- Intel processors under $200 now offer performance once reserved for much more expensive processors
- Core Ultra 5 chips put pressure on AMD by pairing clocks with multi-core results
- AMD’s Ryzen 9 5900XT struggles to justify its price compared to new Intel alternatives
I spotted something interesting at the low end of the desktop CPU market: Right now, some of the fastest CPUs you can buy for around $200 come from Intel, not AMD, and the performance gap is uncomfortable enough to raise an intriguing question: Is Intel starting to resemble old AMD, the company that wins by offering more performance for less money?
The clearest example here is Intel’s Core Ultra 5 245KF. At less than $220 on Amazon, it delivers performance that would have seemed impossible at this price not too long ago.
With 14 cores split between six performance cores and eight efficiency cores, boosted clocks up to 5.2 GHz, and a PassMark score hovering around 43,000, it outperforms many older high-end chips that once cost significantly more.
Intel offers better value for money
Better yet for buyers looking for value, this performance level sits near the $200 mark rather than drifting toward $300 or beyond.
There’s also a slightly more expensive alternative, the Core Ultra 5 245K, which adds integrated Intel graphics and upgrades to the new LGA1851 platform. At a penny under $230 at Newegg, it undercuts most competing high-core-count CPUs while still offering modern features like PCIe 5.0 support and large cache sizes.
This is the kind of balance that users building mid-range systems, workstations, or gaming PCs really want.
In comparison, AMD’s Ryzen 9 5900XT tells a very different story. This is a high-performance processor with 16 cores and 32 threads, but based on the older Zen 3 architecture and limited to DDR4 and PCIe 4.0.
It sells for $309 on Amazon, and even marked down from its list price of $349, it struggles to justify the premium when Intel’s new chips offer comparable or better everyday performance for much less money.
This pressure on prices is significant. AMD built its comeback years ago by outpacing Intel with aggressive core counts and solid value.
Today, Intel is doing something similar, flooding the lowest price points with processors that deliver solid multithreaded performance without demanding a flagship price.
For everyday work, creative tasks, and heavy multitasking, the numbers increasingly favor Intel.
The new Ryzen platforms still compete well at higher price points, and platform longevity of course remains a major strength for AMD, but in the sub-$200 to $230 range, Intel currently sets the pace.
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