Intel has announced its latest generation of Core Ultra 200S series desktop processors based on the new Arrow Lake architecture. This new generation features modest performance improvements, but with much greater improvements in efficiency.
Intel claims a 9% improvement in IPC (instructions per clock) for the P cores compared to the 14th generation, and a 32% improvement in IPC for the E cores, which the company says results in an improvement of up to 13% in multi-threaded performance compared to the competition. It’s not just about performance this generation, though, as Intel claims package power is down 40% this generation and temperatures are lower.
The new Arrow Lake chips come with a new CPU design, with Intel moving away from the traditional monolithic design to a new tile-based design. Each component resides on a separate tile, with the CPU, GPU, SoC, and IO all getting their own tiles, along with a base tile and filler tile that complete the package. The new CPU or compute tile floor shows the new design, with the P-cores and the E-core clusters all sharing the same L3 cache with dedicated L2 caches.
Five new SKUs are being announced today, including the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K at the top replacing the previous Core i9-14900K, the Core Ultra 7 265K and 265KF replacing the Core i7-14700K and 14700KF, and the Core Ultra 5 245K and 245KF replaces the Core i5-14600K and 14600KF.
The 285K has an 8P+16E core design, while the 265K has 8P+12E cores. The 245K gets 6P+8E cores. This is a similar configuration to the 14th generation models, with the major difference being that there is no more HyperThreading, so each of the P cores has a single thread each, just like the E cores.
All models with an iGPU get 4 Intel Xe Cores and all models have a built-in NPU that can handle 13 TOPS.
Intel has also made some concessions to the clock speeds of the 200S series compared to previous generations. The flagship 285K now reaches up to 5.7GHz compared to 6GHz on the 14900K. The 265K and 245K are also lower than their predecessors.
In terms of performance, Intel has some mixed claims. The important thing to note is that these all refer to the flagship 285K, as the company has not provided any performance data for the 265K and 245K models.
Starting with productivity performance, Intel claims the 285K is on average 8% faster than the 14900K and 4% faster than the 9950X on single-threaded workloads. Meanwhile, the 285K is 15% faster than the 14900K and 13% faster than the 9950X on multi-threaded workloads. Intel also claims that the 285K can achieve the same multi-threaded performance as the 14900K with half the power.
Where it gets disappointing is in gaming, where Intel claims outright performance parity with the 14900K in gaming, meaning you can expect similar or even identical frame rates in most games. The only positive side here is that Intel claims the 285K can achieve this parity with much lower power figures, so even if you don’t get more frames, you’ll use a lot less power to do so. On average, Intel claims a reduction of around 73W in total system power consumption, with figures reaching as high as 165W in some cases.
Lower power also means less heat generation, and Intel claims the 285K is on average 13 degrees cooler than the 14900K.
That said, while the 285K is more efficient than the 14900K, that doesn’t mean it uses less power overall. Like the 14900K, the 285K has a maximum turbo power of 250W. This also applies to the 265K, while the 245K clocks in at 159W.
The new generation of processors comes with new socket and motherboard chipsets. The 200S series chips are compatible with socket LGA1851 and Intel 800 series chipset. Compared to the 700 series, the 800 series has more PCIe lanes and no longer supports DDR4 memory. Speaking of memory, all new chips support 6400MHz memory as the new JEDEC standard, with Intel recommending 8000MHz.
The Core Ultra 9 285K costs $589, the Core Ultra 7 265K $394 and the Core Ultra 5 245K $309. Sales and pre-orders start on October 24.