Intel Core Ultra 9 285K review: impressive, not necessarily good

I’ve ne'er seen a processor arsenic radically different arsenic nan Core Ultra 9 285K. It’s a complete departure for Intel, from creation to features, each focused connected a caller imagination of highly businesslike desktop CPUs. And it really delivers connected that vision. Even compared to nan best processors, nan Core Ultra 9 285K pulls disconnected things that look for illustration magic compared to nan CPUs we’ve seen for nan past decade aliases more.

Calling nan Core Ultra 9 285K thing but awesome is earnestly trading it short. Intel has improved efficiency, it’s delivered capacity improvements, and it seems to person gotten its instability struggles nether control.

But you’ve publication nan headline; you’ve seen nan score. As awesome arsenic nan Core Ultra 9 285K is, it ends up being a reliable CPU to really urge you spell retired and buy.

Intel Core Ultra 200S astatine a glance

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

At first glance, nan lineup of Core Ultra 200S processors — formerly known arsenic Arrow Lake — doesn’t look overmuch different than 12th-, 13th-, aliases 14th-gen CPUs. Core counts are nan same, pinch nan aforesaid divided betwixt capacity (P) and businesslike (E) cores, and nan processors person nan aforesaid rated powerfulness draw. Clock speeds person shifted somewhat down, but not by much. The specs really waste nan communicative short here, however.

The Core Ultra 9 285K, and nan full scope of chips, is simply a extremist departure. First and foremost, Intel killed Hyper-Threading here. One halfway now equals conscionable 1 thread, putting to remainder a believe of placing 2 threads connected each halfway that Intel (and AMD) has maintained for decades. That instantly puts nan Core Ultra 9 285K astatine a thread disadvantage compared to nan Ryzen 9 9950X, meaning it needs much powerful individual cores to dress up nan thread disparity successful heavy threaded workloads.

And indeed, these individual cores are much powerful. The Core Ultra 9 285K still has P-cores and E-cores, but dissimilar nan Core i9-12900K, which debuted Intel’s hybrid architecture, nan P-cores aren’t nan main drivers of capacity — nan E-cores are. That’s a unusual shift. The E-cores thrust nan bedrock performance, while nan P-cores measurement successful for aggravated workloads that request a batch of velocity on, say, 1 aliases 2 threads. This architectural alteration brings a batch of improvements to efficiency, arsenic I’ll excavation into pinch my benchmarks below.

The setup present is really identical to Intel’s mobile Lunar Lake CPUs, conscionable juiced up pinch much cores, higher timepiece speeds, much cache, and higher powerfulness limits. The E-cores usage nan Skymont design, which Intel says comes pinch a 2% betterment successful IPC (instructions per clock) complete nan Raptor Cove P-core creation featured successful 13th-gen and 14th-gen chips. The P-cores usage nan Lion Cove design. Based connected nan crossover, you tin deliberation of Arrow Lake arsenic utilizing P-cores and P+-cores, aliases thing on those lines. Skymont is nan main capacity driver, alternatively than immoderate weaker further cores that tin measurement successful for heavy threaded workloads.

Another large departure comes successful nan manufacturing process. This is nan first desktop CPU that Intel didn’t manufacture itself. The Core Ultra 9 285K is built connected TSMC’s N3B node, arsenic Intel ditched its plans to build connected nan 20A node it announced years ago.

Finally, nan Core Ultra 200S scope comes pinch an on-board 13 TOPS NPU, though I fishy it won’t beryllium ace applicable successful a desktop for astatine slightest a fewer years, peculiarly if you already person a discrete GPU.

Test configurations and a statement connected compatibility

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

As pinch each of my CPU reviews, I stuck pinch almost identical trial benches crossed Arrow Lake, Zen 5 and Zen 4, and Intel’s previous-gen Raptor Lake processors, only swapping retired nan CPU and motherboard betwixt nan various platforms. I’m utilizing an RTX 4080 and a kit of DDR5-6000 representation to isolate nan capacity of nan processor arsenic overmuch arsenic possible. However, Arrow Lake chips support overmuch higher DDR5 speeds than Raptor Lake processors, which are now imaginable acknowledgment to CUDIMMs. I’ve included a fewer tests beneath pinch faster representation to show nan differences.

For nan Arrow Lake bench, I utilized nan high-end Asus ROG Maximus Z890 Hero motherboard, which is perfectly packed to nan brim pinch features. I really tested 2 different motherboards — nan aforementioned Asus committee and nan MSI MEG Z890 Unify-X. I ran into respective issues pinch getting nan level to footwear decently crossed some motherboards, but nan Asus committee is what yet sewage nan trial chair stable. I don’t fishy astir group will person these problems, arsenic it was immoderate operation of a dying SSD and pre-release BIOS versions, but it’s important to statement nonetheless.

Regardless, nan Core Ultra 9 285K introduces nan caller LGA 1851 socket. Physically, it’s nan aforesaid size arsenic nan LGA 1700 socket that Intel utilized connected 12th- to 14th-gen CPUs, but nan Core Ultra 200S scope isn’t backwards compatible. Thankfully, existing LGA 1700 coolers will fresh connected nan caller LGA 1851 socket without issue. The MSI MAG CoreLiquid i360 cooler I utilized came pinch an offset bracket specifically for LGA 1851.

As previously reported on, nan hotspot location connected Arrow Lake chips is higher up connected nan processor, truthful an offset cooler for illustration nan 1 I utilized targets nan hottest area much directly. Any LGA 1700 cooler will work, but you’ll want to cheque pinch nan marque of your cooler to spot if an offset bracket is disposable to get nan champion performance.

Productivity performance

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

I said up apical that nan Core Ultra 9 285K was impressive, and I guidelines by that. Look nary further than Cinebench R24 for proof. This is nan gut cheque of CPU reviews — nan first trial you tally to make judge everything is operating nan measurement it should — and Intel wasn’t messing around. Arrow Lake is fast. 

In fact, it’s 15% faster than nan Ryzen 9 9950X and 20% faster than nan Core i9-14900K successful multi-core performance. And remember, nan Core Ultra 9 285K has entree to 24 threads, not nan 32 disposable to nan different 2 chips.

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Intel specifically said that nan Core Ultra 9 285K shows large gains successful a ray-traced renderer for illustration Cinebench, and judge enough, Geekbench 6 flattens nan differences betwixt nan CPUs a bit. Here, we’re really seeing a flimsy simplification successful single-core velocity compared to nan Ryzen 9 9950X and Core i9-14900K, but it’s not huge. And moreover pinch little awesome results overall, nan Core Ultra 9 285K still lands astatine nan apical of multi-core capacity — and moreover much truthful if you person a speedy kit of representation to brace nan CPU with.

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Cinebench and Geekbench nutrient nan astir awesome results for nan Core Ultra 9 285K, but arsenic you commencement digging into different benchmarks, nan capacity ranges from competitory to downright disappointing.

At nan competitory end, we person transcoding successful Handbrake, wherever nan Core Ultra 9 285K was conscionable a touch slower than nan Ryzen 9 9950X successful an x265 video transcode. It’s technically a loss, but I’m consenting to telephone this identical capacity considering nan generational betterment connected display.

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

The Ryzen 9 9950X is really nan toughest title for nan Core Ultra 9 285K, too. As you tin spot successful Blender, nan generational improvements successful rendering applications are surely coming — there’s a immense uplift complete nan Core i9-14900K. However, AMD’s caller Ryzen 9 9950X still comes retired connected top, and successful immoderate of nan rendering tests, by rather a important margin.

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Another constituent against nan Core Ultra 9 285K is nan deficiency of AVX-512 support. This isn’t applicable to nan immense mostly of users, but if you person an exertion that tin leverage AVX-512 instructions, nan capacity uplift pinch autochthonal support connected AMD’s latest Zen 5 CPUs is rather dramatic. Y-Cruncher is simply a awesome illustration of that. Once again, Intel is showing a monolithic generational improvement, but it’s really nary title erstwhile you bring nan 512-bit information way disposable to Zen 5 CPUs into nan fold.

Short of nan constricted applications of AVX-512, this is really awesome performance. So, why is nan processor truthful slow successful Adobe Premiere Pro and Photoshop? Premiere Pro is bad enough, pinch nan Core Ultra 9 285K falling short of each CPU I tested short of nan 12-core Ryzen 9 9900X. Photoshop is someway moreover worse, pinch nan Core Ultra 9 285K showing nan lowest consequence retired of nan trial suite. It’s not bully erstwhile nan Core i9-13900K and Ryzen 9 7950X — 2 older components — are offering intelligibly amended performance.

I perceive you — Jake, thing must beryllium incorrect pinch your testing. I assumed nan aforesaid thing. I tried 2 different motherboards, different representation kits, overclocked and banal settings, and nary powerfulness limits. I moreover tested two different Core Ultra 9 285K models, and I shared this information straight pinch Intel. This is each caller data, excessively — each of nan results you spot successful this reappraisal were collected wrong days of each other. And yet, trial aft test, adaptable alteration aft adaptable change, nan aforesaid results showed up clip and again.

You would presume that nan capacity advantages crossed each of my different tests would construe into apps for illustration Premiere Pro and Photoshop, but they conscionable don’t. And that’s mostly been my acquisition pinch nan Core Ultra 9 285K. There are a batch of awesome things Intel is doing here, immoderate of which has large capacity implications. But erstwhile nan rubber meets nan road, nan Core Ultra 9 285K isn’t strictly faster than its last-gen counterparts. There’s nary spot that’s much clear than gaming.

Gaming performance

I didn’t person precocious expectations for gaming capacity connected nan Core Ultra 9 285K. Intel’s stated goal pinch nan processor was to simply support gaming performance, not amended it. Based connected 10 games I tested, nan Core Ultra 9 285K is on-par to somewhat slower than nan last-gen Core i9-14900K, and it gets perfectly crushed by AMD’s Ryzen 7 7800X3D.

Let’s get immoderate easy games retired of nan measurement first. Most games are constricted by your graphics card, moreover astatine 1080p, and that limiting facet only becomes much pronounced arsenic you climb to higher resolutions and graphics settings. At 1080p High settings, location is very small activity successful Returnal, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and Black Myth: Wukong. There are differences, pinch nan Core i9-14900K beating nan Core Ultra 9 285K in Mirage and Black Myth, but we’re talking astir a fewer frames astatine most. This is identical performance, astatine slightest for nan gen-on-gen comparison.

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Black Myth: Wukong centers successful connected nan inclination passim my gaming tests, though — it’s really futile to comparison gaming capacity pinch nan Ryzen 7 7800X3D around. It’s conscionable nan fastest gaming CPU you tin buy, and successful astir games, it’s not moreover close. Look at Red Dead Redemption 2 as an example. This is simply a crippled I would usually flip into nan graphically-intensive bucket, and you tin spot a reasonably level statement successful capacity crossed nan CPUs I tested — isolated from for nan Ryzen 7 7800X3D.

Nevermind nan truth that nan Core Ultra 9 285K is beaten by its last-gen counter-part and nan Ryzen 9 9950X. If you want bully gaming performance, nary of these CPUs really make sense.

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Things are a small much absorbing elsewhere. The Ryzen 7 7800X3D still leads nan pack, unsurprisingly, but nan Core Ultra 9 285K showed immoderate overseas performance. In F1 2022, the processor was slower than some nan Core i9-13900K and Core i9-14900K. However, erstwhile paired pinch accelerated DDR5 memory, it really showed a flimsy lead.

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Similarly, in Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail, the Core Ultra 9 285K jumped from a flimsy nonaccomplishment to nan Core i9-14900K to a flimsy lead pinch accelerated memory. In both F1 2022 and Final Fantasy XIV, AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X is faster, and nan Ryzen 7 7800X3D tops nan charts, truthful though it’s an absorbing workout to look astatine representation scalability connected nan Core Ultra 9 285K, it doesn’t make overmuch of a quality erstwhile it comes to making a buying decision.

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

The only crippled wherever nan Core Ultra 9 285K topped nan charts was Hitman 3, though you could telephone it a triumph by technicality considering really adjacent nan apical 3 chips are — and nan truth that nan Core Ultra 9 285K needed overmuch faster representation to moreover hit its last-gen counterpart.

There are immoderate gen-on-gen improvements, which you tin spot in Ashes of nan Singularity and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. The AMD title is really nan problem here; by simply maintaining gaming performance, Intel has fundamentally conceded gaming capacity wholesale to AMD this generation.

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

To show each of my work, you tin spot results for Cyberpunk 2077 above. The inclination is beautiful clear present regardless, but it’s worthy showing each of nan games I tested — it took maine a agelong time, you know?

Temperatures and power

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Intel whitethorn not person improved gaming capacity connected nan Core Ultra 9 285K, but its extremity was to amended efficiency. And existent to its word, location are immoderate large improvements successful somesthesia and powerfulness draw. The floor plan supra really tells nan full communicative here. While delivering akin performance, nan Core Ultra 9 285K is often drafting 50% little power, and sometimes it’s moreover much efficient. I saw nan numbers alert by connected surface during benchmarking, but I’m still taken backmost seeing them put up adjacent to each different connected a graph.

But that pesky Ryzen 7 7800X3D. Impressive arsenic Intel’s improvements successful ratio are here, nan Ryzen 7 7800X3D is delivering overmuch higher capacity astatine an moreover little powerfulness draw. It’s different illustration of nan disconnect pinch nan Core Ultra 9 285K. You tin spot that Intel pulled disconnected a batch of awesome things, but it seldom shifts nan buying decision.

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Although nan Core Ultra 9 285K consumed much power, it ran cooler overall. It doesn’t look for illustration overmuch here, but it’s important to retrieve that I was benchmarking pinch a 360mm all-in-one liquid cooler that’s much than tin of keeping these CPUs cool. Scale down to a mini shape facet PC, and nan somesthesia advantages of nan Core Ultra 9 285K could make a large difference.

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Gaming is really wherever nan large ratio improvements are. As you tin spot from nan floor plan above, nan Core Ultra 9 285K is much businesslike successful dense workloads for illustration Cinebench and Handbrake, though it’s still wholly comfortable going supra 200 watts erstwhile it needs to. What’s awesome present is that nan Core Ultra 9 285K is providing a clear capacity betterment while drafting little powerfulness — dissimilar gaming, you’re not trading capacity for amended efficiency.

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

The translator into temperatures isn’t arsenic stark successful productivity applications, but erstwhile again, those differences would go much pronounced nan much thermally constrained nan situation is.

What astir instability?

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

It’s intolerable to talk astir nan Core Ultra 9 285K extracurricular of nan discourse of Intel’s caller desktop struggles. The Core i9-14900K and Core i9-13900K faced dire instability problems, which Intel has only precocious solved. Will we spot nan aforesaid issues pinch nan Core Ultra 9 285K? Intel says no, but I don’t person a crystal ball.

Here’s what I tin show you — Intel is intelligibly connected apical of immoderate instability concerns pinch nan Core Ultra 9 285K. One glimpse successful nan BIOS of a Z890 motherboard, and it becomes abundantly clear that Intel doesn’t want to repetition past mistakes. Both motherboards I looked astatine were moving pinch default powerfulness settings, and they were some intelligibly branded to show that they were Intel’s default settings.

In addition, nan institution fto maine cognize that it’s opened immoderate much strict lines of connection pinch its motherboard partners moving forward. That should mean much consistency crossed different motherboard models, and it should mean that instability problems, if they do show up, won’t beryllium a wide aliases long-lasting. But frankly, I opportunity “should” because I don’t know. Intel has each of nan pieces successful place, and my conjecture is that nan Core Ultra 9 285K won’t person instability problems. That’s thing that’s intolerable to trial for a day-one review, though. Only clip will tell.

Should you bargain nan Core Ultra 9 285K?

Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Part of maine is enamored pinch nan Core Ultra 9 285K. I spot nan immense ratio improvements; I spot nan voodoo that Intel has pulled disconnected pinch 24 threads. More than anything, I spot a institution that’s consenting to portion each of its halfway tenets, from in-house manufacturing to Hyper-Threading, to present a radically different CPU that’s not conscionable much of nan same. Say what you want astir nan Core Ultra 9 285K — there’s nary denying that it’s impressive.

But awesome doesn’t ever mean good. I dream Intel tin proceed building from nan Core Ultra 9 285K to present highly businesslike components, and based connected my testing, it seems for illustration moreover 1 procreation down nan roadworthy we’ll spot an offering from Intel that’s earnestly special. From wherever I’m opinionated today, however, I can’t urge nan Core Ultra 9 285K outright.

First, for gamers, there’s really not overmuch for you here. Yes, nan Core Ultra 9 285K is measurement much businesslike than nan Core i9-14900K, but it’s not immoderate faster. More importantly, nan Ryzen 7 7800X3D exists, and nan Ryzen 7 9800X3D is connected nan way. Intel really gave up connected nan gaming conflict earlier nan Core Ultra 9 285K ever released, and if your attraction is gaming, AMD’s 3D V-Cache CPUs are still nan measurement to go.

On nan productivity end, nan Core Ultra 9 285K and Ryzen 9 9950X waste and acquisition blows. However, I saw overmuch much accordant capacity retired of nan AMD chip. It’s imaginable Intel still has package improvements it tin present down nan roadworthy to summation nan precocious hand, and I’d emotion to spot them. That could gain this spot nan Recommended badge it conscionable hardly missed. But for now, nan Ryzen 9 9950X makes much consciousness than nan Core Ultra 9 285K.

I don’t want to discount nan Core Ultra 9 285K completely. There’s surely a usage lawsuit present if you person a mini shape facet PC, for example, and want a equilibrium of bully productivity and gaming performance. The Core Ultra 9 285K slots into that strategy perfectly. But for everyone else, location are amended options.