Intel recently unveiled its Core Ultra 200 Series processors, codenamed Arrow Lake, on October 10th. Leading the pack is the Core Ultra 9 285K, boasting an impressive configuration of 24 cores and 24 threads. This powerhouse aims to dethrone the current flagship, the Core i9 14900K, from Intel’s Raptor Lake Refresh lineup.
The Core Ultra 9 285K underwent rigorous testing in various benchmarks, showcasing a remarkable 19% improvement over the 14900K in Blender. Yet, it wasn’t all smooth sailing—the chip faced some challenges in maintaining single-core peak performance. In CPU-Z benchmarks, though it secured a strong 18964 points in multi-threaded performance, it fell slightly short with a 909 single-core score.
Temperature management seemed to be a hurdle, as the CPU reached 101°C, perilously close to its 105°C limit. This suggests thermal throttling may have impacted its ability to consistently hit the maximum boost clocks of 5.5 GHz for P-Cores and 4.6 GHz for E-Cores. Another point of interest is the Ring Bus clock, noted at 3790.9 MHz—around 700 MHz lower than the 14900K, possibly affecting its gaming capabilities.
In Blender v4.2 testing, the Core Ultra 9 notched 557.46 points, surpassing the 14900K’s score of 475.97 but trailing behind AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X. The series also includes the Core Ultra 7 265K and Core Ultra 5 245K, with initial scores of 471.21 and 323.46 points respectively.
As the official launch looms on October 24th, more performance insights and configurations are likely to emerge, offering a clearer picture of Arrow Lake’s prowess in the competitive CPU market.
