Steve reviews the Intel Core Ultra 5 225F, a budget CPU priced around $160, finding its productivity and gaming performance underwhelming compared to AMD and higher-end Intel models, making it a poor value choice. He concludes that the 225F is not recommended unless its price drops significantly, with better options available for budget builders and upgraders.
In this video, Steve reviews the Intel Core Ultra 5 225F processor, a budget CPU priced at around $160 USD, which is about $30 cheaper than AMD’s Ryzen 5 9600X. The 225F features 10 cores—6 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores—but lacks hyperthreading, resulting in 10 threads total. The CPU has lower clock speeds and reduced cache compared to higher-end Intel Core Ultra models, with a base TDP of 65 watts and a maximum turbo TDP of 121 watts. Despite being available for nearly a year, the 225F has seen very little interest, partly due to its initially high price and underwhelming performance.
Steve provides a brief overview of the 225F’s productivity performance, noting that it generally falls behind the Ryzen 5 7600X and even slightly trails the older Intel 12600K in some multi-core tasks. Cinebench results show the 225F matching some mid-range CPUs but not excelling, and file compression benchmarks reveal disappointing decompression speeds. Overall, the 225F does not offer the strong productivity value that other Core Ultra processors have provided, which is concerning given that multi-core performance is important for many users.
When it comes to gaming, the 225F’s performance is underwhelming across a variety of titles. While it does outperform the older 12400F by about 7-9% on average, it falls short compared to the Ryzen 5 7500F and significantly trails the Ryzen 5 9600X and Intel 14600K. In CPU-intensive games like Rainbow Six Siege, Cyberpunk 2077, and Counterstrike 2, the 225F offers only marginal gains over the 12400F, and in some cases, AMD’s budget CPUs are notably faster. The 225F struggles particularly with 1% low frame rates under demanding settings, indicating inconsistent performance.
Steve concludes that the 225F is a tough sell even at its current price point. It does not offer a compelling upgrade path for existing Intel users, who would be better off with higher-end Core Ultra models, nor does it compete well against AMD’s budget offerings on a performance or value basis. For new budget builders or those upgrading platforms, there are better options available, such as the Ryzen 5 7500F or the Intel 14600K, which provide stronger gaming and productivity performance at comparable or slightly higher costs.
Ultimately, the Core Ultra 5 225F is not recommended unless its price drops significantly, ideally below $100 USD, and unless DDR5 memory prices also fall substantially. Steve notes that the lack of demand and poor timing for this CPU make it unlikely to gain traction in the market. He wraps up by encouraging viewers to subscribe for future content and mentions additional ways to support the channel, but signals that further coverage of Core Ultra 5 processors is unlikely due to limited interest.