Intel’s Core Ultra 9 285K CPU is one step forward, one step back for PC gaming

There’s 1 connection to picture some Intel’s and AMD’s latest CPUs: disappointing. AMD’s Zen 5 desktop CPUs arrived successful August and failed to impressment successful some productivity and gaming workloads. The Ryzen 9 9950X was expected to be a “monster,” but successful reality, it was precise underwhelming for PC gaming. Now, it’s Intel’s crook to disappoint.

I’ve been investigating Intel’s $589 next-generation flagship Core Ultra 9 285K processor implicit the past week. It runs cooler and a small faster than Intel’s Core i9-14900K successful non-gaming tasks, but it falls level successful PC gaming: in galore titles, it provides worse show than the 14th Gen chips it was designed to replace.

Intel’s Core Ultra 9 285K is the archetypal enthusiast desktop CPU with a built-in NPU, oregon a neural processing unit, for accelerating AI tasks. It’s besides the archetypal CPU that’s built for Intel’s caller LGA 1851 socket, meaning you’ll request a caller motherboard to beryllium capable to usage it. Intel is utilizing its latest 3D packaging exertion and Arrow Lake architecture to summation the powerfulness efficiency of the Ultra 9 285K, a large departure from the blistery and power-hungry 13th and 14th Gen desktop CPUs.

I’ve been impressed by the powerfulness gully improvements, peculiarly during gaming with the Ultra 9 285K. During a Cinebench 2024 benchmark, the Ultra 9 285K drew 254 watts of CPU bundle power, portion Intel’s Core i9-14900K drew 267 watts for the aforesaid task. That’s a tiny difference, but the Ultra 9 285K managed to supply 15 percent amended show successful the multithreaded trial and astir 7 percent amended show successful the single-thread test.

It’s the aforesaid communicative for Geekbench 6, wherever the Ultra 9 285K delivers 8 percent amended show implicit the 14900K successful the multithreaded trial and 2 percent much for the single-thread trial portion drafting little power. Both the PugetBench tests for Adobe Premiere Pro and Photoshop are wrong margins of error, truthful show seems to beryllium akin for some of those workloads betwixt the Ultra 9 285K and 14900K.

The gaming broadside mostly went successful the other absorption during 1080p investigating coupled with an RTX 4090. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, an older crippled that ever scales good with CPU generations, I saw the Ultra 9 285K present framework rates that were 8 percent little than the 14900K. In Cyberpunk 2077, the Ultra 9 285K fell astir 9 percent down the 14900K, and successful 2023’s Forza Motorsport, it was astir 20 percent behind. These are the types of figures I’d expect to spot arsenic gains implicit previous-generation CPUs, not regressions.

To its credit, the Ultra 9 285K puts retired a batch little vigor than the 14900K, which is ne'er a atrocious happening successful a gaming rig. Even during CPU benchmarks, the CPU bundle ne'er exceeded 85 degrees Celsius, portion the 14900K reached 99C during the aforesaid tests. I besides noticed that idle powerfulness gully is lower, powerfulness usage during astir games is lower, and adjacent the coolant somesthesia connected the all-in-one cooler I was utilizing was a fewer degrees little connected the Ultra 9 285K than the 14900K. But astir high-end rigs person high-end coolers, and show astir ever trumps all.

I asked Intel wherefore its gaming show was each implicit the place, and the institution fundamentally admitted its absorption for these chips has been connected show per watt and that it has been upfront astir what to expect for gaming.

“The quality of the process exertion and the plan of the SoC made it truthful that our absorption for this procreation was to drawback up and get into a enactment presumption successful show per watt,” says Intel spokesperson Mark Anthony Ramirez. “While the quality successful gaming show compared to the erstwhile 2 generations depends connected the game, show uplifts compared to 12th Gen and older platforms are significant.”

Intel did amusement benchmarks for Cyberpunk 2077 and Far Cry 6, both underperforming the 7950X3D by large margins during its Core Ultra 200S-series announcement earlier this month. The spot shaper besides admitted that it would beryllium astir 5 percent down AMD’s $449 7800X3D gaming CPU. I conscionable wasn’t expecting it to beryllium rather truthful acold down its 14th Gen chips, too.

I fishy immoderate of the show issues connected the gaming broadside travel down to Windows 11’s virtualization-based information (VBS) features. These are enabled by default successful a caller instal of Windows 11, truthful I’ve been investigating with them enabled connected the Ultra 9 285K and 14900K. If I disable the Memory Integrity diagnostic connected some the Ultra 9 285K and 14900K, the show gaps shrink importantly successful Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Cyberpunk 2077, to the constituent wherever Cyberpunk 2077 adjacent runs 2 percent amended connected the Ultra 9 285K. Metro Exodus besides runs astir 4 percent amended compared to conscionable a azygous percent with Memory Integrity enabled.

The show gaps of virtualization-based information are mostly the aforesaid for originative and productivity tasks, and Intel says that erstwhile tested crossed capable workloads, VBS should person a little show interaction connected Core Ultra 200S bid than erstwhile generations.

With a caller CPU procreation comes a caller motherboard chipset, and this time, there’s besides a caller socket. The caller Z890 boards are built connected Intel’s 800-series chipset, which supports up to 24 PCIe 4.0 lanes, up to 8x SATA 3.0, and up to 32 USB 3.2 ports. Most existing coolers that enactment Intel’s LGA 1700 socket volition enactment the caller LGA 1851 socket, truthful portion you’ll request a caller motherboard, astatine slightest determination are plentifulness of coolers to take from.

With the motherboard and CPU combined, determination are a full of 48 PCIe lanes, with up to 20 of those being Gen 5 from the CPU. There’s besides integrated Wi-Fi 6E and 1GbE ethernet, Bluetooth 5.3, and 2x Thunderbolt 4 connected the CPU, with motherboard makers capable to adhd discrete options for Wi-Fi 7, up to 4 much Thunderbolt 5 ports, 2.5GbE, and Bluetooth 5.4.

While I utilized DDR5-6600 representation for the Ultra 9 285K and 14900K benchmarking, Intel says DDR5-8000 is the saccharine spot for the Z890 motherboards. And with announcements of DDR5-9600 and beyond, we could spot a batch much show squeezed retired of the Ultra 9 285K successful the future.

With rumors of an Arrow Lake S refresh being canceled successful favour of a leap to Nova Lake, it’s imaginable the LGA 1851 socket won’t beryllium astir for long, though. That means that if you upgrade to the Ultra 9 285K close now, you mightiness person to swap retired your motherboard again if you privation to upgrade your CPU. Intel refuses to perpetrate to LGA 1851 aboriginal support, and its caller way grounds isn’t reassuring: it launched its LGA 1200 socket successful 2020 and past replaced it with LGA 1700 a twelvemonth later.

AMD’s 7800X3D CPU comfortably beats the Ultra 9 285K successful gaming, and the institution volition motorboat its highly anticipated 9000-series X3D desktop CPUs connected November 7th. If you’re reasoning astir gathering a gaming PC close now, the evident prime is AMD, peculiarly due to the fact that the spot shaper has committed to supporting its AM5 level and motherboards until 2027 oregon beyond.

While it’s a measurement successful the close absorption for Intel’s latest CPUs to beryllium much efficient, enthusiasts are much acrophobic astir getting the champion show nary substance the vigor costs. Intel has done good to marque its Ultra 9 285K tally a batch cooler, but with a measurement backmost successful gaming performance, I’m inactive near wondering precisely who this spot is for.