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

Conclusion - Efficiency Matters Less Without Gaming Gains

Intel's latest generation of Desktop CPUs has finally arrived and they have some big expectations to fulfill. First of all, the blue team has run in the same cycle that showed a glimpse of improvement in the 12th Gen Alder Lake lineup but the follow-up Raptor Lake CPUs ended up with higher power, & thermal figures. We also saw instability issues arise with current-generation chips and while Intel has worked to resolve those, a lot is riding on the Arrow Lake CPUs. So with that said, let's see if the Core Ultra 200S was worth the wait.

Arrow Lake Brings A Decent Application Performance Uplift

Looking at the performance, you'd notice that in core CPU benchmarks and applications, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and Core Ultra 5 245K chips fare well. They offer a good uplift over the respective predecessors which are the 14900K/13900K and the 14600K/13600K. These range from single-digit and up to 15-20%, depending on the application. We noticed a further 5-8% boost when the CPUs were tuned to their "Extreme" profiles. It's not a big jump but given that these chips are packing way fewer threads than the current generation and the competition and offering uplifts, it should be a plus.

Gaming Performance Less Than Desirable

In gaming benchmarks, the Intel Core Ultra 200S is a bit lackluster. The Core Ultra 9 285K only manages to match the 14900K (Baseline) but mostly tends to be closer to the Core i9-13900K at similar Baseline profiles. Pushing things to the "Extreme" profiles does net better performance but you aren't getting anywhere close to AMD's X3D 3D V-Cache CPUs which are still topping the charts along with the 14900KS which is a super hot and super power-hungry chip but it's still Intel's fastest chip at gaming.

The Intel Core Ultra 5 245K also offers performance similar to the Ryzen 7 9700X or the Core i5-14600K and sometimes manages to come close to the Core i7-14700K. Faster memory such as DDR5 CUDIMMs can boost the performance by a good margin but if you're using a DDR5-8000 kit, then don't expect performance to be miles ahead of Raptor Lake. We even saw regression in the 0.1 and 1% low FPS. This reeks of something wonky going on with the existing microcode and is reminiscent of AMD's Ryzen 9000 "Zen 5" launch which also saw various updates to improve game performance. Our current test bench includes the new figures carried out on Windows 11 24H2 with proper updates so yeah, it's a new waiting game with Arrow Lake to see how Intel fine-tunes its latest chips in the coming weeks.

Multiple motherboard vendors have also informed us that Intel is already preparing a microcode patch which is expected to go live soon so we reviewers will need to take a 2nd go at Core Ultra 200S when that hits shelves.

Power & Thermals Are Down Big Time

One big improvement or the only improvement that is noticeable across the board with Arrow Lake CPUs is the power consumption and the thermal figures. We are seeing some massive drops in overall power consumption, both in applications and gaming scenarios. That's great for users who are fed up with thermal budgets on CPUs going bonkers. The lower power also leads to better CPU thermals and we are seeing average temperatures of mid-70s for the Ultra 9 285K and high 50s for the Ultra 5 245K. Existing Core i9-13900K and 14900K CPUs consume way higher power and run at over 90C almost all the time.

Most of this improvement is thanks to TSMC's N3B process node which has led to significant power and thermal improvements. The Arrow Lake CPUs were originally meant to launch on an Intel 20A process node but those plans have been scrapped so we will never know the thermal or power characteristics of an Arrow Lake chip based on that node for Desktop PCs.

Price Cuts vs MSRP

Pricing plays a crucial role in today's launch. The Core Ultra 9 285K starts at $589 while the Core Ultra 5 245K starts at $309. Intel's 13th & 14th Gen CPUs are already available at discounted prices while AMD also slashed its Ryzen 9000 MSRP by a good $50-$30 US two days ago. Currently, the Ryzen 9 9950X is about the same price as the Core Ultra 9 285K while the Ryzen 7 9700X costs a bit more than the Core Ultra 5 245K but not by a lot. The Core i9-14900K also retails at a much lower price of $468 US while the Core i5-14600K retails for around $250 US.

Compared to the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X, the Core Ultra 9 285K should offer performance on par when looking at various application benchmarks but the 9950X should lead by a good margin in terms of gaming performance. The 285K also offers lower temperatures but power figures are around the same ballpark. For the 245K, it beats the Ryzen 7 9700X in multi-thread performance with similar gaming potential and it runs cool and consumes way lower power.

So Should I Buy Arrow Lake?

Arrow Lake has both good and bad things. Performance is definitely the worst part as we are only seeing marginal gains and we might have to wait for future microcodes, patches, and optimizations to address these shortcomings. In that regard, it's better to stick with Ryzen 7000/9000 or Intel 12 and 13th Gen CPUs.

But if you are tired of the higher power consumption and thermal issues affecting your chips or worry about potential degradation, then Arrow Lake is a good platform. Surely you will miss out on the performance aspects and the upcoming Ryzen 9000X3D CPUs do look far more exciting of a launch for gamers and enthusiasts but the platform as a whole has a lot to offer, especially if you aim to knock your pants off with some extreme memory overclocking. I would advise waiting for the Ryzen 9000X3D to make an informed and intelligent decision.

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