Intel Core Ultra 200S processor series: Everything you need to know

Intel's new Core Ultra 200S series is shaping up to be the company's next big bet in its perennial battle with AMD in the desktop processor market. With the official debut slated for 24 October, (and our own performance review going live after the embargo is lifted), the Core Ultra branding is ready to replace Intel's previous nomenclature, adding a fresh face to its desktop CPU lineup. Yet, while "fresh" might be the idea here, it's worth asking: just how much of a leap forward are these chips likely to be?

Following the lukewarm – and later disastrous – response to Intel's 14th Gen Raptor Lake refresh (read our review here), the Core Ultra 200S series is being watched closely by literally everyone in this space. Intel has had a rough few years, facing increased competition from both AMD and emerging threats like ARM-based architectures from companies like Qualcomm. And this time around, we find Intel making some interesting changes in how it designs its processors.

The new Arrow Lake CPUs, as they're codenamed, represents a notable shift since it leverages the same architecture as its newest Lunar Lake notebook processors – the use of a tile-based design instead of the monolithic approach seen with Raptor Lake. The performance cores (P-core) are now based on a new architecture named Lion Cove, and the efficiency cores (E-core) adopt the Skymont design. This means that for the first time in years, Intel’s latest desktop and notebook processors are more similar than they are different.

Arrow Lake also marks a significant change in Intel's manufacturing strategy, as it is the first Intel desktop processor to be primarily built by TSMC. While Intel has relied on TSMC for some of its recent mobile tiles, Arrow Lake takes it further, with all four main tiles being manufactured externally. The compute tile is fabricated on TSMC's N3B process, the GPU tile on N5P, and the SOC and I/O tiles on N6. It shows Intel's increasing dependence on external fabrication to stay competitive here, with its struggles with its own manufacturing long known.

The company also juiced up the onboard graphics, with an upgraded Xe integrated GPU that Intel claims can offer twice the performance of previous iterations. Alongside that, there's a new Neural Processing Unit (NPU), which is Intel’s take on boosting AI capabilities – realistically though, these might matter more to software developers and those dabbling in AI applications than your average gamer.

Power efficiency is another area where Arrow Lake seeks to make an impression, but there's a bit of a caveat. Intel has made bold claims about significant efficiency gains compared to Raptor Lake, but it’s important to note that these improvements are context-dependent – you won’t be getting peak performance and peak efficiency simultaneously. In terms of power metrics, Core Ultra 200S processors still maintain a 125W base TDP, with peak turbo power reaching up to 250W for the Core Ultra 9 and Ultra 7 models, and 159W for the Ultra 5. Compared to Raptor Lake’s 14900K, this is just a modest 3W reduction in turbo power for Core Ultra 9, but a more substantial 22W reduction for the Core Ultra 5 compared to the 14600K. It’s an incremental step, but one that reflects Intel’s emphasis on pushing efficiency a little further without a radical redesign.

But a key point here – which might feel like a thorn to some – is the removal of hyper-threading. Intel loyalists will probably weep. Hyper-threading has been at the core of Intel's marketing for years, especially for users who want more bang for their buck in multi-threaded workloads. What this effectively means is a lower thread count compared to the 14th Gen and those processors before it. Intel appears to have made a deliberate decision to recover the silicon previously allocated to hyper-threading, including the scheduling and support logic required for SMT (Simultaneous Multi-Threading). By doing so, Intel aims to refocus on pushing the limits of single-threaded performance, prioritising what it sees as a more effective use of resources for the Core Ultra 200S. It's a bold shift that seems to go against some of what made Intel chips a favourite in recent years.

Another aspect that may polarise some is the requirement for a new motherboard. The new LGA 1851 socket, while backward compatible in terms of physical size (meaning your AIO cooler should still work here), will still force users to upgrade from their existing 13th or 14th-gen motherboards. The new 800 series chipsets, with the Z890 leading the pack, bring a boost in connectivity, offering up to 24 additional PCIe 4.0 lanes. This replaces the previous split found in the Z790, which provided 20 PCIe 4.0 and 8 PCIe 3.0 lanes. Support for USB, SATA, and Wi-Fi features remains unchanged. When compared to AMD's AM5 platform on the X870E, Intel's Arrow Lake with the Z890 chipset may have slightly less PCIe capacity coming directly from the CPU, but it compensates with double the amount of PCIe 4.0 connectivity and improved USB support at the chipset level.

On the one hand, it’s refreshing that Intel hasn’t forced a complete cooling overhaul. On the other, an obligatory motherboard swap often means added costs – costs that are becoming harder to justify given the rather incremental gains in performance we’re being shown. If Intel can stick with LGA 1851 for a few generations, it would alleviate some of the upgrade fatigue for users.

With the new Core Ultra 200S series, it’s evident that Intel is pushing Arrow Lake as a more refined and deliberate iteration rather than a radical overhaul that many of us were expecting. The move to TSMC for manufacturing, combined with architectural shifts like the tile-based design, suggests Intel is adapting to meet the demands of a changing market landscape. However, it remains to be seen if these changes are enough to shift the competitive balance, especially with AMD's and ARM-based solutions advancing rapidly.

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