CPU advice for upcoming RTX 5060/5060 Ti for SFF PC build

S

sanjeev2.k

I am trying to build a SFF PC with the upcoming RTX 5060/5060 Ti.
I am looking for a mid range CPU to drive the GPU. My use case is mainly hobby rendering/geometric modelling/CUDA etc
(I do not intend to use it for gaming).

I was trying to check the availability of the core ultra 200 Non-K series (Core ultra 5 245/235) in general (since they were launched in January 2025) - but I cannot
see a single listing for the same.
Someone on reddit claimed that it was launched in Asia (where I live, I live in India) and there were claims that there were a few reviews here/there in Asia,
but google search does not reveal a single review of the same.
Anybody here from Asia who knows the current state of the Core Ultra 245/235 availability?

I could have bought the Ryzen 9700x (since its energy efficient TDP 65 W) - but the price in India is beyond my budget (Its listed at roughly 35,000 Indian rupees
which If you convert to USD at current exchange rate, translates to a staggering 408 USD (I think the MSRP of the Ryzen 9700x in USA is 289$, way below price quoted
in India).
Other alternatives for me could be core i5-13500/14500 (listing in India seem to be within my budget) - but I think there is some FUD about whether the instability issues
affecting raptor lake K series affects the non K parts as well.
Again the core ultra 245K (not only has a higher TDP) - but its also priced above my budget (priced at around 30,000 INR on amazon India which again translates to 350 USD
- way above the suggested MRP of core ultra 245K).
So, does anyone here have any suggestions regarding the CPU.

best regards,
Sanjeev.
 
For a price vs performance play, I'd go for a previous-gen AMD Zen 5 proc, like maybe the 7700X or if you have the coin, a 7800X3D (the single-CCD one.) Inexpensive boards, excellent performance, no heterogenous core scheduling issues (Intel has their E-cores and P-cores to deal with, AMD's dual-CCD X3D chips have faster + less cache vs slower + more cache to deal with.)
 
Albuquerque said:
For a price vs performance play, I'd go for a previous-gen AMD Zen 5 proc, like maybe the 7700X or if you have the coin, a 7800X3D (the single-CCD one.) Inexpensive boards, excellent performance, no heterogenous core scheduling issues (Intel has their E-cores and P-cores to deal with, AMD's dual-CCD X3D chips have faster + less cache vs slower + more cache to deal with.)
Click to expand...
I think he'd likely want to stick to 65w TDP for an SFF. And I don't think the use cases really need significant CPU power.
 
Hence why I suggested the Ryzen 5 7700 -- top TDP is 65W. Further, any half-recent firmware that supports the 7800X3D will also support the down-TDP (AMD calls it "eco mode") 65W seting and the processor retains >90% of its performance.

As for performance in productivity workloads, obviously It Depends(TM). Generally you're right, the X3D line would typically lose to it's direct non-X3D counterpart. But when comparing it to down-SKU procs? https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-ryzen-7-7800x3d-cpu-review/5 Tom's Hardware seems to suggest it fares really well against the 7700X, but again, it depends. For single core perf, the 7700 has a much better turbo speed. For all core workload, the extra cache ends up somehow mattering in more cases than I recalled, even though the 7700 has a slight clock advantage.
 
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sanjeev2.k said:
I am trying to build a SFF PC with the upcoming RTX 5060/5060 Ti.
I am looking for a mid range CPU to drive the GPU. My use case is mainly hobby rendering/geometric modelling/CUDA etc
(I do not intend to use it for gaming).

I was trying to check the availability of the core ultra 200 Non-K series (Core ultra 5 245/235) in general (since they were launched in January 2025) - but I cannot
see a single listing for the same.
Someone on reddit claimed that it was launched in Asia (where I live, I live in India) and there were claims that there were a few reviews here/there in Asia,
but google search does not reveal a single review of the same.
Anybody here from Asia who knows the current state of the Core Ultra 245/235 availability?

I could have bought the Ryzen 9700x (since its energy efficient TDP 65 W) - but the price in India is beyond my budget (Its listed at roughly 35,000 Indian rupees
which If you convert to USD at current exchange rate, translates to a staggering 408 USD (I think the MSRP of the Ryzen 9700x in USA is 289$, way below price quoted
in India).
Other alternatives for me could be core i5-13500/14500 (listing in India seem to be within my budget) - but I think there is some FUD about whether the instability issues
affecting raptor lake K series affects the non K parts as well.
Again the core ultra 245K (not only has a higher TDP) - but its also priced above my budget (priced at around 30,000 INR on amazon India which again translates to 350 USD
- way above the suggested MRP of core ultra 245K).
So, does anyone here have any suggestions regarding the CPU.

best regards,
Sanjeev.
Click to expand...
The 13500 and presumably the 14500 are not actually Raptor Lake. They are rebranded Alder Lake. Note that while Intel claims both CPUs are "Products formerly Raptor Lake" on their own site, this does not appear to be the case.

I'd still go AM5 if I were you. But the 13500/14500 are not bad.
 
homerdog said:
The 13500 and presumably the 14500 are not actually Raptor Lake. They are rebranded Alder Lake. Note that while Intel claims both CPUs are "Products formerly Raptor Lake" on their own site, this does not appear to be the case.

I'd still go AM5 if I were you. But the 13500/14500 are not bad.
Click to expand...
Yes - the i3500/14500 do fit my budget (and its kind of re-assuring to know that they are not really raptor lake - meaning in theory, they should not face the kind of instability issues plaguing raptor Lake)

As far the AMD universe is concerned, how does Ryzen 7900 stack up compared to Ryzen 9700x (even though both have hyperthreading, the 7900 does have 12 physical cores and I think its official TDP is also 65 W (though
I think it goes up-to 90W per some benchmark conducted by Anandtech a while back).
Given a choice between 9700x and 7900, which one would u take?
 
Rendering work is going to love more threads, accordingly the 7900 is likely the better bet. It also sounds like the 9700 is really expensive where you live, so if the 7900 is cheaper, I'd certainly go for that.

It's also worth noting: the all the Intel processors you've mentioned are heterogenous cores -- a higher number of "efficiency" cores alongside a smaller number of "performance" cores. While I'm reasonably sure your applications will be included in the whitelisting for kernel scheduling optimization, one upside for AMD processors is homogeneity of CPU cores. There's no subset of cores which perform at their peak; all of them perform at the same rate.
 
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