Best desktop processors under £250 (2026)
The desktop processors we've reviewed that cost £250 or less, best first. Each is scored against products at a similar price, so a high score here means good for the money. Where we don't have today's price, we use the typical UK price we found when researching it.
Researched, not hands-on tested.How we review ›
- #1
AMD Ryzen 5 9600X
6.4/10verdict: good, not the bestThe Ryzen 5 9600X is for builders who want a six-core AM5 desktop processor with a 65W default TDP. It suits general development, light virtualisation and a workstation or small server where cooling matters. It is less suited to anyone who needs many cores or media transcoding from the integrated graphics.
6 cores, 12 threadsBase 3.9 GHzAM565W defaultRead the full review ݣ164.99typical UK price when researchedCheck price at Amazon UK (opens in a new tab, affiliate link)
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- #2
Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus
6.0/10verdict: good, not the bestThe Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus suits developers and homelabbers who want a lot of cores for builds, rendering and parallel workloads. It also suits anyone who needs ECC memory support on a desktop socket. It is a weaker fit for always-on servers where idle power matters, or for buyers whose main aim is gaming.
18 totalP-core base 4.2 GHz, P-core max turbo 5.3…FCLGA1851Processor Base Power 125 WRead the full review ›£216.99typical UK price when researchedCheck price at Amazon UK (opens in a new tab, affiliate link)
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- #3
Intel Core i5 processor 14400
6.0/10verdict: good, not the bestThe Core i5 14400 suits builders who want a 10-core, 16-thread desktop chip. It fits people who already have, or want, an LGA1700 board and value integrated graphics with Quick Sync. Buyers who want a long upgrade path or the strongest performance for the money should compare it with the Ryzen 5 7600 first.
10 total: 6 performance + 4 efficient…P-core base 2.5 GHzFCLGA1700Processor Base Power 65 WRead the full review ›£175typical UK price when researchedCheck price at Amazon UK (opens in a new tab, affiliate link)
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- #4
Intel Core i5-14600KF
5.8/10verdict: good, not the bestThe Core i5-14600KF suits builders who want a high thread count for compiling, VMs and containers. It pairs 14 cores and 20 threads with a 5.3 GHz performance-core turbo. Buyers should be comfortable with the owner reports on 14th-gen voltage and stability.
14P-core base 3.5 GHzFCLGA1700Processor Base Power 125 WRead the full review ݣ220typical UK price when researchedCheck price at Amazon UK (opens in a new tab, affiliate link)
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- #5
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
5.4/10verdict: good, not the bestThe Ryzen 7 5800X suits builders who want eight Zen 3 cores on the AM4 socket for compiling, VMs and general desktop work. It fits someone who already has or plans to buy a discrete graphics card. It is a poor match for a headless server or media box that needs built-in video output.
8 cores / 16 threadsBase 3.8 GHzAM4105WRead the full review ݣ199.99typical UK price when researchedCheck price at Amazon UK (opens in a new tab, affiliate link)
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- #6
Intel Core i5-14400F
5.2/10verdict: good, not the bestThe Core i5-14400F suits builders putting together a gaming or multitasking desktop who already plan to fit a discrete graphics card. It offers 10 cores and 16 threads on the LGA1700 socket, with support for either DDR5 or DDR4 memory. It is a poor fit for anyone who wants a display output or media encoding from the CPU itself.
10 totalP-core base 2.5 GHz, E-core base 1.8 GHzFCLGA1700Processor Base Power 65 WRead the full review ݣ161.50typical UK price when researchedCheck price at Amazon UK (opens in a new tab, affiliate link)
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- #7
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
5.1/10verdict: good, not the bestThe Ryzen 5 5600X is for people building a desktop or workstation who want strong per-core speed from six cores. It suits developers and gamers who already plan to fit a graphics card. It is a poor fit for a headless or always-on homelab box, because it has no integrated graphics and owner reports mention higher idle power than expected.
6 cores, 12 threadsBase 3.7 GHzAM465W default TDPRead the full review ݣ145.99typical UK price when researchedCheck price at Amazon UK (opens in a new tab, affiliate link)
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