If you take a gander inside your gaming PC and randomly point at any component in there, you’re almost certainly going to land on something that’s noticeably more expensive than it was just 12 months ago. And if that so happens to be an Intel Core Ultra 200S Plus chip, then that’s included too, as the recommended retail price has quietly jumped up.
As reported by HardwareLuxx, the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and Core 5 250K Plus, as well as their iGPU-less F-variants, have gained tens of dollars on what Intel calls the ‘Recommended Customer Price’. In the case of the 270K Plus, it’s now $339 to $349, with its smaller sibling now $219 to $229.
That’s a minimum increase of $40 and $20, respectively, and while it’s not a huge leap in the grand scheme of things, a 13%/10% rise isn’t merely pennies, either.
You can probably guess why the prices have risen, but HardwareLuxx contacted Intel anyway and received the following response: “The recent pricing updates reflect current market dynamics, including rising supply chain costs and strong demand for our Intel Core Ultra 200S Plus processors. These updates are in line with recent price increases for other Intel product families based on similar factors.”
It’s worth noting that while Intel itself makes the Foveros interposer base tile in the 200K Plus chips, and packages everything together, it’s TSMC that makes everything else: the compute tile, the IO tile, and the graphics chiplet. That means if TSMC decides that all its nodes now cost a little more to run, it’s Intel (well, us) that has to pay the extra.
Gaming performance
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Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p RT Ultra + DLSS Balanced)
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Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus
119
98
Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
118
95
Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
117
90
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
111
67
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
112
76
AMD Ryzen 7 9700X
99
59
037.575112.5150
Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p RT Ultra + DLSS Balanced) Data
Product
Value
Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus
119 Avg FPS, 98 1% Low FPS
Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
118 Avg FPS, 95 1% Low FPS
Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
117 Avg FPS, 90 1% Low FPS
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
111 Avg FPS, 67 1% Low FPS
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
112 Avg FPS, 76 1% Low FPS
AMD Ryzen 7 9700X
99 Avg FPS, 59 1% Low FPS
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus
113
66
Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
108
67
Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
102
63
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
147
84
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
146
76
AMD Ryzen 7 9700X
94
56
037.575112.5150
Baldur’s Gate 3 (1080p Ultra) Data
Product
Value
Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus
113 Avg FPS, 66 1% Low FPS
Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
108 Avg FPS, 67 1% Low FPS
Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
102 Avg FPS, 63 1% Low FPS
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
147 Avg FPS, 84 1% Low FPS
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
146 Avg FPS, 76 1% Low FPS
AMD Ryzen 7 9700X
94 Avg FPS, 56 1% Low FPS
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus
101
57
Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
97
53
Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
95
53
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
101
54
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
117
55
AMD Ryzen 7 9700X
91
49
037.575112.5150
Homeworld 3 (1080p Epic) Data
Product
Value
Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus
101 Avg FPS, 57 1% Low FPS
Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
97 Avg FPS, 53 1% Low FPS
Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
95 Avg FPS, 53 1% Low FPS
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
101 Avg FPS, 54 1% Low FPS
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
117 Avg FPS, 55 1% Low FPS
AMD Ryzen 7 9700X
91 Avg FPS, 49 1% Low FPS
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus
143
79
Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
149
79
Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
142
78
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
148
91
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
148
91
AMD Ryzen 7 9700X
146
77
037.575112.5150
Metro Exodus Enhanced Ed. (1080p High) Data
Product
Value
Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus
143 Avg FPS, 79 1% Low FPS
Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
149 Avg FPS, 79 1% Low FPS
Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
142 Avg FPS, 78 1% Low FPS
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
148 Avg FPS, 91 1% Low FPS
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
148 Avg FPS, 91 1% Low FPS
AMD Ryzen 7 9700X
146 Avg FPS, 77 1% Low FPS
Avg FPS
1% Low FPS
Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus
173
139
Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
173
139
Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
174
136.9
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
150
79
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
152
79
AMD Ryzen 7 9700X
151
79
050100150200
Total War: Warhammer 3 (1080p High) Data
Product
Value
Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus
173 Avg FPS, 139 1% Low FPS
Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
173 Avg FPS, 139 1% Low FPS
Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
174 Avg FPS, 136.9 1% Low FPS
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
150 Avg FPS, 79 1% Low FPS
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
152 Avg FPS, 79 1% Low FPS
AMD Ryzen 7 9700X
151 Avg FPS, 79 1% Low FPS
CPU index score
Overall index score
Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus
20252
17548
Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
19293
17430
Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
18822
17377
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
17099
17084
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
16116
17052
AMD Ryzen 7 9700X
13239
16437
07,50015,00022,50030,000
3DMark Time Spy Data
Product
Value
Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus
20252 CPU index score, 17548 Overall index score
Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
19293 CPU index score, 17430 Overall index score
Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
18822 CPU index score, 17377 Overall index score
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
17099 CPU index score, 17084 Overall index score
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
16116 CPU index score, 17052 Overall index score
AMD Ryzen 7 9700X
13239 CPU index score, 16437 Overall index score
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The only bit of good news in all of this is that both CPUs are still well worth considering, even at their highest recommended consumer price. You can buy an AMD Ryzen 7 9700X for $305 at Amazon, but the 270K Plus is a superior product: faster in games, and much better for heavy multithreaded workloads.
Of course, the downside to buying any new Intel processor is that the LGA 1851 has already reached its end, and if you buy a 270K Plus, there’s nothing better to replace it. Not now, not in the future. You’ll need to buy a new motherboard if you want to upgrade to a Nova Lake chip.
Whereas with an AM5 Ryzen chip, of course, whatever motherboard you’ve currently got will almost certainly take a Zen 6 processor, and perhaps even one more generation. At the very least, you can easily replace a Ryzen 5 7600X, for example, with a hot-snotting Ryzen 7 9800X3D.
Still, at least neither company has decided to go all DRAM on us and quadruple the price tag.
