expired Posted by BeigeRoad455 • Last Wednesday
Mar 26, 2025 6:19 AM
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expired Posted by BeigeRoad455 • Last Wednesday
Mar 26, 2025 6:19 AM
Intel Ultra 7 265K Processor + ASRock Z890 Pro-A ATX Motherboard + 3 PC Games
+ Free Shipping$413
$523
21% offNewegg
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This combo arguably matches (and in many cases beats) the current microcenter bundles, while not requiring being within driving distance of a microcenter.
The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is a current gen 20-core (8p, 12e) 20-thread cpu on the lga 1851 platform. As an arrow lake cpu, it is not affected by any of the instability/degradation issues of the previous generations. In most respects the 265k performs fairly similarly to the previous gen i7-14700k (it's moderately faster in productivity workloads, but has slightly worse gaming performance when paired with lower speed ram), but the 265k is drastically more power efficient. In fact, the 265k is nearly on par with its amd zen5 competitors such as the 9900x in terms of efficiency. While the lack of an improvement in gaming performance is unfortunate, unless you have a gpu with at minimum rtx 5080 level performance the 265k is more than sufficient. In terms of productivity, it depends on the workload (zen5 slaughters intel in avx-512 for example), but the 265k is generally slightly ahead of the amd r9 9900x. It absolutely slaughters any single ccd amd cpu in terms of multithreaded performance. In terms of gaming the 265k is just about on par with non-x3d zen5 cpus. The 265k has an igpu for display output and supports intel quicksync (hardware accelerated video encoding/transcoding). The 265k does not come with a cpu cooler. Since gaming performance is similar, if you: live near a microcenter, know for an absolute fact you will never do anything more cpu intensive than gaming, and are fine with more limited i/o of a cheap b650 motherboard, then the $400 microcenter 9700x bundle is probably a better value.
The ASRock Z890 Pro-A is a lower-midrange full size atx z890 (high end chipset) motherboard. Arrow lake is the first generation on the lga 1851 socket, so there'll almost certainly be at least one more generation to potentially upgrade to in the future (though quite possibly just a refresh). This motherboard supports overclocking, and has a frankly overkill 16(60a)+1+1+1+1 phase vrm. Storage options and i/o are decent. The primary x16 slot is gen5, and there are four m.2 slots, one being gen5 and the others being gen4. For networking it has 2.5 Gigabit LAN.
Hardware unboxed reviewed this motherboard, and it's his top pick for a z890 motherboard on a budget (for those that don't need built in wifi): https://youtu.be/GxzMtPmjG_M?t=1
It is important to note that this motherboard does not have built in wifi. If you require wifi, decent wifi adapters cost between $10-$45 (depending on desired wifi generation).
Motherboard specs: https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z...cification
Adding the corsair 32gb (2x16) ddr5 6000 CL28 (timings 28-36-36-96) I recommend to the combo costs $92.99. Ddr5 6000 is optimal for current gen amd cpus, but it's quite slow for intel arrow lake cpus. However, ddr5 6000 CL28 uses extremely good bins of hynix memory chips, and should overclock very well if you loosen the primary timings (mainly cas latency). The binning of this memory should be meaningfully better than the ddr5 6000 cl30 you'll normally find on sale at ~$90.
This bundle comes with Star Wars Outlaws Gold Edition, Civilization VII, and Assassins Creed Shadows which are fairly nice extras imo. I've heard anecdotally claiming them can be a pain though. Terms and conditions for claiming the games:
https://softwareoffer.i
https://softwareoffer.i
The included thermal paste is a nothingburger imo, but I guess it saves you a couple bucks if you don't already have thermal paste and your cpu cooler doesn't come with any.
Compared to the $500 265k+mobo+ram microcenter bundle, the motherboard in this bundle is of a similar tier due to not having built in wifi but having a thunderbolt port (the asus mobo in the microcenter bundle only has wifi 6), but the ram is multiple tiers higher. The ram in the microcenter bundles is ddr5 6000 cl36, which use significantly inferior samsung memory chips with drastically worse latency and overclocking potential. I'd personally consider this newegg bundle to be superior to the microcenter 265k bundle.
The $500 9900x+mobo+ram microcenter bundle is much closer to this newegg bundle in terms of value, the x670e motherboard is meaningfully better but once again the ram is far worse. In my mind the value proposition between these bundles is relatively similar, and it really depends on your exact use cases (though I'd generally lean towards the 9900x bundle if you live very close to a microcenter and it's in stock). However, if you'd otherwise be purchasing any of the three games included with the 265k bundle, the pendulum swings the other way.
Ultimately, this combo, particularly with the ram, is an excellent value. If you already have ddr5 ram from a previous build, you can get the combo for $413 (cheaper than the 265k paired with any full size atx z890 mobo from microcenter, even after the $70 combo discount) and continue using your old ram.
If you don't live near a microcenter, this combo meaningfully surpasses any recent deals I've seen for components in this performance tier.
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PSU question
Any reason I couldn't use my current Psu
I'm not going to use a dedicated graphics card gpu
Antec NeoECO C NeoECO 520C 520W ATX12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
General
Brand Antec
Series NeoECO C
Model NEO ECO 520C
Details
Type ATX12V
Maximum Power 520 W
Fans 120 mm DBB Silence - Whisper-quiet high-quality double ball bearing fan with long lifetime
PFC Active
Main Connector 20+4Pin
+12V Rails Single
PCI-Express Connector 1 x 6-Pin, 1 x 6+2-Pin
SATA Power Connector 6
Haswell Support Yes
Modular No
Efficiency Up to 87%
Energy-Efficient 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified
Over Voltage Protection Yes
Input Voltage 100 - 240 V
Input Frequency Range 50/60 Hz
Output +3.3V@24A, +5V@24A, +12V@40A, -12V@0.8A, +5VSB@2.5A
Approvals UL, cUL, FCC, TUV, CE, CB, CCC, C-Tick, BSMI, Gost-R
Connectors 1 x 24(20+4)-pin
1 x 8(4+4)-pin ATX12V/EPS12V
1 x 8(6+2)-pin PCI-E
6-pin PCI-E
6 x SATA
6 x Molex
1x Floppy
Features
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank wherestheanykey
If you can acquire a graphics card without difficulty and without paying a markup, go the DIY route.
Unfortunately, there's no guarantees on that right now.
If you're actually doing ai/ml inference on the cpu (such as cpu-gpu hybrid mode), the 265k should be leagues faster than the 12700k, especially if you overclock your ram to 7200mt/s+. That being said, the gpu will still generally be doing the majority of the work, so real world reduction in inference time may not be as impressive as you would hope.
Thanks. I see that the mboard has 2 eight cpu connections. My Psu has only one 8 pin. Can a splitter be used? I see them on Amazon. 1 eight pin to 2 eight pin
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank BeigeRoad455
Does anyone think there's any resale value on the games? I have no use for them.
Terms and conditions for claiming the games:
https://softwareoffer.i
https://softwareoffer.i
For example, the asrock motherboard in this deal lists a 1DPC 1R speed of "Up to 9066+ MHz (OC), 5600 MHz Natively", while for 2DPC 2R lists "Up to 5600+ MHz (OC), 4400 MHz Natively".
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For example, the asrock motherboard in this deal lists a 1DPC 1R speed of "Up to 9066+ MHz (OC), 5600 MHz Natively", while for 2DPC 2R lists "Up to 5600+ MHz (OC), 4400 MHz Natively".
Now hear me out.
The main reason being Intels encoder for live streaming. Twitch doesn't allow AV1 encoding for live streaming, so I rather use cpu since hvec or whatever really sucks.
Now, besides the drawbacks between the cpu's... Intel is hailed as having the best live streaming encoder. Quicksync I think it's called.
If quicksync is able to encode while keeping my live stream free from pixels, I would do this switch.
Now let's talk about the spec differences.
Note I play and live stream an MMO game world of warcraft, so single core performance is my desired improvement. Along with encoding improvement to reduce pixelation for live streaming.
My comparison:
7950x3d
X2 8 core ccd
X1 cache ccd
X1 non-x3d ccd
Core parking is somewhat a major factor here, but seems to have no issues this far into the product.
...has way more cache, with lower power consumption, no special encoding software though. Will probably be the best for gaming performance. However, a comparison notes that 265k has stronger single core performance, so I'd be gaining that but losing cache.
Igpu is so weak it's not worth mentioning.
265k
...has 8 p cores
12 e cores
32mb cache instead of 100mb on amd.
I've read that core parking was an issue upon release but has been fixed now?? Some games suffered drastic performance loss, so let's hope it's fixed by now.
There is also talk about this gen being safe from degradation and cpu suicide as included in the main post, so hopefully we are truly good there..
Higher power consumption, like 66-114w on amd to potentially much higher on Intel but rated as better single core performance and will come with quicksync encoding and a strong Igpu. I could offset some tasks to the Igpu like live streaming, given quicksync is really the top encoder as well like people say.
Like I said earlier, I have also wanted to test AMD and Intel in regards to MMO performance. Intel having a stronger single core, regardless of having less cache might still win better gaming performance and I'd be able to use quicksync for live streaming.
I've also heard that Intel idles at lower wattage, due to using e cores and I often idle my pc to play music. I'm curious if this is actually true or not.
Overall this would be a test in performance differences, not an actual upgrade is to be expected. But if Intel is an improvement in strictly World of warcraft MMO gaming performance and less pixelated live streaming it will be a successful test for me.
Is there anyone familiar with my situation or quicksync and the comparisons I've mentioned??
Thanks in advance.
The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is a current gen 20-core (8p, 12e) 20-thread cpu on the lga 1851 platform. As an arrow lake cpu, it is not affected by any of the instability/degradation issues of the previous generations. In most respects the 265k performs fairly similarly to the previous gen i7-14700k (it's moderately faster in productivity workloads, but has slightly worse gaming performance when paired with lower speed ram), but the 265k is drastically more power efficient. In fact, the 265k is nearly on par with its amd zen5 competitors such as the 9900x in terms of efficiency. While the lack of an improvement in gaming performance is unfortunate, unless you have a gpu with at minimum rtx 5080 level performance the 265k is more than sufficient. In terms of productivity, it depends on the workload (zen5 slaughters intel in avx-512 for example), but the 265k is generally slightly ahead of the amd r9 9900x. It absolutely slaughters any single ccd amd cpu in terms of multithreaded performance. In terms of gaming the 265k is just about on par with non-x3d zen5 cpus. The 265k has an igpu for display output and supports intel quicksync (hardware accelerated video encoding/transcoding). The 265k does not come with a cpu cooler. Since gaming performance is similar, if you: live near a microcenter, know for an absolute fact you will never do anything more cpu intensive than gaming, and are fine with more limited i/o of a cheap b650 motherboard, then the $400 microcenter 9700x bundle is probably a better value.
The ASRock Z890 Pro-A is a lower-midrange full size atx z890 (high end chipset) motherboard. Arrow lake is the first generation on the lga 1851 socket, so there'll almost certainly be at least one more generation to potentially upgrade to in the future (though quite possibly just a refresh). This motherboard supports overclocking, and has a frankly overkill 16(60a)+1+1+1+1 phase vrm. Storage options and i/o are decent. The primary x16 slot is gen5, and there are four m.2 slots, one being gen5 and the others being gen4. For networking it has 2.5 Gigabit LAN.
Hardware unboxed reviewed this motherboard, and it's his top pick for a z890 motherboard on a budget (for those that don't need built in wifi): https://youtu.be/GxzMtPmjG_M?t=1
It is important to note that this motherboard does not have built in wifi. If you require wifi, decent wifi adapters cost between $10-$45 (depending on desired wifi generation).
Motherboard specs: https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z...cification
Adding the corsair 32gb (2x16) ddr5 6000 CL28 (timings 28-36-36-96) I recommend to the combo costs $92.99. Ddr5 6000 is optimal for current gen amd cpus, but it's quite slow for intel arrow lake cpus. However, ddr5 6000 CL28 uses extremely good bins of hynix memory chips, and should overclock very well if you loosen the primary timings (mainly cas latency). The binning of this memory should be meaningfully better than the ddr5 6000 cl30 you'll normally find on sale at ~$90.
This bundle comes with Star Wars Outlaws Gold Edition, Civilization VII, and Assassins Creed Shadows which are fairly nice extras imo. I've heard anecdotally claiming them can be a pain though. Terms and conditions for claiming the games:
https://softwareoffer.i
https://softwareoffer.i
The included thermal paste is a nothingburger imo, but I guess it saves you a couple bucks if you don't already have thermal paste and your cpu cooler doesn't come with any.
Compared to the $500 265k+mobo+ram microcenter bundle, the motherboard in this bundle is of a similar tier due to not having built in wifi but having a thunderbolt port (the asus mobo in the microcenter bundle only has wifi 6), but the ram is multiple tiers higher. The ram in the microcenter bundles is ddr5 6000 cl36, which use significantly inferior samsung memory chips with drastically worse latency and overclocking potential. I'd personally consider this newegg bundle to be superior to the microcenter 265k bundle.
The $500 9900x+mobo+ram microcenter bundle is much closer to this newegg bundle in terms of value, the x670e motherboard is meaningfully better but once again the ram is far worse. In my mind the value proposition between these bundles is relatively similar, and it really depends on your exact use cases (though I'd generally lean towards the 9900x bundle if you live very close to a microcenter and it's in stock). However, if you'd otherwise be purchasing any of the three games included with the 265k bundle, the pendulum swings the other way.
Ultimately, this combo, particularly with the ram, is an excellent value. If you already have ddr5 ram from a previous build, you can get the combo for $413 (cheaper than the 265k paired with any full size atx z890 mobo from microcenter, even after the $70 combo discount) and continue using your old ram.
If you don't live near a microcenter, this combo meaningfully surpasses any recent deals I've seen for components in this performance tier.
This bundle rivals Microcenter deals without requiring in-store pickup.
Key Highlights:
Intel Core Ultra 7 265K: Efficient 20-core CPU, matching the i7-14700K but with better efficiency. Great for gaming and productivity, with integrated graphics but no cooler.
ASRock Z890 Pro-A: Solid midrange ATX motherboard with overclocking, PCIe Gen5, and 2.5Gb LAN (no built-in WiFi).
Corsair 32GB DDR5-6000 CL28: High-quality RAM with better latency and overclocking than Microcenter's bundle.
Bonus: Includes three free games (Star Wars Outlaws, Civilization VII, AC Shadows).
Better value than Microcenter's $500 bundles, especially if you don't live near a store or need high-quality RAM. Costs $413 without RAM, making it an excellent deal.
Now hear me out.
The main reason being Intels encoder for live streaming. Twitch doesn't allow AV1 encoding for live streaming, so I rather use cpu since hvec or whatever really sucks.
Now, besides the drawbacks between the cpu's... Intel is hailed as having the best live streaming encoder. Quicksync I think it's called.
If quicksync is able to encode while keeping my live stream free from pixels, I would do this switch.
Now let's talk about the spec differences.
Note I play and live stream an MMO game world of warcraft, so single core performance is my desired improvement. Along with encoding improvement to reduce pixelation for live streaming.
My comparison:
7950x3d
X2 8 core ccd
X1 cache ccd
X1 non-x3d ccd
Core parking is somewhat a major factor here, but seems to have no issues this far into the product.
...has way more cache, with lower power consumption, no special encoding software though. Will probably be the best for gaming performance. However, a comparison notes that 265k has stronger single core performance, so I'd be gaining that but losing cache.
Igpu is so weak it's not worth mentioning.
265k
...has 8 p cores
12 e cores
32mb cache instead of 100mb on amd.
I've read that core parking was an issue upon release but has been fixed now?? Some games suffered drastic performance loss, so let's hope it's fixed by now.
There is also talk about this gen being safe from degradation and cpu suicide as included in the main post, so hopefully we are truly good there..
Higher power consumption, like 66-114w on amd to potentially much higher on Intel but rated as better single core performance and will come with quicksync encoding and a strong Igpu. I could offset some tasks to the Igpu like live streaming, given quicksync is really the top encoder as well like people say.
Like I said earlier, I have also wanted to test AMD and Intel in regards to MMO performance. Intel having a stronger single core, regardless of having less cache might still win better gaming performance and I'd be able to use quicksync for live streaming.
I've also heard that Intel idles at lower wattage, due to using e cores and I often idle my pc to play music. I'm curious if this is actually true or not.
Overall this would be a test in performance differences, not an actual upgrade is to be expected. But if Intel is an improvement in strictly World of warcraft MMO gaming performance and less pixelated live streaming it will be a successful test for me.
Is there anyone familiar with my situation or quicksync and the comparisons I've mentioned??
Thanks in advance.
You're considering switching from the 7950X3D to the 265K for Quicksync encoding to improve Twitch stream quality and better single-core performance for WoW MMO gaming. The 7950X3D has more cache and is likely better for gaming, but the 265K offers stronger single-core performance and Quicksync for encoding. If Intel improves stream quality and gaming performance, the switch will be worth it as a test.
Now hear me out.
The main reason being Intels encoder for live streaming. Twitch doesn't allow AV1 encoding for live streaming, so I rather use cpu since hvec or whatever really sucks.
Now, besides the drawbacks between the cpu's... Intel is hailed as having the best live streaming encoder. Quicksync I think it's called.
If quicksync is able to encode while keeping my live stream free from pixels, I would do this switch.
Now let's talk about the spec differences.
Note I play and live stream an MMO game world of warcraft, so single core performance is my desired improvement. Along with encoding improvement to reduce pixelation for live streaming.
My comparison:
7950x3d
X2 8 core ccd
X1 cache ccd
X1 non-x3d ccd
Core parking is somewhat a major factor here, but seems to have no issues this far into the product.
...has way more cache, with lower power consumption, no special encoding software though. Will probably be the best for gaming performance. However, a comparison notes that 265k has stronger single core performance, so I'd be gaining that but losing cache.
Igpu is so weak it's not worth mentioning.
265k
...has 8 p cores
12 e cores
32mb cache instead of 100mb on amd.
I've read that core parking was an issue upon release but has been fixed now?? Some games suffered drastic performance loss, so let's hope it's fixed by now.
There is also talk about this gen being safe from degradation and cpu suicide as included in the main post, so hopefully we are truly good there..
Higher power consumption, like 66-114w on amd to potentially much higher on Intel but rated as better single core performance and will come with quicksync encoding and a strong Igpu. I could offset some tasks to the Igpu like live streaming, given quicksync is really the top encoder as well like people say.
Like I said earlier, I have also wanted to test AMD and Intel in regards to MMO performance. Intel having a stronger single core, regardless of having less cache might still win better gaming performance and I'd be able to use quicksync for live streaming.
I've also heard that Intel idles at lower wattage, due to using e cores and I often idle my pc to play music. I'm curious if this is actually true or not.
Overall this would be a test in performance differences, not an actual upgrade is to be expected. But if Intel is an improvement in strictly World of warcraft MMO gaming performance and less pixelated live streaming it will be a successful test for me.
Is there anyone familiar with my situation or quicksync and the comparisons I've mentioned??
Thanks in advance.
Intel arrow lake hardware accelerated video encode (quicksync) info: https://edc.intel.com/content/www...eo-encode/
Nvidia nvenc info: https://developer.nvidi
Basic introduction to nvenc: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/gefo...ing-guide/
I wouldn't expect drastically superior results with quicksync over nvenc, so unless you really want a specific codec configuration that quicksync has and nvenc doesn't, I wouldn't bother swapping your whole platform just for quicksync.
It's worth noting that livestreaming is one of the few use cases where higher end gpus can make sense, the 4070ti and up and the 5070ti and up have dual nvenc engines.
With regards to the cpus themselves, the 7950x3d is significantly faster on average in gaming (though you should look up benchmarks for the specific mmo you play) and also has superior multithreaded performance, so the 265k is overall a downgrade (which makes sense, it cost's like half as much). Overall, as long as you have a modern nvidia gpu, I don't think the switch from the 7950x3d to the 265k is likely to be worth it.
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At the 265k's initial launch: the msrp (over $400) was way too high for the performance, the performance uplift over previous gen was disappointing, the firmware was rushed and had issues, the windows scheduler wasn't well optimized for arrow lake, and it required a new lga 1851 motherboard which were over $200 for even budget boards. Spending over $600 for the 265k and a z890 motherboard at launch made no sense whatsoever.
Now that it's been around 5 months since launch, most of the initial firmware/software issues have been ironed out, and the prices have dropped precipitously. This cpu and motherboard combo would be a horrible value if they were priced at ~$600 like they were at launch, at $413 they're instead a very good value, and an even better deal when combo-ed with the ram.