The Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus has hit an all-time low price of $145 on Amazon, a 34% discount from its $220 list price. This puts the 18-core Arrow Lake refresh chip in entry-level territory, despite its midrange positioning.
The CPU combines six Lion Cove P-cores with twelve Skymont E-cores, reaching a 5.3 GHz boost. It lacks Hyper-Threading, so it runs 18 threads. The unlocked K-series design allows overclocking, though that typically requires a Z-series motherboard.
In productivity, the 250K Plus is 33% faster than AMD's Ryzen 7 9700X in multithreaded workloads and 80% ahead of the Ryzen 5 9600X. Single-thread performance also tops all AMD chips tested. Gaming is more modest: it roughly matches the Core i5-14600K and sits about 3% behind the Ryzen 7 9700X, while the Ryzen 5 7600X3D is about 10% faster but costs $100 more.
The price cut makes the chip a strong value for budget builds, especially for productivity-focused users. The source notes that the refresh was a corrective move after the original Arrow Lake launch, and the deal reflects that effort.