Intel is gearing up for the launch of its highly anticipated Arrow Lake-S desktop CPUs, now rebranded as Intel Core Ultra 200S. The company is confident that this new generation will hold its own against the best processors on the market when they hit shelves on October 24. However, Intel has acknowledged that these CPUs won’t deliver significant, if any, performance gains for gamers – a surprising revelation coming from the company itself.
To kick off the Arrow Lake generation, Intel is releasing five processors, including the standard Core Ultra 9, 7, and 5 models. Additionally, there are Core Ultra 7 and 5 versions that omit integrated graphics, offering a slightly lower price point. All five processors are unlocked for overclocking and utilize the new LGA 1851 socket. Unlike AMD’s latest Zen 5 CPUs, these Core Ultra 200S chips require a new motherboard as Intel bids farewell to its LGA 1700 socket.
While the specifications don’t reveal any groundbreaking surprises, Intel continues to leverage the same core counts and high clock speeds that we’ve come to expect. The balance between performance and efficient cores remains similar to last-gen chips like the Core i9-14900K. However, a keen eye will notice the absence of Hyper-Threading in these new CPUs. This aligns with Intel’s new Lunar Lake laptop CPUs, which also lack Hyper-Threading. While Hyper-Threading isn’t crucial for gaming, Intel’s own benchmarks show that the Arrow Lake chips don’t provide substantial generational performance improvements. In fact, some games even register performance drops compared to the previous generation.
Intel emphasizes that the focus with these new chips lies in efficiency. Benchmarks demonstrate that the Core Ultra 9 285K achieves similar performance while reducing power consumption by an average of 73 watts. While the power savings are less pronounced in some games, like Black Myth: Wukong, Intel claims a significant reduction of up to 165W compared to the Core i9-14900K in games like Warhammer: Space Marines 2. This reduced power consumption translates to lower temperatures. Intel states that the Core Ultra 9 285K runs 13 degrees Celsius cooler on average than its predecessor, with some games like Rainbow Six Siege showcasing a temperature drop of 17 degrees, a substantial difference.
So, how do these chips stack up against the competition? Intel claims the Core Ultra 9 285K matches the Ryzen 9 9950X. However, our Ryzen 9 9950X review revealed its underwhelming gaming performance. The Core Ultra 9 285K falls short of the Ryzen 9 9950X in several games, despite Intel highlighting victories in Total War: Warhammer III and Civilization VI. A more accurate comparison for gamers would be the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, currently the fastest gaming CPU available. While benchmarks comparing the Arrow Lake CPUs to the Ryzen 7 7800X3D are still pending, Intel’s Robert Hallock anticipates the Core Ultra 9 285K lagging behind by approximately 5% in average gaming performance.
For users with small form factor PCs, Intel’s dedication to efficiency is a welcome aspect. The Core Ultra 7 265K, for instance, boasts a remarkable 188W reduction in power draw and a 15-degree temperature drop, while only sacrificing 5% in gaming performance compared to the Core i9-14900K. However, these are Intel’s enthusiast-level desktop CPUs, and without significant gaming performance gains, they might struggle to entice potential buyers.
Fortunately, Intel has made the pricing competitive. The Core Ultra line comes in significantly lower than AMD’s Zen 5 CPUs across the board. All five models will be available for purchase on October 24, according to Intel.
