Core i7-14700F vs Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus

Compare the Core i7-14700F and Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus on real gaming and productivity benchmarks, full specifications, live retailer prices and performance-per-dollar, then jump straight to the cheapest in-stock option.

The short answer

The Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus is the better value, though the Core i7-14700F is the faster gaming chip.

  • Core i7-14700F is about 4% faster for gaming at 1080p (gaming index 76.4 vs 73.3).
  • Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus is roughly 21% faster in multi-core work, an edge in rendering, encoding and compiling.
  • Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus is the cheaper chip right now, by roughly 65%.
  • Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus delivers about 58% more gaming performance per dollar.
  • Core i7-14700F has more cores (20C/28T vs 18C/18T), which helps in heavily threaded workloads.
  • Core i7-14700F has a lower TDP (65W vs 125W), so it runs cooler and is easier to cool quietly.

Gaming performance

CPU-bound gaming score: a geometric mean of in-game frame rates at 1080p, normalized so the fastest gaming CPU we track = 100.

Core i7-14700F76.4
Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus73.3

Does the CPU matter at 1440p or 4K? Much less. At higher resolutions the graphics card sets the frame rate, so the gap between two CPUs shrinks — often to nothing. The 1080p figure above is the demanding case, where the CPU is stressed and the difference actually shows.

Performance per dollar

Gaming index divided by the current lowest price — higher is better value. This moves with the market as prices change day to day.

Core i7-14700F23.2 / $100
Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus36.7 / $100

The Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus gives about 58% more gaming performance per dollar at today’s prices.

Full platform cost

A CPU’s real cost includes the cheapest in-stock motherboard that can run it and, when the chip doesn’t bundle one, a cooler that can handle it. Here is the lowest-priced complete platform for each, and the gaming performance you get per platform dollar.

Core i7-14700F
Platform total
$466.57
Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus
+ B860M-X WiFi$109.99
Platform total
$326.57

Cheapest complete platform (lower is better)

Core i7-14700F$466.57
Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus$326.57

Gaming performance per platform dollar (higher is better)

Core i7-14700F16.4 / $100
Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus22.4 / $100

Specs head-to-head

Core i7-14700F
Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus
Price (from)
$329.99
$199.99
Gaming (1080p index)
76.4
73.3
Cores / threads
20 / 28
18 / 18
Cores (P + E)
8P + 12E
6P + 12E
Boost clock
5.4 GHz
Base clock
2.1 GHz
L3 cache
33 MB
L2 cache
28 MB
TDP
65W
125W
Max power
219W
159W
Socket
LGA1700
LGA1851
Memory support
DDR5, 5600; DDR4, 3200
DDR5, 7200
Integrated graphics
Intel UHD 770
None
Architecture
Raptor Lake
Arrow Lake Refresh
Process node
Intel 7
TSMC N3B
MSRP
$359.00
$184.00

Productivity & compute

Core i7-14700F
Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus
PassMark (multi-core)
41,320
50,194
PassMark (single-thread)
4,256
4,701

Efficiency

Gaming performance per watt (gaming index per 100W of TDP) — higher means more frames for the heat and power.

Core i7-14700F117.5
Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus58.6

Where to buy

Core Ultra 5 250KF Plusfrom $199.99
RetailerAvailabilityPriceBuy
AmazonIn stock$199.99
Buy
NeweggIn stock$199.99
Buy
B&HIn stock$209.99
Buy
Core i7-14700Ffrom $329.99
RetailerAvailabilityPriceBuy
AmazonIn stock$329.99
Buy
NeweggIn stock$411.60
Buy

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