Intel Tries To Convince Gamers That Arrow Lake Desktop CPUs Have Better Value Than AMD’s Ryzen 9000 In Gaming Perf/$, Core Ultra 7 265K Compared To 9800X3D

Intel has compared its latest Arrow Lake Desktop CPUs against AMD's Ryzen 9000 in a bid to convince gamers to buy its chips.

Intel Gives Many Reasons To Upgrade To Arrow Lake Desktop CPUs, But I Doubt Anyone Would Still Want Them Over AMD's Ryzen 9000

Intel & AMD are known to update their partners and users about the latest technologies and products that they offer from time to time. We have seen marketing material from AMD & Intel in the past, and while some may not have gone the way the companies might have intended, they still provide an insight into how each chip maker is positioning itself against the competition.

This time, Intel is comparing its Core Ultra Series 2 or Arrow Lake-S Desktop CPUs against the AMD Ryzen 9000 "Zen 5" lineup. The first chart is standard, where the blue team positions each of its CPUs against the competition's best in each segment. The first thing you will note is that Intel has 12 SKUs while AMD has 9 SKUs in total.

The Core Ultra 9 lineup, which includes the 285K and the 285, is positioned against the Ryzen 9 lineup, which includes the 9950X3D, 9950X, 9900X3D, and the 9900X. Then we have the Core Ultra 7 lineup, which includes 265K, 265KF, 265F, and 265, which are positioned against the Ryzen 7 9800X3D and 9700X.

Moving down the stack, we have Intel's Core Ultra 5 SKUs, which include 245K, 245KF, 245, 235, 225F, and 225, making it by far the largest segmented family. On AMD's side, they have just two Ryzen 5 SKUs, such as the 9600X and the 9600. The 9500F was also recently added, but its global availability was announced a few weeks back, which is why it didn't make it to the chart.

Intel Core Ultra 9 285K Positioning Versus AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D, 9950X, 9900X

Starting at the top, we have the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, which is compared against AMD's top Ryzen 9 offerings. In the first comparison, Intel showcases the gaming and content creation performance. Intel is stating that its 285K remains on par with the 9950X3D and falls back to a 9% deficit in the few select titles that they tested. In content creation, the 285K is better than the 9950X3D. Besides the small select games that were tested, the content creation performance seems to be on point with our testing, but the gaming performance is lackluster.

Versus the 9950X, the 285K is shown to be on par at 1080p in the five select titles, which include Starfield, as this is one title that is an AMD-sponsored game with optimizations around their own CPUs. We do not necessarily agree with 285K being on par with the 9950X at stock.

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Then we have the 9900X vs 285K comparisons, where the Arrow Lake-S Desktop CPU is shown to lead by up to 14% in games such as STALKER 2.

Intel Core Ultra 7 265K Positioning Versus AMD's Ryzen 9 9900X, Ryzen 7 9800X3D, 9700X

Next on the list is the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K. The chip is first compared against the Ryzen 7 9700X and is shown to offer similar gaming performance as AMD's chip at 1080p.

The most interesting part is the gaming perf/$ slide, which shows that the 265K offers 15% better value than the Ryzen 7 9700X at MSRP. The comparison shows the 265K at $299, which is its new MSRP after the recent price cut, while the 9700X is listed at $359.

As of right now, the 9700X can be found for as low as $279, and at major retailers such as Newegg and Amazon, it can be found for $299, so there goes the gaming value that is being showcased here. As we have seen with GPUs, no MSRP is real MSRP; only the listed prices are the real deal. In some cases, those are higher than the MSRPs, and in the case of CPUs, they can be much lower than the MSRPs. So we have to factor those here and not take MSRPs at the point.

The 265K is also compared to the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, where the MSRP does reflect current pricing. The 9800X3D is listed for $450-$480 at the moment, which means that Intel's 25% better gaming perf/$ should be correct, but then you have to factor in the gaming numbers that Intel is showcasing, which in one instance show the 265K being on par with the 9800X3D (Starfield @ 1080p). The 9800X3D is currently the fastest CPU for gaming on the market and easily wins by double-digit percentages versus the entire Arrow Lake-S family.

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Intel also compares the 265K against the 9900X, which, once again, is from their own testing. We have different numbers for these two chips, which fall in line with other independent reviewers, so take them as you may, but it shows why checking reviews is as important as ever.

Intel Core Ultra 5 245K Positioning Versus AMD's Ryzen 5 9600X

For mainstream audiences, Intel has the Core Ultra 5 245K, which is positioned against the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X. This chip is once again shown to offer up to 9% better and 9% lower performance than the 9600X. The 9600X is a 6-core chip, while the 245K is a 14-core chip, so its content creation performance will be much better, and that has been the case with Intel's CPUs since the 12th Gen lineup, as those extra E-Cores do help out with productivity workloads.

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Intel is also comparing its budget Core Ultra 5 225 CPU against the older Core i5-14400 CPU, claiming up to 43% better gaming performance and an average 20% uplift.

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We don't know the exact settings used for each game or if APO was enabled in these titles. But one thing is for sure: despite what Intel might showcase, the Arrow Lake-S Desktop CPU lineup was a disappointing launch, which led to AMD's Ryzen CPUs securing new heights within the DIY PC segment. Intel itself has acknowledged that its Arrow Lake Desktop CPUs didn't meet expectations and that Nova Lake will be the next desktop launch that bridges the gap with AMD.

News Source: Momomo_US

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