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Intel Core Ultra 9 285K & Core Ultra 5 245K “Arrow Lake” CPUs Review: Prioritizing Efficiency Over Performance

Hassan Mujtaba

Test Setup

For testing, I used the Core Ultra 9 285K & Core Ultra 5 245K CPUs which were sent to us by Intel. The motherboard used includes the Gigabte Z890 AORUS Master which targets the high-end LGA 1851 segment. Both CPUs were tested at default PL1=PL2 250W modes and the use of "Extreme" mode will be listed otherwise.

Related Story Intel Has Reportedly Started Shipping Nova Lake CPUs, Expected To Bring Up To A Massive 2x Multi & 20% Single-Core Performance Gain

Wccftech Test Rig 2026:

ProcessorsIntel Core Ultra 9 285K
Intel Core Ultra 5 245K
Intel Core i9-14900K
Intel Core i7-14700K
Intel Core i5-14600K
Intel Core i9-13900K
Intel Core i7-13700K
Intel Core i5-13600K
Intel Core i9-12900K
Intel Core i7-12700K
Intel Core i5-12600K
AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X
AMD Ryzen 9 9900X
AMD Ryzen 7 9700X
AMD Ryzen 5 9600X
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D
MotherboardGigabyte Z890 AORUS Master (Intel Core Ultra 200S)
Gigabyte Z790 AORUS Master X (Intel 14th Gen)
MSI MAG X670E Tomahawk (Ryzen 7000 X3D)
MSI MEG Z790 ACE (Intel 13th Gen)
ASUS ROG Crosshair X870E HERO (Ryzen 9000 & 7000)
Z690 AORUS Master (Intel 12th Gen)
ASRock X570S PG Riptide (Ryzen 5000 / X3D)
MSI MEG X570S ACE (5600X3D)
Power SupplyMSI MEG Ai1600T PSU
StorageSamsung 9100 Pro 1 TB Gen5 SSD
MemoryG.Skill Trident Z5 NEO 32 GB (2x 16 GB) CL26
G.Skill Trident Z5 48 GB (2x 24 GB) CL40 8000 MT/s (Core Ultra 200S)
G.SKILL Trident Z5 32 GB (2 x 16GB) CL36 7200 MT/s (Intel 12th/13th/14th Gen)
G.SKILL Trident Z5 NEO 32 GB (2 x 16GB) CL36 6400 MT/s (AMD DDR5 Platforms)
G.SKILL Trident Z Royal Series 16 GB (2 x 8GB) CL17 4000 MT/s (DDR4 Platforms)
Video CardsMSI GeForce RTX 4090 SUPRIM X
Cooling SolutionsArctic Liquid Freezer III 420mm AIO
OSWindows 11 64-bit (25H2)

Our test rig includes the Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB SSD and we have recently transferred all of our games to a 4 TB Gen4 SSD from KLEVV (CRAS 930). In addition to these, we are running an MSI GeForce RTX 4090 SUPRIM X graphics card and an ASUS ROG Thor 1200W power supply. For this specific review, we used G.Skill's latest Trident Z5 DDR5-8000 memory kit running at CL40 timings. The test setup also uses the Arctic Liquid Freezer III 420mm cooling solution.

You can find additional information about our hardware review process and ethics policy here.

Hassan Mujtaba Photo

About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.

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