Intel sells the fastest sub-$200 CPUs that you can buy right now and AMD can barely keep up, even with a Ryzen 9 5900XT — so I have to ask, is Intel the new AMD?

The new Intel Core Ultra logo.

• Intel’s sub-$200 CPUs now deliver performance once reserved for far pricier processors
• Core Ultra 5 chips pressure AMD by pairing clocks with multicore results
• AMD’s Ryzen 9 5900XT struggles to justify pricing against newer Intel alternatives

I've spotted something interesting in the low end of the desktop CPU market - right now, some of the fastest processors you can buy for around $200 come from Intel, not AMD, and the performance gap is uncomfortable enough to raise an intriguing question: Is Intel starting to look like the old AMD, the company that wins by offering more performance for less money?