Intel Arrow Lake CPU guide: Everything we know about Core Ultra 200

The Intel Arrow Lake launch is getting ever closer, and we’re hoping to be treated to an almighty showdown between the new chips and AMD’s Zen 5 X3D lineup toward the end of 2024. With Intel’s 14th-gen Raptor Lake CPUs being beset by stability problems that have only recently been fixed, it’s hoped that the new Intel Core Ultra 200 range will get the company back on track.

Details of several new CPUs have leaked out of the rumor mill, with the top-end Core Ultra 9 285K looking like the company’s new best gaming CPU, while the Core 7 Ultra 265K handles the mid-range market, and the Core 5 Ultra 245K provides an affordable option that should still appeal to enthusiasts. Bear in mind that none of the information below has been officially confirmed by Intel, as this all based on leaks and rumors right now.

Intel Core Ultra 9 285K specs estimate

These are the current expected Intel Core Ultra 9 285K specs, according to ongoing leaks and rumors. 

The top-end Arrow Lake CPU is widely rumored to be called the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, and there have been a number of leaks concerning its specs. Rumors about Arrow Lake clock speed put this chip’s P-Core boost clock at 5.7GHz, which is 300MHz slower than Intel’s current flagship, the Core i9 14900K, while the E-Cores look set to top out at 4.7GHz. It’s also rumored that the Arrow Lake cache setup will mean this chip has 36MB of L3 shared cache.

Like all Arrow Lake CPUs, this chip will use the new Intel LGA1851 socket, so it will require a new motherboard based on a new chipset, such as Intel Z890. Meanwhile, it looks as though Intel is planning to keep the core configuration of this top chip in line with its current models, with a total of 24 cores, split across eight P-Cores and 16 E-Cores.

Unlike Intel’s Raptor Lake CPUs, though, it looks as though there’s no  Arrow Lake Hyper-Threading system on the P-Cores, meaning this CPU will handle a maximum of 24 threads if this rumor is true. Unlike Intel’s Raptor Lake lineup, it’s also widely rumored that these new CPUs will only support DDR5 memory, with no compatibility with older DDR4 RAM.

One other significant addition to Arrow Lake is expected to be a more powerful version of the NPU core introduced in Meteor Lake for AI calculations. These are used for localized AI/machine learning tasks such as will be coming to Windows 11 with its AI monitoring and AI Explorer search features.

Intel Core Ultra 7 265K specs estimate

These are the current expected Intel Core Ultra 7 265K specs, according to ongoing leaks and rumors. 

Rumors are thinner for Intel’s mid-range Arrow Lake chip, but a recent Arrow Lake price leak confirmed the name of the Core Ultra 7 265K at two retailers, and also put the total number of cores at 20, with a top boost clock of 5.5GHz.

We’re expecting Intel to follow the same core structure as its existing Core i7 14700K with this 20-core CPU, splitting it across eight P-Cores and 12 E-Cores. Rumors also suggest that the Arrow Lake TDP will be 125W across the K-series CPUs at the base level, dropping to 65W on the non-K chips.

Intel Core Ultra 5 245K specs estimate

These are the current expected Intel Core Ultra 5 245K specs, according to ongoing leaks and rumors. 

Finally, the cheapest K-series Intel chip at launch is expected to be the Core Ultra 5 245K, which again has had its name, core count, and top clock speed seemingly confirmed by retailers LambdaTek in the UK and PC Canada. Like the Core i5 14600K, this CPU looks set to have 14 cores, split across six P-Cores and eight E-Cores, and is likely to be a solid budget gaming option.

This CPU also looks like it’s going to have a slower peak clock speed on its P-Cores than the other two chips, with a top boost clock of 5.2GHz. However, with their smaller number of P-Cores, we’ve found Intel’s Core i5 Raptor Lake and Alder Lake chips to be ripe for overclocking, thanks to their unlocked multiplier, and we hope this will be true for the 245K too. See our guide on how to overclock an Intel Core i5 13600K for more detail.

Intel Arrow Lake price

Thanks to a large leak on two retailers, LambdaTek in the UK and PC Candada in North America, it looks as though we now have a solid indication of pricing in Canada and the UK, and it looks as though these new chips will have very similar prices to the current 14th-gen Raptor Lake lineup.

Of course, dollar pricing is rarely a straight currency conversion, and UK prices include VAT as standard, but we can make a strong educated guess for the US prices of these CPUs based on these leaks.

Core Ultra 9 285K price estimate

Based on the latest leaks from retailers, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K price is $599. That’s based on the £566.20 inc VAT UK price listed on LambdaTek, and the $847.99 CA price on PC-Canada. On both sites, the Core Ultra 9 285K is a bit more expensive than the current Core i9 14900K.

Core Ultra 7 265K price estimate

Thanks to recent leaks from UK and Canadian retailers, we can take an educated estimate that the Core Ultra 7 265K price is $419. On PC-Canada, this chip is listed at $584.99 CA, making it even cheaper than the Core i7 14700K at the same store. Meanwhile, LambdaTek lists the UK price at £392.82 inc VAT.

Core Ultra 5 245K price estimate

Our best estimate for the Core Ultra 5 245K price is $299, putting it in the same price bracket as the existing Core i5 14700K. UK retailer LambdaTek lists this CPU at £285.73 inc VAT, which is even cheaper than that store’s price for the 14600K. Meanwhile, PC-Canada lists the Core Ultra 5 245K price as $447.99 CA.

Will I need a new motherboard for Intel Arrow Lake?

You will need to buy a new motherboard if you buy an Intel Arrow Lake CPU, as they will use the LGA1851 socket, rather than the LGA1700 socket used for Intel’s current 14th-gen CPUs, as well as its 13th-gen and 12th-gen lineups.

The new motherboards are expected to launch on the same day as the new CPUs, and a number of model names and Z890 motherboard prices have already leaked. In particular, the Asus ROG Maximus Z890 Extreme price is a massive $1,112, according to one pricing leak, but this is a very high-end board. There will be cheaper boards available, though, with the Asus Prime Z890M-Plus WiFi having a leaked price of $256.50, for example.

Unlike Intel’s LGA1700 boards, none of the new LGA1851 motherboards are likely to support DDR4 memory, so you’ll need to check our guide to the best gaming RAM to find a DDR5 kit to suit your new system.

Intel Arrow Lake performance

It’s too early to truly tell how Intel Arrow Lake performance will compare to Intel’s existing CPUs or rival CPUs from AMD. However, one of the earliest Intel Arrow Lake performance leaks suggested the flagship CPU – expected to be called the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K would be faster than the Core i9 13900K and 14900K.

The charts shown in this leak supposedly come direct from internal Intel testing and show that the new Arrow Lake S chip would be up to 21% faster than the 13900K and 14% faster on average. Those would be some significant gains that could easily see Intel’s latest compete well with the AMD Zen 5 series.

Another recent Intel Arrow Lake benchmark leak revealed apparent performance results for a Qualification Sample (QS) chip in a number of benchmarks, including Cinebench and Geekbench. We’ve listed these leaked results below.

As a point of comparison, the Cinebench R23 multi-threaded result is significantly quicker than the 38,422 we got from the Ryzen 9 7950X, and the 39,328 result we got from the Core i9 14900K, showing that there’s potentially a lot of multi-threaded power in Intel’s top-end Arrow Lake chips with lots of cores.

Intel Arrow Lake release date estimate

Our best estimate for the Intel Arrow Lake release date is Thursday, October 24, 2024, based on rumor and speculation, as no official date has been announced by Intel.

Intel hasn’t confirmed the release date for its Arrow Lake CPUs yet, but a number of leaks have pointed to the launch coming in October 2024. Previous rumors pointed to the CPUs possibly coming out on October 10, but a later Arrow Lake launch rumor claimed the date has is now October 24.

Recently, more Arrow Lake release date leaks have pointed to the media being briefed on October 7, with a public announcement following later on October 10. The new CPUs are then expected to finally go on sale on October 24.

We’re hoping the new CPUs will be available in plenty of time for the holiday season, but we’ll have to wait for the official confirmation from Intel before we know for sure.

While you wait for the new chips to arrive, check out our Intel Lunar Lake guide, where we take a look at Intel’s latest low-power chips, which the company claims have the “fastest built-in GPU.” If you’re thinking about putting together a new rig hen these new chips come out, then you can also read our full guide on how to build a gaming PC, where we take you through the whole process from start to finish.