Jake Roach is the Senior CPU Analyst at Tom\u2019s Hardware, writing reviews, news, and features about the latest consumer and workstation processors. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-23/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Jake Roach Social Links Navigation Senior Analyst, CPUs Jake Roach is the Senior CPU Analyst at Tom’s Hardware, writing reviews, news, and features about the latest consumer and workstation processors.
cyrusfox No one is buying the 225 except businesses when the 250k plus retails for $220 and the 250kf for $200. If you want budget gaming cheaper, 14th gen is capable and then you can select DDR4 as well. For a DDR5 platform, 250k plus is the best you can find from Intel. Reply
Loadedaxe I agree with the above. For the roughly $50 difference between the 225 and the 250KF, the 225 just feels pointless. Even if retailers dropped it to around $100, DDR5 pricing still kills a lot of the value. At that point, something like a 14400 with DDR4 is the more cost effective and practical solution for most people. If DDR5 pricing ever returns to sanity, say 32GB kits under $100 again, then I could see Intel adjusting pricing to make these chips more viable and appealing. I wouldn’t hold my breath though on DDR5 returning to "normal" anytime soon. Reply
jakewhos usertests said: It's too expensive in relation to other offerings and it has a compromised iGPU with two Xe cores disabled out of the full four the 245/250 have. Not a good buy for any purpose. Just get the 250K when you see it at $200 MSRP and tune it to use less power if necessary. You don't really need all the cores for anything the main sell is the newer architecture of the xe cores and you get the stock cooler. Reply
usertests jakewhos said: You don't really need all the cores for anything the main sell is the newer architecture of the xe cores and you get the stock cooler. Losing half the iGPU is a big loss. Performance should be about on par with any fully enabled Xe-LP iGPU, like the UHD 750 in an old i5-11500. Architectural improvements are barely relevant. Arrow Lake desktop gets Xe-LPG with DPAS instructions disabled. You get better AV1 decode and AV1 encode in Arrow Lake. Stock cooler isn't going to have a big effect on value. I say go to something older/used, or step up to the Core Ultra 245K/250K+. Reply
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/intel-core-ultra-5-225-review#main
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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.