Intel Core Ultra 9 285K “Arrow Lake” Desktop CPU Rumored To Clock Around 5.5 GHz

Intel's Arrow Lake CPUs such as the flagship Core Ultra 9 285K are rumored to feature a clock speed of up to 5.5 GHz, far less than the existing Raptor Lake CPUs which can clock up to 6.20 GHz.

Intel Arrow Lake-S CPUs To Feature A Major Clock Regression Versus Raptor Lake-S CPUs, Flagship Core Ultra 9 285K Rumored To Go Up To 5.5 GHz

In a series of posts made by MebiuW over at Weibo, it looks like desktop users planning to upgrade to Intel's next-gen Arrow Lake-S "Core Ultra 200" CPUs can expect a huge regression in clock speed. Currently, the Intel Core i9-14900KS, which is the Raptor Lake-S flagship desktop chip, can clock up to 6.20 GHz and is by far the fastest-clocked production chip to be released.

The flagship Intel Arrow Lake-S Desktop CPU, the Core Ultra 9 285K, is expected to feature 24 cores and 24 threads of which 8 cores will be based on the Lion Cove P-Core architecture & 16 cores will be based on the Skymont E-Core architecture. This chip will utilize the 8+16 "H0" die configuration & while it is told that the 6+8 die uses the Intel 20A process node, it is unclear if the "Unlocked" K-series chips will also utilize 20A or go with TSMC's 3nm process node.

But regardless of the choice of node, it looks like Intel's Arrow Lake-S "Core Ultra 200" Desktop CPUs will run into a huge clock speed disparity. The maximum clock speed for the flagship is rumored to be around 12% slower than the 14900KS which ends up around 5.5 GHz. That's a -700 MHz difference which is substantial, to say the least. But Intel can boost its per-core performance to such an extent that it negates the clock speed difference however that might also not be the case.

• Core Ultra 9 285K - 5.50 GHz (Max?)
• Core i9-14900KS - 6.20 GHz (Max)
• Core i9-14900K - 6.00 GHz (Max)
• Core i9-13900KS - 6.00 GHz (Max)
• Core i9-13900K - 5.80 GHz (Max)
• Core i9-12900KS - 5.50 GHz (Max)
• Core i9-12900K - 5.20 GHz (Max)

It is further mentioned that the per-core performance uplift for Intel Arrow Lake-S "Core Ultra 200" Desktop CPUs should be less than 12%. Now this means that the first-generation Arrow Lake CPUs will end up faster than the Alder Lake CPUs but the overall generational performance uplift versus the 14th Gen chips might not be that high. Previously leaked "internal" performance projections by Intel (posted by Igor's Lab) showed that the Arrow Lake-S 8+16 CPU should be around 10% faster vs 14th Gen on average at the same power.

The performance was normalized to PL1/PL2 at 253W which is a tad bit higher than Intel's own recommended "Baseline" profile which is a major issue when it comes to stability on current 13th and 14th Gen chips. With these baseline profiles implemented, the performance of 14th & 13th Gen chips can drop quite a bit, giving a better showcase of overall performance for the Arrow Lake-S Desktop CPUs.

Furthermore, it is reported that the MSRPs of the Intel Arrow Lake-S Desktop CPUs may end up a little bit higher than existing CPUs but not by a lot. It could be due to the "Core Ultra" tag as it has been reported that AI PC hardware prices are expected to see up to a 15% bump due to demand. Intel's Arrow Lake-S Desktop CPUs are also expected to feature an NPU on board along with the Xe-LPG "Arc Alchemist" iGPUs.

The CPUs will debut on the LGA 1851-socketed "800-series" platforms with faster memory support of DDR5-6400 (natively). Expect more action at Computex 2024 where we will get our first good look at the desktop family.

Intel Arrow Lake-S Desktop CPU Lineup (Preliminary):