Ryzen 7 9700X vs Core Ultra 7 265K

Gaming speed, cores and clocks

On our gaming index the Ryzen 7 9700X scores 83 and the Core Ultra 7 265K scores 80, about 4% faster for gaming. That gap is small and mostly shows up at 1080p with a very fast graphics card.

The Ryzen 7 9700X has 8 cores and 16 threads, and the Core Ultra 7 265K has 20 cores and 20 threads. The extra cores of the Core Ultra 7 265K help with video editing, streaming while you play and heavy multitasking more than with the game itself. Boost clocks are 5.5 GHz and 5.5 GHz.

Platform, power and price

The Ryzen 7 9700X uses the AM5 socket and the Core Ultra 7 265K uses LGA1851, so they need different motherboards, and often different memory. When you compare prices, count the board as well as the chip.

Rated power is 65 W for the first and 125 W for the second. That difference changes the cooler you need, and it shows up in heat and noise.

At launch the Ryzen 7 9700X cost $359 and the Core Ultra 7 265K $394, which gives 23.1 and 20.3 points of gaming performance per $100. Today's prices will differ.

Which graphics cards each one can feed, and which to buy

At 1080p the Ryzen 7 9700X can feed a card up to the GeForce RTX 5080 before it holds the card back by more than 10 percent. The Core Ultra 7 265K reaches the GeForce RTX 4080 Super. Both chips are in the same range for graphics card pairing.

Choose the Ryzen 7 9700X if you want the faster gaming chip. Choose the Core Ultra 7 265K if you would rather spend the difference on a graphics card, which does more for frame rates in most games.