Intel’s upcoming Core Ultra 9 processor is set to become the company’s new top-of-the-range processor for desktops. However, it is not going to beat the previous-generation flagship Core i9-14900K in games, according to alleged Intel slides leaked by wxnod, who tends to have access to this kind of documents ahead of product launches (still keep in mind that we are dealing with a leak). There is a catch, though: the new CPU is significantly more energy efficient than its predecessor.
One of the Intel slides indicates that while the average frames per second (FPS) in a set of games on a Core Ultra 9 285K system is 261 FPS, the average framerate on a Core i9-14900K is 264 FPS, according to one leaked slide. The difference is hardly significant. What is substantial is the difference in power consumption between the previous-generation and next-generation desktop platforms. The Core Ultra 9 285K-based machine consumes around 447W, whereas the Core i9-14900K consumes 80W more: 527W.
A more detailed slide indicates that Core Ultra 9 285K can be up to 13% slower than the Core i9-14900K (in Far Cry 6) or 15% faster than its predecessor (F1 23). In many games, the results of the two systems are similar. Yet, in multiple cases, the new codenamed Arrow Lake processor consumes 34W – 165W less than the previous-generation Raptor Lake Refresh CPU.
It should be noted that the tests were carried out in a 1080p resolution, which, on the one hand, allows for demonstration of the most significant difference between CPUs but, on the other hand, dramatically reduces the practical value of these test results as demanding gamers who buy high-end CPUs, such as the Core i9-14900K, rarely play in such a low resolution.
Compared to AMD’s Ryzen 9 7950X3D, the new Core Ultra 9 285K processor is consistently faster in content creation applications, including PugetBench, Blender, Cinebench 2024, and POV-Ray. As for game benchmarks, the upcoming flagship CPU from Intel can be 21% slower than AMD’s Ryzen 9 7950X3D (Cyberpunk 2077) or 15% faster (Rainbow Six: Siege).
Unfortunately, the leaked slides do not cover the performance difference between Intel’s upcoming Core Ultra 9 285K and its direct rival, AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X, so we do not really know how Intel’s upcoming flagship stacks up against AMD’s range-topping model. The good news is that Intel’s Arrow Lake reviews are coming soon, so it will not take long before we learn everything we need to know about the new CPUs.
