Intel has announced the Core Ultra 200S series, the latest generation of desktop processors based on its new Aero Lake architecture. This new generation boasts modest improvements in performance but with huge advances in efficiency.
Intel is claiming a 9% improvement in IPC (instructions per clock) for the P-cores compared to the 14th generation, with a 32% improvement in IPC for the E-cores, which the company claims That this resulted in up to 13% improvement in multi-threaded performance. Compared to the competition. However, it’s not all about performance this generation, as Intel claims a 40% reduction in package power in this generation and at lower temperatures.
The new Arrow Lake chips come with a new CPU design, with Intel moving away from its traditional monolithic design and moving towards a new tile-based design. Each component is on a separate tile, with the CPU, GPU, SoC and IO all getting their own tiles, with a base tile and filler tile completing the package. The new CPU or compute tile floor pan shows the new design, in which the P-core and E-core clusters all share the same L3 cache with a dedicated L2 cache.
Five new SKUs are being announced today, including the top-of-the-line Intel Core Ultra 9 285K replacing the previous Core i9-14900K, Core Ultra 7 265K and 265KF replacing the Core i7-14700K and 14700K, and Core Ultra 5 245K. Core i5-14600K and 14600KF replaced by 245KF.
The 285K has an 8P+16E core design while the 265K has an 8P+12E core. 6P+8E cores are available in 245K. This is the same configuration as the 14th generation models, with one major difference being that there is no hyperthreading anymore, so each P-core has a single thread just like the E-core.
All models with iGPU come with 4 Intel Xe cores and all models have a built-in NPU capable of 13 peaks.
Intel has also made some concessions in clock speeds on the 200S series compared to previous generations. The flagship 285K now reaches 5.7GHz compared to 6GHz on the 14900K. The 265K and 245K are similarly down compared to their predecessors.
In terms of performance, Intel has some mixed claims to make. The important thing to note is that these all relate to the flagship 285K, as the company has not provided any performance data for the 265K and 245K models.
Starting with productivity performance, Intel claims the 285K is on average 8% faster than the 14900K and 4% faster than the 9950X in single-threaded workloads. Meanwhile, in multi-threaded workloads the 285K is 15% faster than the 14900K and 13% faster than the 9950X. Intel also claims that the 285K can achieve the same multi-threaded performance as the 14900K at half the power.
Where things fall short is in gaming, where Intel claims performance parity with the 14900K in gaming, which means you can expect to get similar or even similar frame rates in most games. The only silver lining here is that Intel claims the 285K can achieve this parity at very low power figures, so even if you’re not getting more frames, you’re burning much less power to do so. On average, Intel is claiming a reduction in total system power consumption of around 73W, with the figure reaching up to 165W in some cases.
Lower power also means lower heat generation, and Intel claims the 285K runs at an average of 13 degrees cooler than the 14900K.
Having said that, while the 285K is more efficient than the 14900K, that doesn’t mean it consumes less power in general. Like the 14900K, the 285K has a maximum power turbo power of 250W. This is also true for the 265K, while the 245K runs at 159W.
New generation processors come with new sockets and motherboard chipsets. The 200S series chips are compatible with Socket LGA1851 and Intel 800 series chipsets. Compared to the 700 series, the 800 series has more PCIe lanes and less support for DDR4 memory. Speaking of memory, all the new chips support 6400MHz memory as the new JEDEC standard, Intel recommends 8000MHz.
The Core Ultra 9 285K is priced at $589, the Core Ultra 7 265K is priced at $394, and the Core Ultra 5 245K is priced at $309. Sales and pre-orders will begin on October 24.