I can’t think about mid-range processors without thinking back to chips like the Intel Core i5-2500K. That CPU launched at just $216 and became one of the most legendary gaming processors for a decade . Fast forward 13 years, and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K just does not carry on its legacy.
At $309, it’s essentially the same price as the Intel Core i5-2500K when counting for inflation, but does not deliver a substantial uplift in gaming performance compared to its predecessor. Instead, the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K really only shines in creative workloads like Blender. The problem is that creative professionals probably aren’t going to settle for a mid-range CPU like the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K, they’re going to go for the much more powerful Core Ultra 9 285K .
That leaves the Core Ultra 5 245K in a weird spot, because most PC gamers can save some cash and get a last-gen processor for a better gaming experience. Just like the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, the Core Ultra 5 245K is built on Intel’s new Arrow Lake architecture. This uses the same big.
LITTLE design philosophy Intel has been using on its desktop processors since the Alder Lake powered Core i9-12900K back in 2021. Basically, this means Intel pairs ‘big’ Performance Cores (P-Cores) that handle heavy workloads, with ‘LITTLE’ Efficiency Cores that take care of background tasks, allowing the P-Cores to work more efficiently. Intel has thrown a wrench into this setup this time around by removing Hyper-Thread.
