Intel Core Ultra 9 285K 'Arrow Lake' CPU simulated benchmark: won't beat 7800X3D in gaming

Intel has launched its new Core Ultra 200V series "Lunar Lake" CPUs with new laptops powered by Lunar Lake not hitting the market until September 27... and now we've got some simulated benchmark numbers from Intel's next-gen consumer desktop CPU: Arrow Lake.

The new Core Ultra 200 series "Arrow Lake" (the 200 series = desktop, while 200V series = laptop) has been put through a "simulated" benchmark by leaker Moore's Law is Dead. These numbers from the Core Ultra 9 285K are at its best, with the ideal IPC improvement over Raptor Lake, and it beats the Core i9-14900K but loses to the Ryzen 7 7800X3D with the new EXPO update. MLID assumes 5.4GHz for the 9800X3D (assume 2% IPC gain in gaming) while perfect 5.7GHz and "perfect gaming IPC uplift" for the Core Ultra 9 285K chip.

In some simulated benchmarks of the upcoming Intel Core Ultra 9 285K processor against AMD's upcoming Ryzen 7 9800X3D, the new Arrow Lake-S desktop CPU loses to the Zen 4-based Ryzen 7 7800X3D, and loses with an even bigger margin against the Zen 5-based Ryzen 7 9800X3D.

• Read more: Acer's new Predator Orion 7000: the world's first PC with Intel's new Arrow Lake desktop CPU
• Read more: Intel's Arrow Lake Halo CPU rumor: beefed-up Arrow Lake CPU would battle AMD Strix Halo APU
• Read more: Intel's next-gen Arrow Lake CPUs launching alongside new Z890 motherboards on October 17

MLID's source, who is usually negative about Arrow Lake in his talks with Tom, said: "Arrow Lake is turning out a bit better than I expected, but I maintain that it is unlikely to beat the R7 9800X3D in gaming by any notable margin, or really at all. It currently sounds like marketing will claim a 15+ IPC increase, but that isn't expected to perfectly translate into a 15% gaming uplift, and there's a clock speed regression from RPL".

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What to expect from Intel's new Core Ultra 200 series "Arrow Lake" desktop CPUs:

• New LGA 1851 socket, 800-series chipset: Intel will debut its new LGA 1851 socket for Arrow Lake, leaving behind the current LGA 1700 socket. WIth the new socket includes a new chipset, with the 800-series being introduced to support Core Ultra 200 series "Arrow Lake" CPUs, with the flagship Z890 leading the charge.
• New branding to Core Ultra from Core i3, etc: Intel's current fleet of desktop CPUs are still branded as "Core" CPUs like the Core i3, Core i5, etc. Arrow Lake's introduction is seeing Intel change its desktop CPU branding system to align with its mobile offerings, so the new Arrow Lake CPUs fall under the "Core Ultra 200 series" brand. The new flagship CPU is the Core Ultra 9 285K versus the Core i9-14900K now.
• DDR5 memory ONLY with new Arrow Lake CPUs: The last few generations of Intel Core CPUs have supported DDR5, but they've also supported DDR4 memory with different motherboards offering DDR4 memory support. From here on out, Intel is only supporting DDR5 with Arrow Lake, so you'll need a new CPU, new motherboard, and if you don't already have DDR5, you'll need new DDR5 memory.
• New Lion Core P-Cores, Skymont E-Cores: Arrow Lake will use the same upgraded P-Cores and E-Core architectures as Lunar Lake: new Lion Core P-Cores and Skymont E-Cores will deliver IPC improvements to both Performance and Efficiency cores.

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• No Hyper-Threading support: Intel is completely dropping Hyper-Threading from Arrow Lake, shipping with no HT support whatsover. P-Cores, E-Cores, no HT.
• Thunderbolt 5 support: Intel will debut Thunderbolt 5 to the desktop with its new Arrow Lake CPUs, enabling up to 120Gbps of bandwidth, up to 240W charging, support for 540Hz displays, support for 3 x 4K displays all at 144Hz, and so much more.
• Slower boost CPU clocks: Intel pushes 6.2GHz (6200MHz) on its flagship Core i9-14900KS processor, but we'll see IPC improvements from the new Lion Cove P-Cores that will help it deliver high performance, but at slower frequencies of around 5.8GHz (5800MHz).

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Intel Arrow Lake-S desktop CPU features and support:

• LGA 1851 Socket Longevity Planned Uptill 2026
• DDR5 Only Compatibility, No DDR4 Support
• Kicks off With 800-Series Motherboards
• Support For Up To DDR5-6400 Memory (Native JEDEC)
• Increased PCIe Gen 5.0 Lanes Through CPU & PCH
• Arrow Lake-S First Desktop Family Supported (DIY)
• Arrow Lake-S CPUs feature 3 MB L2 Cache Per P-Core
• Arrow Lake-S CPUs feature Alchemist iGPUs
• Arrow Lake-S CPUs feature 8+16, 6+8 CPU SKUs
• Arrow Lake-S 8+16 (24 Cores)
• Arrow Lake-S 6+8 (14 Cores)
• No Hyper-Threading Support
• Launching In 2H 2024