Intel Core Ultra 9 285K Review – A New Beginning For Team Blue

After 16 years, 14 generations and countless models, the familiar name of Core i3, Core i5, Core i7 and later Core i9, is no more – Intel’s high-performance desktop processors from this point on are now referred as Core Ultra 5, Core Ultra 7, and Core Ultra 9.

With a new name, the chipmaker is hoping to mend its reputation of hot and power-hungry chips that has since fallen behind against AMD’s highly-successful Ryzen processors – starting with the flagship, Core Ultra 9 285K.

Specifications & Comparison

Intel Core Ultra 9 285K

Here are the differences between the new Core Ultra chip, its predecessor, and its primary rival:
(Full specifications available at Intel specifications database.)

Processor	Intel Core Ultra 9 285K	Intel Core i9-14900K	AMD Ryzen 9 9950X
Core Configuration	8P+16E / 24 threads (tiled)	8P+16E / 32 threads (monolithic)	16 cores / 32 threads (2 CCDs)
Process Node	CPU Tile: TSMC N3B SoC Tile: TSMC N6 I/O Tile: TSMC N6 GPU Tile: TSMC N5 Base Tile: Intel 22FFL	Intel 7 (formerly 10nm Enhanced SuperFin)	CCD: TSMC N4P IOD: TSMC N6
Microarchitecture	Arrow Lake P-Core: Lion Cove E-Core: Skymont	Raptor Lake Refresh P-Core: Raptor Cove E-Core: Gracemont	Zen 5 “Granite Ridge”
Boost Clock	P-Core: 5.7GHz E-Core: 4.6GHz	P-Core: 6.0GHz E-Core: 4.4GHz	5.7GHz
Base Clock	P-Core: 3.7GHz E-Core: 3.2GHz	P-Core: 3.2GHz E-Core: 2.4GHz	4.3GHz
Cache (L2+L3)	40+36MB	32+36MB	16+64MB
TDP	125W (PBP) 250W (MTP) *295W MTP available under Extreme power profile	125W (PBP) 253W (MTP)	170W (200W PPT)
Max Temperature (TjMax)	105°C	100°C	95°C
Memory Support	DDR5-6400 192GB dual-channel CUDIMM support	DDR5-5600 DDR4-3200 192GB dual-channel	DDR5-5600 192GB dual-channel
Onboard Graphics	Intel Graphics 4 Xe-Cores @ 2.0GHz	Intel UHD Graphics 770 32 EUs @ 1.65GHz	AMD Radeon Graphics 2 CUs (RDNA2) @ 2.2GHz
Neural Processor	Intel AI Boost 13 TOPS (INT8) peak	None	None
Usable PCIe Lanes	24x PCIe 5.0	16x PCIe 5.0 4x PCIe 4.0	24x PCIe 5.0
Socket Type	LGA1851	LGA1700	Socket AM5 (LGA1718)
Chipset Support	Intel 800 series	Intel 600, 700 series	AMD 600, 800 series

What’s New?

From the get go, Intel has made it clear that Core Ultra, codenamed Arrow Lake, is about efficiency: the new chip will largely retain the same level of performance as before, while drastically reduce the power usage. It’s a fair decision given that Team Blue has gained notoriety with its recent releases guzzling lots of power just to keep up with AMD’s best, though this does mean that you’ll have to keep the performance expectations in check.

To simplify, Intel says Arrow Lake will be faster in multi-core workloads, though it’ll run significantly cooler during gaming workloads. Also, for the first time ever, a desktop processor will feature an onboard neural processing unit (NPU), in this case providing 13 TOPS of compute power that should be just enough to unlock some basic AI features (i.e. webcam features).

On the memory side of things, Intel is officially supporting a new type of DDR5 RAM called CUDIMM (clocked unbuffered DIMM). Compared to standard UDIMM, CUDIMM modules feature an onboard clock driver that keeps them stable at extremely high clock speeds, upwards of 8,000MT/s; some overclocked modules are close approaching 10,000MT/s as we speak.

On the motherboard side, the new Z890 chipset extends an additional 24 lanes of PCIe on top of the 24 available from the CPU (which is split into 16 for GPU, 4 for SSD, and 4 for DMI/chipset), while the CPU itself now feature up to two Thunderbolt 4 ports directly integrated – meaning, you should see high-end motherboards featuring these ports instead of the DisplayPort in the past.

Test System

CPU	Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
Cooling	Cooler Master MasterLiquid PL360 Flux 30th Anniversary Edition Cooler Master MasterGel Maker
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Hero
GPU	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition
Memory	Kingston FURY RENEGADE RGB DDR5-6400 CL32 (2x16GB)
Storage	ADATA LEGEND 960 MAX 1TB
Power Supply	GameMax GX-1050 PRO BK (ATX 3.1) 1050W
Case	VECTOR Bench Case (Open-air chassis)
Operating System	Windows 11 Home 23H2

Benchmarks

All tests are conducted in out-of-the-box configuration – using default power limits of 250W/250W PL1/PL2 MTP in Performance power profile as specified per Intel Default Settings specification, unless otherwise specified. Windows Power Plan is set as ‘Balanced’ as per defaults.

Cinebench

Starting with Cinebench, there are a few takeaways here: one, the new Lion Cove P-core performs worse in single-threaded tests in this particular benchmark; however, Intel does note that it’s best to use High Performance power plan in Windows for best performance (likely has to do with the way Thread Director functions), so there’s likely more performance to be had if you take a quick trip to the Settings app.

On the contrary, the E-cores are significantly beefed up despite the lack of hyperthreaded cores, which resulted in a small bump in multi-core performance even with 8 less threads available compared to its predecessor, the Core i9-14900K, and its main rival, the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X.

Instructions Per Clock

Looking specifically into the instructions per clock (IPC) metric, we see that the new Lion Cove core performs roughly the same in Cinebench 2024, while it is slightly worse in Cinebench R23. Once again, Windows power plan likely plays a factor here.

Power Draw & Thermals

One of the highlights of the Core Ultra 9 285K is the thermal performance, which is very impressive compared to its predecessor. Pulling 220 watts on the socket only resulted in 75°C on average, and based on our testing it can sustain 320W with our Cooler Master AIO. That being said, we noticed that in our practical testing the processor never uses the full 250W power available from its Performance power profile, and switching to Extreme power profile (with 250W PL1 / 295W PL2) sees virtually no changes.

7-Zip

7-Zip performance is notably slower in the new processor, which might be due to the significantly increased memory latency. For comparison, the Core i9 has around 69ns of latency on DDR5-6400 CL32, while the Core Ultra 9 has upwards of 92ns on the same set of modules – memory-sensitive workloads like 7-Zip certainly won’t like this.

3DMark Time Spy (CPU)

3DMark Time Spy sees the Core Ultra 9 processor scoring a fair bit lower than its predecessor, though this can come down to architectural differences as seen by Ryzen 9 9950X’s results.

Handbrake

The best showing for Core Ultra 9 285K is the transcoding performance. Here, the Arrow Lake chip shaved 18 seconds off its predecessor, a 14% improvement (and doing so at less power usage, too).

Gaming

Finally, gaming: this is right in line with Intel’s claims – mostly similar performance, at less power. That being said, we do see games like Black Myth: Wukong being particularly good with the new Core Ultra chip, while Hitman 3 gets the lead which relies more on memory performance (and higher latency certainly doesn’t help).

Verdict

Overall, while the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K isn’t always an improvement compared to its predecessors, it does bring a substantial improvement in power efficiency that has been missing in the past few generations. I do hope the next generation will bring a significant improvement in performance once again, because it is a bit disappointing that both Team Red and Team Blue hasn’t been able to show it in this generation.

That being said, the Core Ultra does bring quite a few feature improvements that will be more beneficial as a whole – things like Thunderbolt 4 support (which hopefully trickles down to mainstream platforms instead of being a high-end exclusive), and the inclusion of NPU for the first time in a desktop processor brings some lightweight AI features seen on laptops, such as webcam effects.

On the memory side of things, CUDIMM support is important – provided you can get one of these modules, they should be able to extract even more performance out of the chip. (We will be doing a comparison test soon using regular UDIMM vs CUDIMM, so stay tuned on that.) However, overall latency is worse compared to the predecessor (see above), so any latency-sensitive workloads will most likely take a performance hit.

Intel will be selling the new Core Ultra 9 285K with the usual price of $589 at launch, although I have to say whether this will be a good deal or not can depend on what your needs are. If you’re looking for a big performance upgrade, best to stick with what you have for now; but if you’re looking for efficiency and features, this might be one worth consideration.