Intel Core Ultra 7 265K

On the one hand, Intel has created three really interesting and efficient CPUs here, but on the other hand, there is a lack of performance in quite a few applications, especially those with fewer threads and, of course, in gaming in particular. The fact that the new flagship can only compete with an older Core i5-14600K or a cheaper Ryzen 5 9600X in some cases is almost depressing.

There’s a lot different about the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K CPU compared to the previous 14th Gen CPUs, but largely, they sum up to a fairly similar experience in our benchmarks. There are obvious benefits from the improved I/O of the new chipsets, and the faster memory we’re using has its own benefits too.

Behind the scenes getting the Intel Core Ultra processors to work was a massive faff. We grew weary of reinstalling Windows and updating BIOS. The performance we saw was consistent to a point. However, the “what we did” bore no linear relationship to “how it performed”. We’ve been at this a while. Heck Intel have been at this a while.