Intel recently cut down the price of its Core 7 265K processor to the lowest it has ever been. In the US and the UK, it’s available for $259.99, 70 per cent less than its originally listed price. The 265K chip packs 20 cores and can boost up to 5.5 GHz, capable of performing well in multicore workloads such as 3S rendering and video editing and can hold its own in gaming compared to the Ryzen 9000 X3D series.
However, the Core 7 265K does not come with its own cooler, but you wouldn’t need a very powerful one due to the chip’s efficient power consumption. Despite the increased pin count, the new socket maintains the exact dimensions and cooler mounting hole spacing as LGA1700, ensuring continued compatibility with existing CPU coolers.
The Core 7 265K offers an excellent proposition for anyone looking to build a budget-conscious setup, especially with the current price dip.
Intel has taken this step due to the company’s struggle to sell the Core Ultra 200S processors, as customers prefer the more appealing 13th and 14th Gen Core chips instead.
The price cut has been made to sell more of at least one of its new CPUs.
However, it is unclear why the company has reduced the price of this particular model and left other SKUs, such as the Core Ultra 9 285K (F) and Core Ultra 5 245K (F), untouched.
Intel has been lagging behind AMD in terms of attractively pricing their products appealingly—with the latter consistently pricing its units below similar models by Intel, such as the Ryzen 5 7600X, offering competitive gaming and productivity performance for less than its peer, the Core i5-13600K.
Intel itself has stated in its annual report that “important factors that lead to variation in the demand for our products include competitive and pricing pressures, including new product introductions and other actions taken by competitors.”
Intel’s calendar year 2023 revenue stood at $47.67 billion, almost $10 billion less than its 2022 topline of $57.04 billion. Smarter planning and pricing may have contributed to the total revenue of $48.95 billion in 2024, representing a slight improvement over the previous year.
Several other reasons can also be attributed to this price change, including stock surplus and slowing demand for CPUs post-pandemic, retailers pushing manufacturers to offer more discounts and price cuts, and PC builders expecting older CPUs for less, which creates downward pricing pressure.
The good news, though, is that consumers get to enjoy better performance for less, increasing pricing competition and more expectations from companies to deliver betting performance for lower prices.
As Intel prepares for future-gen chips with improved power efficiency and AI performance, we can expect even faster price declines for existing CPUs. The CPU market is entering a new phase of rapid turnover, intense competition, and increasingly informed consumer purchasing.
