Intel’s new Core Ultra 9 285K may struggle against its predecessor

Intel Arrow Lakeprocessors are here , and the Core Ultra 9 285 K stands at the top of the lineup as Intel ’s currentbest CPU . However , the chip confront a lot of competitor not just from AMD , but also from Intel ’s own last - gen Raptor Lake refresh . Even Intel itself ca n’t refuse that operation - wise , the Core Ultra 9 285 M and theCore i9 - 14900Kare not that far off .

Although the performance uplift might be subtle ( or even non - existent ) at times , Intel ’s Core Ultra 9 285 K does bring some interesting changes . Here ’s a summation of how the Core Ultra 9 285 K and the Core i9 - 14900 K push-down storage up against each other .

Pricing and availability

The Core Ultra 9 285 K and the Core i9 - 14900 K are almost exactly one year apart .

The Core i9 - 14900 K , part of the Raptor Lake Refresh card and a fourteenth - gen processor , was officially unfreeze on October 17 , 2023 . Meanwhile , the Core Ultra 9 285 K was announced alongside the rest of the Arrow Lake - S batting order on October 10 , 2024 , and will polish off the shelf on October 24 .

Both CPU were launched with the accurate same recommend list price ( MSRP ) of $ 590 . However , one year later on , you ’ll find the Core i9 - 14900 K hold out through several price cutting and is now a bully deal cheaper . you may plunk it up for as trivial as . When the Core Ultra 9 285 thousand is up for sale , we wait it to be at around the MSRP for a while , but it might assist push down the price of the Core i9 - 14900 K even further .

Specs

When you look at the specs , these two processor seem like they ’re almost the same matter — and if one had to blame a winner , the Core i9 - 14900 K might look like the better great deal . It has more duds , but that ’s becauseIntel in the end killed Hyper - Threading . It also sports a high clock speed .

The Core Ultra 9 285 K hold back the same burden configuration as its predecessor , complete with eight phosphorus meat and 16 tocopherol marrow . The lack of thread is a big one , as after over a tenner , Intel is no longer using multi - threading in its desktop C.P.U. . This set this generation aside not from just premature Intel products , but also from AMD , which uses SMT ( co-occurrent multithreading ) in its latestZen 5 processor . In fact , the flagshipRyzen 9 9950Xonly sport 16 cores , but it also comes with 32 threads .

The low maximal clock speed is not a surprisal , given that Intel seems to be place efficiency with this generation as opposed to pushing for huge performance gain . On the other helping hand , the base P core clocks are much higher on the Core Ultra 9 285 G than on the Core i9 - 14900K. The newer CPU sit down at 3.7GHz , and the older chip athletics 3.2GHz . The same can be said about E cores : The Core Ultra 9 285 K offers a base frequence of 3.2GHz and a maximum clock of 4.6GHz , and its predecessor maxes out at 2.4GHz and 4.4GHz , severally .

Although Intel speak a lot about the efficiency of Arrow Lake - S — which we ’ll speak about below — the CPU still has practically the same TDP as the previous - gen part .

One more major spec alteration is that Intel is ditch the LGA1700 socket and motivate on to LGA1851 . This means new motherboards , but also a immense difference in memory support , because the Core Ultra 9 285 K abandons DDR4 RAM and only brook up to 192 GB of DDR5 - 6400 memory . Meanwhile , the Raptor Lake chip can black market eitherDDR4 or DDR5 .

in conclusion , the Arrow Lake processor has some bragging rights for featuring the first neuronal processing unit ( NPU ) regain in a screen background central processor . Designed for AI workload , the NPU in the Core Ultra 9 285 K only sports 13 tera mental process per 2nd ( top ) . This is much less than whatLunar Lake CPUshad to frolic for qualify for theCopilot+program . However , on a background computer , AI work load are unremarkably handled by the GPU , which makes the NPU a nice perk but not a dealbreaker one way or another .

Efficiency

A big selling point for the Core Ultra 9 285 K , as well as the rest of the Core Ultra 200 - siemens lineup , lie in its efficiency . Although we ’ve yet to screen it ourselves , Intel talked a lot about how much cool and more efficient the new CPUs are , providing some bench mark to essay it . The company ’s main title is that Arrow Lake - S , with the Core Ultra 9 285 K leading the charge , can tender the same performance at half the world power draw . allow ’s take a closer look .

First , Intel talked about the way the Core Ultra 9 285 K great deal up against the Core i9 - 14900 K in productivity tests , including Procyon Office Productivity and the Cinebench 2024 single - nub test . Based on these bench mark , Intel claims parcel power reduction ranging from 42 % to 58 % .

Intel also claims to offer the same performance as not just the Core i9 - 14900 K , but also the Ryzen 9 9950X , while only consuming half the power — 125 W instead of 250 watts . This is in a Cinebech multi - core test .

in conclusion , Intel dips into performance per watt in stake scenarios by compare the business leader draw of the entire organization . That intend not just the CPU but also all the eternal sleep of it , such as the Z780 motherboard used for essay the Core i9 - 14900 K and the 800 - serial publication dining table Intel paired with the Core Ultra 9 285K.

In many titles , the Core Ultra 9 285 K manage to extend roughly the same frame rates as the Core i9 - 14900K. This let in game likeMetro ExodusandBlack Myth : Wukong . InTotal War : Pharaoh , the Arrow Lake CPU maintained the same frames per second ( fps ) while reducing system power by 58 watt . The handsome gains are examine inWarhammer 40,000 : Space Marine 2 , where the Core Ultra 9 285 K push ahead by 4 % while cutting organisation power by a whopping 165 watts .

In addition to lower organization power , Intel also claims that the new CPU runs up to 15 degree Celsius ice chest than the Core i9 - 14900K.

These figures are promising for the Arrow Lake fleck , but it ’s crucial not to take them at face economic value — we ’ll have to quiz it ourselves and see just how much the new poker chip can keep up with its predecessor at a low power lot .

Performance

by from efficiency , Intel also provided a slew of benchmarks in gaming and productivity scenario . The results are a bit all over the place , and unfortunately , Intel select the rival Ryzen 9 9950X to compare to in most of these test . However , we ’ve compared theRyzen 9 9950X to the Core i9 - 14900Kin our in - depth benchmarks , so that should give you a estimable idea of how the two CPUs stack up . For reference , we ’ve find that the 9950X is about 10 % faster in productivity , but it lagged behind in our play psychometric test .

As for the Core Ultra 9 285 K , Intel claim a trail of up to 28 % inTotal War : WarhammerIII , but the harsh realism is that most statute title are even — that plot is the one unmarried major victory for Intel . The CPU trail behind AMD inCyberpunk 2077andRed Dead Redemption 2 , and that ’s withIntel APOenabled , so that might tip the plate in Intel ’s party favour , too .

Intel also play off the Core Ultra 9 285 chiliad against the last - gen Ryzen 9 7950X3D. AMD ’s 3D V - Cache is unmanageable to make headway against , hence why we ’re seeing a major 21 % cliff inCyberpunk 2077 — but that drop would still very much be there if Intel compare the Core i9 - 14900 K to the 7950X3D. Intel also claims one victory over the 7950X3D , withCivilization VIscoring an supererogatory 15 % fps .

give that the Ryzen 9 9950X is generally slow in play than the Core i9 - 14900 K , we expect the Core Ultra 9 285 K and its herald to terminate up mostly on par . We ’ll have to check this thoroughly once the CPU is uncommitted for testing .

Content foundation tells a different tale . Intel ’s Arrow Lake CPU wipes the story with the Ryzen 9 7950X3D in some tests , with a 21 % profits in Cinebench . But if this was a comparison against the 9950X , we ’d probably see a much dissimilar upshot .

Additionally , Intel showed off some improved render times — an of import matter for content creators . Unfortunately , as those comparisons were once again made against the Ryzen 9 9950X , it ’s hard to imagine how the mainframe will stack up against the Core i9 - 14900 K here . Intel ’s biggest profits were huge , and the losses were quite small , but again , we ’ll want to draw our own conclusions once we ’ve test the silicon chip .

A hard sell

Intel ’s Arrow Lake - S flagship is both lucky and unfortunate . It ’s favourable because it arrives met with pretty median competition , as AMD ’s Zen 5 mainframe also did n’t provide much of a generational uplift compare to their predecessors . However , it ’s inauspicious because it ’s certainly not the vast improvement multitude may have desire for .

Instead of pushing for higher performance , Intel choose to target efficiency . This is a dependable plan of attack , but with an enthusiast CPU , it may not play as big a part as it would with a lower - oddment crisp . Most hoi polloi do n’t bribe a $ 600 mainframe to save on their galvanic billhook or in orderliness to corrupt a budget ice chest ; they want execution gains , which the Core Ultra 9 285 K might not render much of .

However , the main reason why the Core Ultra 9 285 K might be a problematic sell is that the Core i9 - 14900 K is now much cheaper than it was when it was first released . Although both chips have the same MSRP , the Core i9 - 14900 K is $ 150 crummy .

If our benchmarks align with what Intel ’s present us so far , the Core Ultra 9 285 K is unconvincing to be worth a $ 150 agiotage . Once we ’ve tested it ourselves , we ’ll be able-bodied to differentiate you more about its public presentation .