// PC GAMER — GAMING
I've just finished reviewing AMD's latest gaming CPU and I would genuinely considering switching back to Intel
It's not that the 7700X3D is a bad chip, but the value proposition of Intel's CPUs is mighty tempting for a budget gamer.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
I'll get it clear right out of the gate: I think the AMD 3D V-Cache chips are absolutely the best choice for a PC gamer wanting to get the absolute most out of their system when it comes purely to silky gaming frame rates. They're great CPUs, which use a hefty dollop of extra L3 cache specifically to improve their gaming performance, and that's why the Ryzen 7 9800X3D still sits proudly at the top of our best CPU for gaming list.
But, having just finished writing up my AMD Ryzen 7 7700X3D review, AMD's latest pitch for a budget gaming chip, it's made me seriously consider whether I would actually pick Intel's Core Ultra 5 250K Plus instead. And I rather think I might.
The whole justification for the existence of the 7700X3D—a chip that is essentially just a slower clocked Ryzen 7 7800X3D, itself a great CPU from 2023—is that AMD is delivering a more affordable 3D V-Cache CPU to drop into your existing AM5 motherboard. That is, on the surface, a laudable endeavour.
There are a couple of problems here, however. The first is competition from within the AMD stables; namely the fact that, while the 7700X3D does have a vastly lower MSRP to that of the 7800X3D (it's $329 plays $450) the older chip has had a long time to establish itself in retail and as such there are a lot of them around. And that means the actual on-sale prices are essentially the same, and sometimes the 7800X3D is actually available for less than the 7700X3D.
And the second issue is that the value proposition of the 7700X3D only really stands up if you are looking to make a CPU upgrade to an existing AM5 system. Say, if you've already got a rig with a Ryzen 5 7600 in it, for example. But if you're building a new system from scratch—and if you are, I feel your pricing pain, my droog—then at this end of the market the latest Intel Arrow Lake chips are mighty tempting.
The Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus has popped up with low-end pricing and high-end performance. It may only come rocking a six Performance-core layout, with 12 Efficient-cores, but that does give it 18 cores of multi-threaded grunt and some surprisingly good gaming prowess to boot.
We test games at 1080p for CPU tests to better highlight performance diffences between chips
The industry standard 3DMark benchmark is a good measure of relative capabilities even if it doesn't necessarily translate into gaming performance