Is Intel Ultra 270K Plus the only viable desktop CPU right now?
Posted by ZoxxMan@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 64 comments
Intel just released the Ultra 270K Plus and it's performing on par with AMD's flagship Ryzen 9 9950X3D, despite being almost half the price (350€ vs 660€).
Is it even worth considering any ofther high-end desktop CPU right now? I wanted to get either Ryzen 9 9950X3D or 9950X3D2 (coming soon), but it feels like I'd only be throwing money away by not getting the Ultra 270K Plus.
What do you think? Is AMD going to respond to this, or is Intel simply the better choice for the foreseeable future?
Codys_friend@reddit
If you get the 9950x3d, you will be on the AM5 platform. AMD is launching Zen6 cpu's next year, the successor to the 9950x3d will be among them. The Zen6 cpu's are going to have amazing performance: up to 24 cores, up to 7ghz speed, support for faster memory. AND, Zen6 will be on the AM5 platform! If you go with the 9950x3d now, you can upgrade to a Zen6 cpu at your choosing. The 270k does not offer this upgrade path
The 9850x3d is the best consumer cpu on the market today, it is at the tip in both gaming and productivity.
A few things to mull over.
ZoxxMan@reddit (OP)
That's a good point. But if I'm getting a flagship CPU, I expect to use it for at least 4 years. Do you think AM5 will still be relevant by then?
eatingpotatochips@reddit
Nobody can be sure, including all the people who think socket longevity matters. Socket longevity has long been used as a cudgel for people who want to ignore the fact that the 270K is quite competitive with AMD's offerings.
RumbleTheCassette@reddit
Long been used? The 270k came out three weeks ago.
eatingpotatochips@reddit
Let's not be disingenuous here: this criticism has been leveled at Intel since at least LGA 1200 in 2019. Intel has been only keeping the same socket for 2-3 generations since then.
LGA 1200 covered 10th and 11th gen, LGA 1700 12th to 14th gen, and LGA 1851 covered Arrow Lake and its refresh, but will be supplanted by LGA 1954 expected with Intel's upcoming Nova Lake-S CPUs.
None of this really matters because people don't upgrade CPUs like iPhones, but the AMD stans on this sub ignore any Intel performance gains and always lead with "but it's a dead socket".
AshleyxAffliction@reddit
AM4 came out in 2016 and the 5500X3D came out in 2025 for most regions. That's a 9-year lifespan from the previous socket.
AM5 came out in 2022, so if it follows the same trend it'll be around until 2031.
Codys_friend@reddit
Yes it will. There are strong indications that Zen7 will also be on AM5.
If you want a cpu that can do it all, and do it extremely well, and the platform has a future, get the 9950x3d.
DuuhEazy@reddit
No.
Hungry_Freaks_Daddy@reddit
7ghz, really? Crazy times we live in
Codys_friend@reddit
Exciting times! Cpu performance is amazing! And so are ram and ssd prices! We get the good with the bad
Hungry_Freaks_Daddy@reddit
I think my first computer cpu ran at 16mhz
AceLamina@reddit
Unless you want to spend 300 more for a a little bit of a fps improvements in games, yes
People have been hating Intel since their micro code issue that's been fixed was a thing, but it's still my highest recommendation if you're doing productivity more than gaming, your use cases is actually exactly like mine, I'm in college for software development and I do a lot of productivity, programming, and gaming on the side
My current chip is the i7 12700k and it's more than enough for what I do, getting the current gen like you're doing wouldn't make sense if Intel's prices wasn't this godly, I would definitely go for it, you'll definitely notice the performance improvement with the extra cores
ZoxxMan@reddit (OP)
I'm still on i7 6700 😭
Not gonna lie, 9950X3D's massive cache is very tempting, but it's difficult to justify paying twice as much for it. I just want a fast CPU, I don't care much about a few extra FPS in games.
AceLamina@reddit
Then the obvious choice is Intel AMD is mostly better in games now
xenocea@reddit
It’s not a little bit more. It’s a lot more fps.
https://www.techspot.com/review/3107-intel-core-ultra-7-270k-plus/
Pumciusz@reddit
On par in what? Because it's still not that close in gaming to x3d CPUs.
ZoxxMan@reddit (OP)
I was looking at benchmarks on PassMark: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/7114vs6549/Intel-Ultra-7-270K-Plus-vs-AMD-Ryzen-9-9950X3D
9950X3D seems to have marginally better multi-threaded performance, while the 270K Plus wins on single-threaded performance.
dertechie@reddit
Passmark’s suite of tests does not show particular gains from the X3D cache. As such, while it’s a pretty good general comparison tool it is not a great gaming benchmark.
That being said, the 270K Plus games just fine for most people, especially at 1440p or higher.
aragorn18@reddit
Passmark is a synthetic benchmark. It would be better to compare performance in the actual applications you use.
ZoxxMan@reddit (OP)
Do you know any good benchmarks that are more focused on productivity or programming?
It's hard to pinpoint bottlenecks in my daily use cases. Some examples would be compiling C++, using IDEs and Git with large projects, etc.
xenocea@reddit
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/intel-core-ultra-7-270k-plus/
aragorn18@reddit
What specific application do you use that you're most concerned about for CPU performance? Search for " benchmark".
__fez@reddit
isn't it a better value when you calculate $/frame though?
let's not forget that 270k plus is still almost half the price of 9850x3d
Pumciusz@reddit
Probably, 7800x3d would be closer to that.
DuuhEazy@reddit
Get the i7
EiffelPower76@reddit
It's not an i7
DuuhEazy@reddit
If you can't figure it out, you're brain damaged.
EiffelPower76@reddit
Intel Core Utra 7 270K Plus is not an i7
DuuhEazy@reddit
No shit Sherlock, yet you understood. Touch some grass.
EiffelPower76@reddit
i7 is over, don't live in the past
SIDER250@reddit
7800X3D costs the same if not less and its faster. Besides, Intel doesn’t have upgrade path so that sucks.
Frexxia@reddit
Only if gaming is the only thing you care about
SIDER250@reddit
true, but OP didn’t specify what he needs a cpu for. If it is for productivity, then yea.
ZoxxMan@reddit (OP)
Ty for the reminder, edited my post to add extra context. Gaming is definitely part of the picture, but my main use cases are productivity and programming.
JayyMuro@reddit
I got a 9950x3d and it performs so well in both gaming and productivity to me its a no brainer to get it for your use case.
f1rstx@reddit
it's far worse value compared to 270k though
JayyMuro@reddit
I could agree with you if he didn't want to also play games on it. The X3D on the games I play far have out performed any non X3D cache cpu.
Unless its different now and this CPU renders X3D useless, which I don't see that happening, to me the X3D is better chip to have on my desktop.
f1rstx@reddit
unless you play strategies or sim games - it's not that big of a deal, x3d cpus are highly overrated
JayyMuro@reddit
I have one and have seen how well it performs. Best case example is Escape from Tarkov. Unoptimized games which there are a lot these days really benefit from it.
Lets be honest here though, he will get a 270k Ultra Plus and be like man I love this thing and glad I went with it. Same with 9950X3D, he would be like dude this thing is great and I am happy with it.
So really if he wants to save a few bucks or spend a few, both are going to be amazing. I personally love my 9950X3D and for several reasons don't like Intel anymore.
f1rstx@reddit
Reality is if you playing some AAA games, having midrange gpu from 5060ti/9060xt to 9070XT/5070Ti and have 144-240HZ display - humble 7500F is absolutely enough for it. X3Ds are good in sims, esports titles with your 600Hz display or when you have something like 5080/5090.
DuuhEazy@reddit
Expect you are paying double or more.
JayyMuro@reddit
I paid $580 for mine and am happy with how it performs. It destroyed the 285k when my coworker and I tested in against each of our applications. It especially dominated in physics applications, rendering and compiling code.
Without a doubt it smoke everything when playing games. So if you want to save a few pennies on something not only you make money with but also have fun with sure, so with the Intel.
For me though I am an AMD X3D believer now.
Pitiful_Apricot8314@reddit
Yes he did
anon6_5@reddit
Not having hardly any upgrade path is still detrimental to the intel releases.
f1rstx@reddit
upgrade path is irrelevant argument
ReasonableMortgage11@reddit
Saying it is on par is absolutely and entirely ridiculous. It is not. It is similar for productivity but it doesn't even come close in gaming performance. Especially high fps competitive titles that are less hard on the gpu and more CPU heavy.
slojanko1@reddit
So 10% better gaming performance is worth 100% increase in price? Okay bro
ReasonableMortgage11@reddit
It isnt 10% ... 270k plus still only has 36mb cache. 9950x3d has 128MB - that's over 50% more frames in some games. And no price to performance is way better on the intel, no one can debate that. Saying the performance is equal is wrong tho . It isn't, in some cases not by a long shot
EiffelPower76@reddit
Intel Core Ultra 7 270K is a very good processor
sleep_eat_recycle@reddit
I am on the same boat, people asked me if I use the PC for gaming, yes of course, and it is the main activity as well, however I am not addicted to gaming and just a casual gamer, and I don't always play AAA open world. I would love my PC to perform whatever I need.
ReasonableMortgage11@reddit
You have no idea what you talk about. Openworld AAA titles are mostly not cache heavy so you will be fine with any decent modern cpu. Competitive titles are where X3D has a massive advantage
Perfect_Replacement1@reddit
Well the 9800x3d can be found at a good price, I just got mine from AliExpress for 335 euros. I think that's the best money/value right now.
MrPeru21@reddit
And it was ok? Not a box with a brick inside? Thats 100 EUR cheaper
Perfect_Replacement1@reddit
Yes it's genuine and I ran all kinds of tests and everything is fine. Usually I wouldn't buy something so expensive from AliExpress, but the seller had a lot of sales and good reviews and the price was just too good so I went for it.
Cammerv8@reddit
It depends, you always have to look at the overall system in order to compare. If you can get a ryzen kit from microcenter or Newegg it may be more cost effective than the Intel unit
jedidude75@reddit
Depends on the exact use cases. The 7800x3d is faster in gaming and cheaper than the 270k right now, $345 versus $350, and has a viable upgrade path which the 270k lacks. If you mainly just game that's the route to go.
Pitiful_Apricot8314@reddit
9950x3d2 for sure is a better cpu for gaming, also dont have issues with E-cores and P-cores used wrong.
SaunaApprentice@reddit
For high raw multi-core performance yea there is no question about the current best value CPU. For gaming the 270K is decent too. I bought the 265k for productivity last December, comes with a ”free” igpu for video workloads (tons codecs with hardware decode/encode).
xenocea@reddit
Passmark is not a good source to look at performance.
Look at actual Tech review sites. The 270k’s gaming performance is a fare deal behind the 9800X3D let alone the 9950XD
Scroll down to the gaming benchmark here
https://www.techspot.com/review/3107-intel-core-ultra-7-270k-plus/
Primus_is_OK_I_guess@reddit
For what purpose? It does not really approach AM5 x3d CPUs in gaming performance, coming in behind the 7600x3d, which is significantly cheaper.
running_wired@reddit
Depends like anything on price. If it's outperforming it's price point the street price will raise and competitors will fall.
IWillAssFuckYou@reddit
They're not on par exactly though the 270K Plus is better value. The 9950X3D is generally superior.
But what are you trying to do with the CPU? Do you really need all of those cores?
Paliknight@reddit
Well they’re out of stock everywhere and being scalped so if you need one today you’ll be paying a premium.
9okm@reddit
Depends on use case.