Surprise! Intel Slashes $100 Off These Arrow Lake CPUs With Free Games To Boot
At a time when tariffs and the threat of much higher PC part prices have dominated the discussion, Intel is out here slashing prices on some of its newest desktop processor models based on Arrow Lake. And we're not talking about piddly price cuts, either. Intel sharpened its price-cutting blade and hacked $100 off the suggested retail price (SRP) of two Core Ultra 7 models.
It's now up to each individual retailer to follow suit, and given that we live in funny (and uncertain) times, it's fair to be skeptical. But a quick look on Amazon shows that the chips are indeed selling for much less—$90 and $100 less, depending on the model.
These are the chips...
Intel formally announced that it cut the price of both retail boxed (read: not OEM) chips, dropping the Core Ultra 7 265K from $399 previously to $299 now, and the Core Ultra 7 256KF from $384 previously to $284 now.
Amazon's current pricing on the K model reflects the $100 price cut, plus a few dollars more, while the KF variant is $14.99 higher than Intel's guidance, but still significantly lower than before. That being the case, you might as well opt for the K model. Both models are unlocked, as designated by the "K" in the model name, while the "KF" version has the integrated graphics disabled. Even though you may never use integrated graphics, it's nice to have as a backup, especially since the current cost is identical. More bang for the same amount of bucks.
"For desktop users looking to upgrade their systems, Intel Core Ultra 7 200S series processors provide an incredible amount of compute performance at their price point.
Gamers can enjoy up to 50% faster performance compared to similar 12th Gen Intel Core desktop processors. Creators can also get more from an upgrade, such as up to 65% quicker image rendering compared to similar 12th Gen Intel Core desktop processors. Intel Core Ultra 7 200S series processors provide an excellent gaming and creating experience – all at an accessible price," Intel touts in a blog post.
We have not reviewed either model, but we have evaluated Arrow Lake in the form of the Core Ultra 9 285K and Core Ultra 5 245K. While not a perfect architecture, it's a solid foundation to build a gaming or content creation PC (or any PC, really). Arrow Lake also marks the first time that Intel used a disaggregated tiled design in a desktop chips.
As for the Core Ultra 7 265K and 265KF, they're both 20-core/20-thread slices of silicon (Intel abandoned Hyper Threading on Arrow Lake) comprised of eight performance cores clocked at 3.9GHz to 5.5GHz, and a dozen efficient cores clocked at 3.3GHz to 4.6GHz. The chips also feature 36MB of L2 cache, 30MB of L3 cache, and a dedicated NPU serving up 13 TOPS of peak performance for AI workloads.
The $100 price cut alone makes this interesting, but there are two other things that up the ante. First, Intel recently gifted Core Ultra 200S owners with a free 'Boost Overclocking' perk that boost clock speeds without voiding the warranty. We tested the feature and found tangible gains in several games.
Secondly, both chips are part of Intel's Spring Bundle promotion, which gifts gamers two games—Dying Light: The Beast (releases this summer) and Sid Meier's Civilization VII ($70 value)—along with a 30-day subscription to Vegas Pro 365 ($20 value) and three months subscriptions to both XSplit Premium Suite ($60 value) and Canvid ($30 value).
Whether you're a fan of Arrow Lake or not, Intel deserves kudos for the deep price cuts, especially with everything else going on right now.
