Intel Core Ultra 7 265K CPU Review

How Much Does it Cost?

The new CPUs are the latest flagships for the Intel range, and obviously their performance, features and core counts are reflected in the price tags. The Intel Core U5 245K is the cheapest of the bunch that we’ve tested today, coming in at just $309/£278.99. The faster Intel Core U7 265K is a little more expensive at $394.00, and of course, the flagship Intel Core U9 285K is the most expensive at $589.00. However, I do think the price gap is quite a leap to the i9, but no doubt more CPUs will hit the market to fill out the pricing stacks, below and in between these CPUs. You can check for up-to-date stock and prices from Scan.co.uk here.

Conclusion

Intel has made a lot of changes to these new CPUs, but they’re still not a huge departure from the previous generation in terms of performance, at least, not yet. Firstly, Intel is seemingly calling this the first generation of Intel Core Ultra rather than the 15th Generation of the i-series processors; however, it is true that they are, in fact, both of these things. A new beginning if you will, but one that feels rather familiar.

HyperThreading

A significant shift in CPU architecture is the absence of HyperThreading, a technology that had become standard in CPU design. This change has led to varied performance outcomes. While some software remains unaffected, others show a noticeable performance dip. However, this is likely a temporary situation. As software developers adapt their code to optimize for CPUs without HyperThreading, either through simple updates or more extensive revisions, the impact should lessen over time. This trend is mirrored in the gaming world, where certain titles, like Cyberpunk, experienced performance hiccups, while others ran smoothly. It’s expected that future software patches will address these issues, and I anticipate revisiting performance benchmarks after these updates are implemented.

Increased Cost

There’s definitely some woes here, as upgrading to this generation is going to be expensive. It’s not just the CPU price, but the introduction new chipset and socket means a new motherboard, and the need for new high-speed DDR5 memory to take full advantage of it. While previous generations could use more affordable DDR5-7600, this one needs DDR5-8200 for optimal performance, which can double the memory cost compared to a typical DDR5-7200 kit. This means investing in these new CPUs is going to get pretty expensive, and may put off some customers outside of the enthusiast PC users as they’ll often go to any lengths for the latest technology, but your average consumer is still likely to be tempted by the 14th Gen of Intel hardware.

First Gen

First Gen Intel Core Ultra CPUs are really what 14th Gen should have been, and while they give similar performance in many tests, some a bit faster or slower, the more refined power delivery is a big step up, resulting in lower power usage, and lower temperatures and that’s going to make both cooling requirements easier, as well as high-end performance stability much easier, as you can push boost clocks without the rigorous cooling demands of the 14th Gen hardware. Intel even said in their own press briefing that we should think of this as a fresh starting point for the future. Building a base of efficiency, fast I/O and faster memory is a great place to start, there’s no doubt about that.

Retesting?

We’ve had no end of troubles with testing, but largely it doesn’t seem to be Intel’s fault. The review testing started the same week Windows rolled out its latest update, which just didn’t sit well with Intel’s new metal, but we rolled back, and things improved greatly. As with any launch, BIOS updates, software updates, and Windows updates will no doubt improve things a lot, and I really feel that while performance was decent on this U7, there is still performance left on the table, and I look forward to seeing what comes up when we re-test in the coming weeks.

Should I Buy One?

There’s a lot different about the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K CPU compared to the previous 14th Gen CPUs, but largely, they sum up to a fairly similar experience in our benchmarks. There are obvious benefits from the improved I/O of the new chipsets, and the faster memory we’re using has its own benefits too. However, when it comes to leveraging the AI features, improved power delivery and thermal performance, I think this CPU still has more to give, and if I was investing in a brand new PC, I would likely pick up the 265K myself over the 14th Gen, but again, the added cost may not be to everyone’s taste until the platform matures.