Intel’s Arrow Lake-S desktop processors are on sale, and reviewers have prepared the first tests of Core Ultra 9 285K, Ultra 7 265K, and Ultra 5 245K chips.
The new processors are the first in recent years that do not support Hyperthreading across the entire lineup. They demonstrate benchmark performance at the level of the previous generation and lag slightly behind in games, despite optimizations. In addition, they require a new motherboard with Socket 1851 and DDR5 memory to build a system on them. However new desktop Intel Core Ultra are extremely energy efficient and outperform competitors like Intel and AMD in this regard.
The flagship processor consists of 24 cores (8 productive 3.7-5.6 GHz and 16 efficient 3.2-4.6 GHz) and has a TDP of 125-250 watts. In terms of overall performance in games with the NVIDIA RTX 4090 4K graphics card, the processor is behind or at the level of Intel Core i7-14700 and AMD Ryzen 9 9900X / 5 9900X, but performance can be significantly lower depending on the game and resolution and sometimes even inferior to Ryzen 7 5800X3D and Core i5-14600.
The processor has 20 cores (8P 3.9-5.6 GHz and 12E 3.3-4.6 GHz) and the same TDP. In games with RTX 4090 4K, the processor is on average at the level of Intel Core i5-14600 and AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D, but again, performance may be lower.
The junior chip has 14 cores (6P 3.9-5.2 GHz and 8E 4.2-5.2 GHz) and a TDP of 125-159 W. In games with the RTX 4090, the processor supports the mid-range Intel Core i5-13600 and AMD Ryzen 7700-7900 with the corresponding variability.
| Processor | Ultra 9 285K | Ultra 7 265K | Ultra 7 265KF | Ultra 5 245K | Ultra 5 245KF |
| Number of cores | 24 (8P + 16E) | 20 (8P + 12E) | 20 (8P + 12E) | 14 (6P + 8E) | 14 (6P + 8E) |
| P-Core frequency | 3.7-5.5 GHz | 3.9-5.5 GHz | 3.9-5.5 GHz | 3.9-5.2 GHz | 3.9-5.2 GHz |
| E-Core frequency | 3.2-4.6 GHz | 3.3-4.6 GHz | 3.3-4.6 GHz | 4.2-5.2 GHz | 4.2-5.2 GHz |
| Turbo Boost Max 3.0 | 5.6 GHz | 5.6 GHz | 5.6 GHz | 5.2 GHz | 5.2 GHz |
| Total L2 cache | 40 MB | 36 MB | 36 MB | 26 MB | 26 MB |
| L3 cache | 36 MB | 30 MB | 30 MB | 24 MB | 24 MB |
| Graphics | 4 Xe 2 GHz | 4 Xe 2 GHz | 4 Xe 2 GHz | 4 Xe 1.9 GHz | 4 Xe 1.9 GHz |
| PL1–PL2 | 125-250 W | 125-250 W | 125-250 W | 125-159 W | 125-159 W |
| Recommended price | $589 | $394 | $379 | $309 | $294 |
Intel Core Ultra 200K desktop processors are hardly the best choice and recommendation. They don’t have «killer features» compared to previous generations of Intel chips or AMD competitors. The performance is not impressive and does not make a single step forward, the energy efficiency is less, but not fantastic, and it is not always important in the case of desktop computers. The cost of a new motherboard is justified only for building a new system, but not for replacing a comparable existing one.
These tests were performed TechPowerUp, website VideoCardz offers a selection of dozens of other reviews and tests on various specialized resources.