Intel just announced a new overclocking feature called “200S Boost”, which, in its words, is an “overclocking profile designed for unlocked Intel Core Ultra 200S Series processors when paired with compatible Intel Z890 motherboards and appropriate XMP memory modules.”
Intel “200S Boost” Overclock Profile
When we say “overclock” in the context of CPUs, we often refer to the processor’s clock speed. However, Intel’s approach here is quite a bit more than that. In fact, this overclocking profile involves increasing the clock frequency on core fabric, die-to-die, and DDR5 RAM, and it looks like this:
| Overclocked Components | Default | 200S Boost Overclocking Values |
|---|---|---|
| Fabric (aka SoC Tile/NGU) | 2.6 GHz | Up to 3.2 GHz VccSA ≤ 1.20V |
| Die-to-Die | 2.1 GHz | Up to 3.2 GHz VccSA ≤1.20V |
| DDR5 RAM (UDIMM/CUDIMM) | 6400 MT/s | Up to 8000 MT/s VDD2 ≤1.4V / VccSA ≤1.2V Module VDDQ / VDD ≤1.4V |
This overclocking profile is supported on all K-series CPUs under the Core Ultra 200S series (Arrow Lake) lineup, which includes CU9 285K, CU7 265K, CU7 265KF, CU5 245K, and CU5 245KF. These chips must be paired with select Intel Z890-based motherboards with compatible BIOSes, along with newly certified memory kits in 1DPC mode (two sticks of RAM) at speeds up to 8000MT/s. This new certification is not to be confused with the existing QVL lists for XMP compatibility.
While 200S Boost profile may not be guaranteed to work outside of very specific combination of parts, what you get is full warranty coverage if the overclock is activated, assuming you bought the processor in the form of boxed units (pre-built PCs follow warranty policies by its makers). That’s a big assurance from Team Blue given that it has endured through the fiasco that is 13th and 14th Gen Core processors with premature degradation issues.
That being said, stability is not fully guaranteed even if your parts are fully qualified to activate the overclocking profile, so Intel advises users to run through stability tests for sanity checks once profile is applied. Per Tom’s Hardware’s tests, 200S Boost enabled the system to perform 7.5% faster on average compared to stock configurations, although it didn’t change the status quo of AMD dominating in gaming performance, whilst being outperformed by its predecessor in gaming performance on average.
Pokdepinion: A sound idea on paper, but this seem to be pushing the chip very close to its performance limit and still not being able to outperform its predecessor.
