Sure thing, here’s my take:
—
Okay, so here’s the deal. Intel’s been doing some stuff with their Core Ultra 5 CPUs—the ones that are, you know, supposed to be more wallet-friendly? Yeah, it’s like the Ultra 5 225 and 225F got into this discount game across stores in the US and EU. Pretty wild.
So, let’s backtrack a sec. CES 2025 happened, right? Intel threw out these Arrow Lake-S “Core Ultra” chips. Non-K Desktop CPUs, fancy name, sure. But mostly, they’re angling for folks not looking to shell out the big bucks. Funny thing, though—the lineup kinda skips a proper Core i3 replacement. Heard whispers about a Core Ultra 3 model, but honestly, not seeing it anywhere yet. Maybe it’s just, I dunno, lost in the sauce?
Now, these Ultra 5 models, they’ve started showing up on sale at places you’d expect—major US and EU retailers. Originally, they were priced at $246 and $231 US. Nowadays? Nah, they’ve slipped down the scale.
Even over in Korea, prices dropped, which is kinda fascinating. Still, people are saying the competitive edge isn’t really there. I mean, if you’re tossing the Ultra 5 225F into the mix at around 230K KRW (weird conversion alert—that’s like $170 US), and then you’ve got the pair of R5 7500F and i5-14400F hanging tight around 170K KRW ($120 USD-ish), it’s like… why go Arrow Lake, right?
In the States, the Ultra 5 225’s tagging in at roughly $211.24 now—that’s about 14.1% cheaper. The 225F has a similar story at $193.79—down by 16.1%. But hey, that’s just the US side. Over in EU and Korea? Even more cuts.
So yeah, it’s kinda tempting. But here’s my take—these discounts don’t quite make up for the not-so-hot value. Like this one guy, Harukaze, mentioned: older chips like Ryzen 5 7500F and Core i5-14400F are still clutch. Plus, they fit with older, cheaper motherboards—you know, the ones gathering dust on your tech shelf. Meanwhile, Arrow Lake demands you shell out for new boards. So, honestly, even with these markdowns, the Arrow Lake-S feels like a bit of a swing and a miss for budget setups. Just my two cents.