Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus Review – Affordable Performance

Specifications & Comparison

Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus vs. Intel Core Ultra 5 245K, AMD Ryzen 5 9600X

The new Intel Core Ultra 5 250K, like its Core Ultra 7 counterpart, gained four more E-cores for extra performance; besides the core count increase, the new processor also gets memory-related improvements (i.e. increased D2D clock, DDR5-7200 support, Binary Optimization) to further improve its gaming performance. Head to our Core Ultra 7 270K Plus review to learn more about Arrow Lake Refresh microarchitecture.

Test System

Benchmarks

Cinebench (Multi-core)

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245K already massive outpaces the Ryzen counterparts in multi-core department, so the new Core Ultra 5 250K Plus with even more E-cores onboard will only further extend that lead. Compared to a stock AMD Ryzen 5 9600X – its segment equivalent – the 250K Plus has double the multi-core performance across the board thanks to 12 more E-cores (and 6 more threads) compared to the Ryzen’s conventional 6-core design.

Looking outside of the chart, we measured the same amount of multi-core performance at 65W as the 8-core Ryzen 7 9700X at 105W, and at full tilt (159W), it even slightly outpaces the 12-core Ryzen 9 9900X which consumes similar amounts of power at the socket (120W TDP, 162W PPT). That processor costs more than double of this Core Ultra 5 chip, mind you!

Cinebench (Single-core)

In terms of single-core performance, the Core Ultra 5 250K have a very respectable performance in relation to most mid-range offerings. At least in the case of Cinebench, this processor outright produces more single-thread performance than the contemporary mid-range Ryzen processors (when measured per-thread since it lacks hyper-threading), although only by a margin small enough to not sway most people’s purchase decisions.

7-Zip

7-Zip tests the combination of multi-core and memory performance of processors, and in this case, the Core Ultra 5 250K Plus benefits from high memory speeds and plenty of processing cores to outpace the competition.

3DMark Time Spy

3DMark Time Spy favors more cores on top of IPC and memory performance, so it naturally leads in this test. Note that gaming benchmarks will differ since this only focuses on the CPU side of the equation.

Handbrake

As usual, Arrow Lake processors excels in video transcoding workloads like Handbrake, so it is no surprise that the Core Ultra 5 250K Plus with its vast amount of processing cores reigns supreme in this benchmark, significantly outpacing other processors shown in the chart above.

V-Ray

V-Ray is another workload that focuses on multi-core performance, and the Core Ultra 5 250K Plus makes light work of this benchmark against other models in its class. Considering the price you’ll be paying for this processor, it’s one heck of a deal to get this kind of performance on what is still a fairly cheap mid-range model.

Gaming (1080p)

As we have seen with Core Ultra 7 270K Plus, the new Arrow Lake Refresh architecture brings more than just clock boosts, with improved D2D clocks and increased memory speed all contributing to improved base performance of the processor, as far as gaming is concerned. The Core Ultra 5 250K Plus will also benefit from the newly-introduced, Plus-exclusive Binary Optimization feature (more details in the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus review) for select games and applications, which in some cases can bring measurable performance boost.

Still, we have generally observed marginally better framerates across all titles, with Cyberpunk 2077 especially favoring Ryzen processors; that said, Binary Optimization and Intel Application Optimization (APO) can recover some of that deficit for supported titles, but mileage will vary.

Verdict

With the conclusion we had with the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus, we’re observing similar themes on the Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus: same price with double the performance, or same performance at half the price. We repeatedly mentioned its value for a good reason: at $199, it is likely the best mid-range processor you can get on the market today with the kind of performance it can offer – AMD’s current equivalent offerings just simply looks uncompetitive with so little core counts on offer, and that’s quite ironic if you think about it.

Now, while the processor itself offers tons of value, there is one thing to consider if you’re a frequent upgrader: socket support. It is known that Intel will move on to a brand-new socket come next generation, so whichever motherboard you’re pairing this with will pretty much be a dead end; on the contrary, if you’re on a limited budget right now but intends to upgrade down the line, Ryzens are still the better option – I will argue that this is a niche scenario where AMD still has an advantage right now.

All in all though, there’s very little to complain about when it comes to the new Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus. It builds on the success of Intel’s recent mid-range offerings with superior value and made it even better, and if AMD doesn’t respond come next generation, we’ll likely be seeing a lot of Team Blue-powered mainstream/budget PC builds down the line.

Special thanks to Intel for providing the Core Ultra 5 250K Plus for this review.