Intel's Core Ultra 200S series processors (aka Arrow Lake) will launch on 24 Oct
The flagship Core Ultra 9 285K costs US$589 while the base model Core 5 245KF goes for US$294.
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Intel has officially announced that its next generation of consumer desktop processors, the Core Ultra 200S series, will hit the market on 24 October. The processors will also be launched alongside a wave of Z890 motherboards from the usual partners like ASUS, MSI and Gigabyte. Codenamed Arrow Lake during development, these new CPUs are Intel's next bid to reclaim user trust and market share after a rocky Raptor Lake era.
Intel's prior misadventures are no secret. The tail end of Raptor Lake's run saw issues pile up (read about it here), causing crashes that spread like wildfire across tech forums earlier this year. Intel, to its credit, at least acknowledged the problem and offered warranty extensions, but the damage was already done. Enter the Core Ultra 200S series, which seems positioned as an earnest attempt to make things right.
IMAGE: INTEL
The top-end US$589 Core Ultra 9 285K packs 24 cores, split between 8 P-Cores and 16 E-Cores, and clocks up to 5.7GHz in turbo mode. This is classic Intel flex: raw core count and clock speed to boast about, but, as usual, the proof is in the pudding or in this case, thermals and efficiency. Intel says they've improved power draw compared to the last-gen Raptor Lake CPUs – an area where they've lagged behind AMD for some time now.
There’s also a clear nod to users wanting flexibility, hence the split between the K and KF variants. The KF models come with no integrated graphics, making them perfect for looking for that extra bit of cost saving. Starting prices reflect this as well, with the base Core Ultra 5 245KF landing at a more affordable US$294, while its integrated sibling – the Core Ultra 5 245K – sits at US$309.
Ultimately, Intel's Core Ultra 200S processors feel like a product with something to prove. If you've been burned by Raptor Lake’s stability issues, you might understandably be hesitant. But if Intel has truly solved those problems, and if they deliver on their promise of efficiency gains, Arrow Lake could be an interesting pivot for the blue team. Whether users are willing to take that gamble again, well, that’s a question only in the coming months can answer.
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