(Image credit: Intel)

Price might be one thing holding people back from upgrading to Intel's latest Core Ultra 200S (codenamed Arrow Lake) series, which rivals some of the best CPUs on the market. But there's good news on that front! The Core Ultra 3 205 (thanks to momomo_us) could finally offer a friendly $150 option for more consumers to hop on the Arrow Lake bandwagon.

The Core Ultra 3 205 was initially spotted in a Reddit post seven months ago. It is a quad-core, eight-thread Arrow Lake processor featuring four P-cores and four E-cores. This processor has two fewer P-cores than the Core Ultra 5 225, which occupies the lowest position in Intel's desktop Arrow Lake product lineup and is currently priced at approximately $200 following recent price reductions.

The reduction in P-cores has provided Intel with greater flexibility to optimize the base clock speed of the quad-core processor. Consequently, the Core Ultra 3 205's P-core and E-core exhibit base clocks that are 15% and 19% higher, respectively, than those of the Core Ultra 5 225. However, it is important to note that, owing to the configuration, the latter possesses 33% more L3 cache.

Core Ultra 3 205 Specifications

Considering the reduced core count, the Core Ultra 3 205 exhibits significantly lower power consumption metrics compared to the Core Ultra 5 225. This is advantageous, as budget-conscious consumers are not required to allocate funds for an expensive cooling solution to manage the Core Ultra 3 205. The quad-core component demonstrates a 12% lower PBP and a 37% lower MTP relative to the Core Ultra 5 225.

Consumers are likely to be attracted to the Core Ultra 3 205 due to its pricing. That said, there may not be an MSRP since the Core Ultra 3 205 could be an OEM-exclusive part. French retailer PC21.fr has listed the forthcoming quad-core processor for $150.33, excluding value-added tax (VAT). This price is $50 lower than that of the Core Ultra 5 225.

PC21.fr specifically describes the Core Ultra 3 205 as a tray processor, which is a chip typically supplied in bulk to system integrators or OEMs. Regrettably, Intel does not seem to offer the Core Ultra 3 205 directly to individual consumers. Nevertheless, with some effort, consumers can readily locate tray chips from Intel or AMD for purchase, so that won't likely change with the Core Ultra 3 205.

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