- Intel’s sub-$200 CPUs now offer performance previously reserved for much more expensive processors
- Core Ultra 5 chips put pressure on AMD by matching clocks with multi-core results
- AMD’s Ryzen 9 5900XT struggles to justify the price against new Intel alternatives
I’ve spotted something interesting at the lower end of the desktop CPU market: Right now, some of the fastest processors 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 look like the old AMD, the company that wins by offering more performance for less money?
The clearest example here is Intel’s Core Ultra 5 245KF. For a penny less than $220 on Amazon, it offers performance that would have seemed impossible at this price not long ago.
With 14 cores split between six performance cores and eight efficiency cores, clock speeds of up to 5.2 GHz, and a PassMark score hovering around 43,000, it outperforms many older high-end chips that once cost much more.
Intel offers better value
Even better for value-seeking buyers, this performance level sits near the $200 mark instead of approaching $300 or more.
There’s also a slightly more expensive alternative in the Core Ultra 5 245K, which adds integrated Intel graphics and moves to the newer LGA1851 platform. For a penny less than $230 at Newegg, it outperforms most competing high-core-count CPUs while offering modern features like PCIe 5.0 support and large cache sizes.
This is the kind of balance that users building general-purpose systems, workstations, or mid-range gaming PCs really want.
In comparison, AMD’s Ryzen 9 5900XT tells a very different story. It’s a capable processor with 16 cores and 32 threads, but based on the old Zen 3 architecture and limited to DDR4 and PCIe 4.0.
It sells for $309 on Amazon, and even discounted from its $349 list price, it struggles to justify the premium when newer Intel chips offer comparable or better everyday performance for much less money.
That pressure on prices is important. AMD made its comeback years ago by undercutting Intel with aggressive core counts and solid value.
Now Intel is doing something similar, flooding the lower price tiers with CPUs that offer solid multithreaded performance without demanding flagship prices.
For everyday work, creative tasks, and intense multitasking, the numbers are increasingly favoring Intel.
Newer Ryzen platforms still compete well at higher price points, and of course platform longevity remains a big strength for AMD, but in the sub-$200 to $230 range, Intel currently sets the pace.
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