Intel Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus, First Arrow Lake Refresh CPU Under $200

Intel’s Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus is now available at $199.99 on Newegg, becoming the first Arrow Lake Refresh desktop CPU to break the $200 barrier, following earlier launches in the Intel Core Ultra 200 series desktop CPUs.

The chip features an 18-core design with 6 performance cores and 12 efficiency cores, alongside boost clocks up to 5.3GHz. It matches the Core Ultra 5 250K Plus in core layout and frequency, with the only difference being the lack of integrated graphics on the KF variant.

That change targets users running a dedicated GPU, similar to builds discussed in the RTX 5070 laptop GPU listings. The 250KF Plus comes in about $20 lower than the Core Ultra 5 250K Plus, which is currently listed around $219.99.

At the price of $199.99, the processor still sits slightly above Intel’s roughly $184 recommended customer price (RCP), but it is the closest any Arrow Lake Refresh chip has reached so far. Higher-tier models remain far above this level, with the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus still selling around $350.

The processor supports the LGA1851 platform with PCIe 5.0, PCIe 4.0, and DDR5 memory, alongside a 125W base power rating and compatibility with Intel 800-series chipset motherboards.

At this price point, it goes head-to-head with AMD’s Ryzen 5 9600X, aligning with competition seen in the AMD Ryzen 9000 series Zen 5 platform leaks and benchmarks. AMD’s chip leans toward gaming efficiency with fewer cores, while Intel’s 18-core layout delivers stronger performance in multi-threaded workloads such as rendering, compiling, and heavy multitasking.

For builds with a discrete GPU, the 250KF Plus offers the same core performance as the 250K at a lower cost, making it the most accessible entry into Intel’s Arrow Lake Refresh lineup so far.

Intel Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus: Key Specifications

Source: Newegg & Amazon