- Cheaper Intel CPUs Now Challenge AMD's High-End Pricing Logic
- Performance gap narrows as AMD charges more for modest desktop benefits
- Energy efficiency and cost pressures are changing the value of high-performance processors
I already wrote about Intel quietly taking control lower end of the desktop processor marketwhere chips costing around $200 now offer performance that used to be much higher up in the stack.
However, making the situation even more inconvenient for AMD The fact is that a similar picture is creeping into the upper segment, where Team Red prices no longer rise as far as before.
A comparison of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF shows why. On paper, the Ryzen part looks comfortably dominant with 16 cores and 32 threads, while the Intel chip tops out with 20 threads, using a mix of performance and efficiency cores. The test results, however, tell a less dramatic and much more interesting story.
AMD is ahead… marginally
Ryzen 9 7950X scores around 62,260 points PassMark processor ratingand the Core Ultra 7 265KF has about 58,734. This puts AMD ahead, but not by much, especially considering the differences in hardware and prices.
Single-threaded performance further closes the gap. The Intel processor scored around 4,926, slightly ahead of the Ryzen 9 7950X's score of around 4,876, which is important for everyday desktop workloads that don't scale cleanly across dozens of threads.
Pricing makes it difficult to defend the situation. Core Ultra 7 265KF sells for approximately $270 on Amazonwhile the Ryzen 9 7950X can be found much more expensive Over $501 at B&H.
Paying nearly twice as much for a single-digit percentage advantage in aggregate tests shifts the value argument away from core count and toward efficiency.
Power consumption exacerbates this imbalance. AMD's chip is rated at 170 watts compared to Intel's 125 watts, and estimated annual power costs reflect that difference: roughly $31 for a Ryzen processor versus about $23 for an Intel chip.
The Ryzen 9 7950X continues to find use in heavily threaded workloads such as rendering, simulation, and large-scale code compilation, where its additional threads remain busy. Outside of these scenarios, this advantage quickly disappears.
In my previous review of the sub-$200 segment, I said that Intel was starting to resemble the old AMD, offering more performance for less money.
At a high level, the roles do not change. fullybut the pressure feels familiar, as Intel delivers close enough performance that AMD's premium prices are hard to justify.
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