Intel has recently adjusted the recommended retail prices for its Core Ultra 200S Plus processors, including the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and Core 5 250K Plus, along with their iGPU-less F-variants. The Core Ultra 7 270K Plus has seen its price increase from $339 to $349, a $10 jump, while the Core 5 250K Plus has risen from $219 to $229, also a $10 increase. These represent a roughly 13% and 10% price rise, respectively.
In response to inquiries from HardwareLuxx, Intel stated that these pricing updates "reflect current market dynamics, including rising supply chain costs and strong demand for our Intel Core Ultra 200S Plus processors." The company also noted that these adjustments are consistent with recent price increases across other Intel product families driven by similar factors. The manufacturing process for these chips involves both Intel's Foveros interposer and packaging, and TSMC's fabrication for the compute, I/O, and graphics tiles, meaning any cost increases from TSMC directly impact the final price for consumers.
Despite the price increase, the Intel Core Ultra 200S Plus processors remain competitive. The Core Ultra 7 270K Plus, for instance, demonstrates strong performance in gaming benchmarks, outperforming AMD's Ryzen 7 9700X in titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Baldur's Gate 3, and Homeworld 3 at 1080p resolutions. It also excels in demanding multithreaded workloads and synthetic benchmarks like 3DMark Time Spy. For example, in Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p RT Ultra + DLSS Balanced), the 270K Plus achieved 119 average FPS with a 98 1% low FPS, compared to the Ryzen 7 9700X's 99 average FPS and 59 1% low FPS. In Baldur's Gate 3 (1080p Ultra), the 270K Plus posted 113 average FPS and 66 1% low FPS, while the 9700X managed 94 average FPS and 56 1% low FPS. The 270K Plus also shows a significant advantage in 3DMark Time Spy with a CPU index score of 20252 compared to the 9700X's 13239.
However, a notable drawback for users considering the Intel platform is the end of the LGA 1851 socket's lifecycle. Purchasing a Core Ultra 200S Plus chip means there will be no future upgrade path for that motherboard socket, necessitating a new motherboard purchase for any subsequent CPU generation. In contrast, AMD's AM5 socket is expected to support future processor generations, offering a longer upgrade path for existing motherboards.