It isn’t usually that an organization the dimensions of Intel will get it fallacious nowadays, however on the finish of 2024, the corporate’s new Arrow Lake gaming CPU lineup genuinely shocked me with its poor recreation efficiency. It wasn’t just a bit slower – the Intel Core Extremely 7 265K was catastrophically behind the pack in some exams. Quick ahead to now, and after a number of new BIOS, ME, driver, and recreation updates, plus the brand new 200S Enhance mode, I assumed it was time to revisit the 265K and put it again on the take a look at bench. May it’s rescued?
The reply is not a convincing “sure” in each space – there are undoubtedly higher CPUs for gaming, however I can now confidently say that the Intel 265K is not a whole lemon. In actual fact, in some exams it even beats each different CPU I’ve benched, and sure, that even features a recreation take a look at. No, it would not beat the Ryzen 7 9800X3D as a gaming CPU, however its gaming efficiency is now at the very least extra aggressive, and its efficiency in productiveness software program is excellent. Is that sufficient for a spot on our greatest gaming CPU information now? Let’s have a look.
To take care of consistency, I’ve rebenched the 265K on precisely the identical take a look at bench that I used for my authentic Core Extremely 7 265K overview, with an Asus TUF Z890-Plus WiFi motherboard, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 GPU, 32GB of G.Talent TridentZ 6,000MT/s CL28 RAM, and a WD Black SN850X SSD containing the identical Home windows set up I used the primary time. The one variations are that I’ve flashed the motherboard BIOS to the most recent model, together with the most recent Intel Administration Engine (ME), up to date Home windows, and up to date all of the drivers.
Cinebench
I am going to begin off with one of many huge wins, which is Cinebench, significantly relating to single-threaded efficiency. In my authentic Core Extremely 7 265K overview, this CPU solely produced a single-threaded rating of 117, however it now scores 136, making it even faster than the Core 19 14900K. What’s extra, in case you have interaction the brand new 200S Enhance mode, it scores 138, which means it even beats the mighty AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D. That is an incredible outcome.
The Cinebench R24 multi-core outcome will get a lift too, from 1,995 again in 2024 to 2,045 now (or 2,056 with 200S Enhance enabled). That places it in entrance of the last-gen 16-core AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, and it isn’t far behind the 24-core Core i9 14900K – that is not unhealthy for a CPU with eight P-Cores and 12 E-Cores. Impressively, the CPU solely peaked at a most temperature of 78°C whereas operating this take a look at too, which is startling contemplating the quick efficiency.
Whole Struggle: Warhammer III
Subsequent comes a giant recreation win in Whole Struggle: Warhammer III, the place the 265K is now the lead CPU within the Battle benchmark, averaging 220fps with a 182fps minimal. That now beats the entire AMD X3D CPUs, and it is considerably faster than the 202fps common and 158fps minimal the identical chip managed on the finish of 2024.
The chip coped much less effectively within the Mirrors of Insanity benchmark in the identical recreation, the place a great deal of characters are flung into the air and spun spherical, however it nonetheless held its floor, with its 119fps common outpacing the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, even when it might probably’t catch the most recent Zen 5 X3D CPUs. Enabling 200S Enhance in each these exams elevated the body fee by 1fps, which is inside the margin of error.
Cyberpunk 2077
Subsequent up is Cyberpunk 2077 (with the P-Cores prioritised within the Utilities menu), which beat the 256K right into a silicon pulp again in 2024. Testing the sport at 1,920 x 1,080 with the Extremely ray tracing preset, the 265K solely averaged 117fps on this take a look at in 2024, being considerably slower than the Core i9 14900K (148fps) and 7800X3D (153fps). I rebenched all of the CPUs for this take a look at, as a number of updates over the past 12 months imply the outcomes are not immediately comparable, and the hole has now closed considerably.
I am not going to say the 265K does effectively on this recreation – it is clearly nonetheless in final place within the beneath graph, however it’s not lagging critically behind the remainder of the pack. Its 124fps common is in the identical league because the Core i5 14600K now, when it was 17fps behind it. The X3D chips are clearly nonetheless significantly better gaming CPUs on this recreation, however at the very least the 265K is not embarrassingly terrible any extra. Once more, enabling 200S Enhance on this recreation at these settings had no discernible impression on body charges.
Far Cry 6
Likewise, in Far Cry 6, the 265K solely averaged 157fps in our take a look at in 2024, placing it in final place by a big margin (the following outcome, from the 14600K, averaged 184fps). Updates to this recreation imply the most recent outcomes aren’t akin to the earlier ones, as with Cyberpunk, so I’ve rebenched all the opposite CPUs to see how they stack up now. As you may see, the 265K is now solely 6fps behind the 14600K on 164fps, and enabling 200S Enhance pushes this determine as much as 166fps. Once more, you may’t say the 265K is an excellent gaming CPU right here, however it’s undoubtedly not shameful any extra.
F1 24
It is also value making an allowance for that these take a look at video games reply significantly effectively to CPU energy, which is why I’ve included them in our benchmark suite, however a variety of video games are largely detached to CPU efficiency, with the GPU being by far a very powerful part. One instance is F1 24, which I’ve once more rebenched on each CPU on the Extremely settings, with out DLSS enabled. As you may see, the X3D chips proceed to have a bonus right here, however the 265K is barely 6fps behind (or 5fps with 200S Enhance enabled), and the variations are marginal.
So there you may have it. The Core Extremely 7 265K is not a horrible gaming CPU, and we’re going to add it to our greatest gaming CPU information as an amazing, thermally-efficient CPU for productiveness that may now additionally deal with gaming. If gaming is your prime precedence, then the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D remains to be completely one of the best chip to purchase, however the 265K will not critically drag down your gaming efficiency – it simply is not as fast because the AMD CPUs, however it’s not an enormous bottleneck any extra both. If you will discover it on provide, then it is now completely value contemplating.
In case you’re pondering of upgrading your rig, take a look at our information to purchasing one of the best gaming motherboard, in addition to our greatest CPU cooler information, so you may make sure you get probably the most out of your chosen CPU.
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