K’s price, especially for many AMD processors. The regular Ryzen 9000 is still considered quite expensive (with one exception). The Intel Core Ultra 7 not only has the Ryzen 9 9900X under control in terms of performance, but also costs 70 euros less – from 365 euros to 419 euros.
Even the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X is too expensive at 310 euros, as performance drops by up to a third compared to the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K in some applications, but the price difference is only 15%. With up to 50% more performance for only a 15% overhead from a Ryzen 7 9700X, and looking at the Core Ultra 7 265K, the 9700X becomes a real alternative. But the 265K isn’t just impressive in applications with its new price. In terms of price-performance, it’s now also a winner in gaming.
The AMD Ryzen 9000x3D remains the absolute king of gaming performance. The AMD Ryzen 7 9800x3D already commands a price of €515. That’s almost 50% more than the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K at €365. The price-performance ratio is also different in gaming.
And what about the predecessor, the 7800x3D? It’s now more affordable, starting at €416, but has the same problem as a full-fledged package: in gaming, the lead over the 265K is manageable at around eight percent. In applications, however, the 265K tends to exceed 60% before the 7800x3D. With a significantly lower price, the best all-rounder and current recommendation here is clearly the Intel processor.
The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is recommended.
Amid the Core Ultra 7 265K’s “competitors,” AMD now has a new hot iron in the fire. The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X has recently blossomed into the secret star of AMD’s contingent. It has also dropped significantly in price, moving towards the €200 mark at €209, allowing it to climb to second place behind the 265K in the application’s price-performance rating.
AMD Ryzen 5 9600X
AMD Ryzen 5 9600X
And what about gaming? The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is also the star of the best price-performance range. At its current price of €209, it no longer has any competition, not even the 7600 series from the same manufacturer. Intel’s rival is still too expensive and no longer offers the same performance. Learn more about the smaller Arrow Lake processor shortly.
Socket AM5 vs. Socket LGA 1851: The Platform Question
One final point from the perspective of balancing CPU price and performance is, at least if the main board needs to be modified, the underlying platform, which also always sparks debate in the core computing community.
Arrow Lake-S has a slightly newer substructure than AMD, with its LGA 1851 base and 800 chipsets, where solutions based on the Promontory 21 chipset have been around for a few years. As a rule, partners generally make the best of it and also equip them with WiFi 7. For example, the age is visible with fast USB connections with 20 or 40 Gbits; the AMD platform currently only offers an add-on chip (USB 4) in the X class. Thunderbolt, as “the best USB 4,” is only offered by AMD’s platform in absolute exceptions via an add-in card. A constantly hot topic is the distribution of PCIe lanes, which Jan and Fabian recently discussed in a podcast.
The advantage of Intel’s somewhat modern platform ultimately delivers, the question of questions in this case is: how sustainable is the substructure? It will see an Arrow Lake refresh this and next year, but in typical fashion, it could also be very soon. AMD considers a sustainable base to be set, even if it only receives older refreshed processors in recent years, such as the AM4 socket.
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Topics: Intel Intel Arrow Lake Intel Core Ultra Processors
Marc deciphers processors by testing their performance for gaming, content creation, and artificial intelligence.
