Intel has recently thrown open the curtain on its latest Arrow Lake-S series of desktop CPUs, and as one might expect from Intel, there are a few surprises in store. This time, the tech giant is placing a strong emphasis on efficiency, claiming that these new processors will deliver similar performance to their predecessors, the Raptor Lake-R series, but with much less power consumption.
As with most tech launches, benchmark leaks have started to appear online, providing a sneak peek into the performance capabilities of the flagship Core Ultra 9 285K processor. These early insights reveal a mixed bag of outcomes: both underwhelming and surprising. This is largely due to the fact that the Arrow Lake-S lineup does not support hyper-threading—a decision likely to spark some debate among enthusiasts.
When looking at multi-threaded performance, the Core Ultra 9 285K demonstrates an impressive leap forward. Earlier reports from Passmark showcased this processor’s superior single-threaded skills, earning it top honors. Yet, with the absence of hyper-threading, it fell short when compared to AMD’s and even Intel’s own previous models. However, recent CPU-Z benchmark results tell a different story. The Core Ultra 9 285K shows an admirable 11% increase in multi-threaded performance, although its single-threaded performance still trails behind competitors like the 14900KS and the 14900K.
Interestingly, during testing, the Core Ultra 9 285K reached temperatures over 100 degrees Celsius, possibly leading to some thermal throttling. Despite this, the processor managed to achieve its maximum clock speeds of 5.5 GHz on its performance cores and 4.6 GHz on its efficiency cores, using an ASRock Z890 motherboard with 2 x 16 GB DDR5-5600 memory and an RTX 4080 Super. Whether this affected its overall performance remains uncertain.
In the realm of Blender benchmarks, the Core Ultra 285K holds its own against Intel’s i9-14900K, outperforming it by more than 14%. However, it still lags behind AMD’s formidable Ryzen 9 9950X by nearly 7%. Details on the specific hardware used in these tests are scarce, suggesting that these results might not fully reflect everyday performance.
The ongoing rivalry between AMD and Intel continues to heat up, keeping technology enthusiasts and consumers eagerly watching as each company strives to outdo the other in innovation and performance. Whether these new CPUs from Intel’s Arrow Lake-S series will tip the scales in its favor remains to be seen, but they certainly make for an intriguing addition to the competitive landscape of desktop processors.
