Introduction: A New Era for Intel
With Meteor Lake ushering in Intel’s new era of tiled processors featuring disaggregated components, we finally get the desktop debut of tiled processors of Intel. Officially named Intel Core Ultra Series 2, it will share this generation with Lunar Lake on mobile as well as Arrow Lake-H for high-performance mobile by the start of next year. This generation will also see a shift in Intel’s position as they’ve learned the hard way from the past generation as they brute force their way into gaming performance leadership (?) by allowing board partners unlimited power to the CPU.
This will be partnered with a new motherboard generation using a new socket: LGA1851. Despite the change in processor naming from Core i9/i7/i5/i3, Intel has chose to retain the name of their chipset series, picking up from the Z790, with the debuting Z890.
As with all Intel processors bearing the Core Ultra name, the Core Ultra 200S for desktop will also feature an NPU. This will also be a demonstration of Intel’s ability to be flexible with the CPU cores built ny TSMC on 3nm. Intel has been heen holding their compute technology close to their chest but their focus is on getting back on track on their mobile offering which is Lunar Lake is using a completely different approach despite sharing a generation with Arrow Lake.
Intel is not as hard-set on being the performance king this time around with more conservative wording their presentation, focusing more on power improvements but retaining performance is what they’re after as well as offering “modern” inclusions like an NPU for light AI tasks as well as a newer IGP, WIFI7 and more IO are some of the key highlight for this generation.
In this article I’ll brief you thru the technical details of the Intel Core Ultra 200S family of processors as well as the accompanying motherboard chipset.
Intel Core Ultra 200S Launch Line-Up
Intel will have five launch SKUs under its Core Ultra lineup which will see the new naming of Core Ultra 9, 7, and 5 processors, succeeding the i9, i7, and i5 families. The flagship Core Ultra 9 285K offers an 8P+16E core configuration with impressive boost clock speeds of up to 5.70 GHz, tailored for extreme gaming and high workloads.
Model Breakdown:
- Core Ultra 9 285K: Features 8 high-performance cores (P-cores) and 16 efficiency cores (E-cores). This chip targets high-end gaming and multitasking, with the highest clock speeds for intensive tasks. There’s no “KF” variant (integrated graphics-disabled), a departure from previous generations like the i9-14900KF.
- Core Ultra 7 265K/KF: Positioned as the versatile option for gamers seeking performance without the premium price tag. It has 8P+12E cores and slightly lower clock speeds but maintains solid gaming performance. However, it features 30 MB of L3 cache, which is slightly lower than its predecessor.
- Core Ultra 5 245K/KF: The most budget-friendly of the lineup, with a 6P+8E configuration, excellent for mainstream gaming. It offers good P-core base and boost clock speeds, maxing out at 5.20 GHz, ensuring strong gaming performance for those balancing price and power.
GPU and iGPU
The integrated graphics (iGPU) for all models is based on Intel’s Xe-LPG architecture, similar to Meteor Lake’s iGPU. The iGPU has 64 EUs (execution units) across all models, with a boost frequency of up to 2.00 GHz on the Core Ultra 9 and 7 series, making it capable of handling light gaming and multimedia tasks. However, for AAA gaming titles, discrete GPUs remain the preferred option for serious gamers.
Performance and Power
The processors offer improved cache sizes and efficient core arrangements, ensuring gaming workloads run smoothly, whether you’re streaming, playing, or multitasking. Intel maintains its power ratings with 125W processor base power across the board. Notably, the 245K/KF models see a reduction in maximum turbo power to 159W from the previous generation’s 181W, potentially leading to better thermal performance in more compact gaming setups.
Pricing
Intel’s pricing remains consistent with previous launches, offering competitive options for different gaming tiers. The Core Ultra 9 285K is priced at $589, the Core Ultra 7 265K at $394 ($379 for the KF variant), and the Core Ultra 5 245K at $309 ($294 for the KF). The lineup hits the market on October 23, 2024, giving gamers new options ahead of the holiday season.
Unlike previous generations that hit all markets, Intel is addressing gamers primarily heavy emphasis on power reduction and temperature improvement during gaming for this processor generation. Still, pricing-wise Intel still retains the price from the previous generation.
Intel Core Ultra processors launch on October 24 11PM (Taipei time). For my Philippine core audience, launch availability is not guaranteed with local availability pegged for the second week of November.
Arrow Lake Design and Architecture
Intel’s Arrow Lake microarchitecture focuses on both desktop and notebook markets, with Arrow Lake-S specifically powering desktop processors. Unlike the upcoming Lunar Lake for ultraportables, Arrow Lake retains Intel’s tile-based architecture introduced in Meteor Lake. This design allows Intel to optimize yields by building critical components, like CPU cores and iGPU, on advanced 3nm nodes while using older nodes for platform interfaces, improving cost-efficiency.
Primary Tiles:
- Compute Tile: Built on TSMC’s 3nm process, it houses up to 8 Lion Cove P-cores and 16 Skymont E-cores, arranged on a ring-bus interconnect, and shares 36MB L3 cache. Intel has rearranged the core layout compared to previous generations to optimize heat dissipation and improve latency between P-cores and E-cores.
- SoC Tile: Constructed on 6nm process, it handles platform I/O, including the DDR5 memory controller (supporting up to 192 GB) and PCIe Gen 5 lanes for discrete GPUs. The tile also contains Intel’s NPU 3 for AI workloads and components like the Display and Media engines for video output and acceleration.
- Graphics Tile: Using 5nm Xe-LPG architecture, it includes 4 Xe cores (64 execution units). Despite fewer cores, it supports ray tracing and DirectX 12 Ultimate. The media engine allows encoding/decoding for up to 8K @ 120 Hz.
The NPU 3 offers 13 TOPS of AI performance, supporting basic AI tasks, though it falls short of requirements for some advanced applications like Microsoft Copilot+. Arrow Lake’s modular design, coupled with advanced interconnects like Foveros, makes it adaptable across multiple computing segments.
DDR5 and PCIe Support:
The dual-channel DDR5 controller supports up to DDR5-8000 speeds for overclocking, with some memory kits exceeding 9600 MT/s already announced. The processors offer 20 PCIe Gen 5 lanes, with 16 lanes dedicated to GPUs and 4 lanes for high-speed NVMe SSDs.
In summary, Arrow Lake-S processors aim to improve efficiency and performance for gaming desktops while supporting next-gen I/O standards and offering enhanced flexibility through its tile-based architecture.
Intel 800 Series Chipset (Z890)
Intel introduces the LGA1851 socket with the Core Ultra 2-series Arrow Lake-S, requiring new motherboards based on the Z890 chipset. The Z890 supports dual-channel DDR5 memory and features 48 PCIe lanes, with 20 Gen 5 lanes directly from the CPU, allocated for graphics and M.2 NVMe slots. The chipset also integrates 24 Gen 4 PCIe lanes and enhanced USB 3.2 connectivity, allowing motherboard manufacturers to support Wi-Fi 7 and high-speed networking options. Intel has also upgraded its security architecture with three dedicated hardware engines for enhanced protection.
This configuration is set to provide expanded bandwidth and flexible connectivity, especially for gaming and high-performance use cases.
The Arrow Lake architecture focuses on generational performance gains while improving energy efficiency by transitioning key components to 3nm. A dual base-clock domain is introduced, separating the Compute and SoC tiles, ensuring that overclocking the CPU won’t interfere with PCIe clocks. The architecture also offers granular overclocking control with 16.67 MHz increments for P-cores and E-cores. Features like DLVR bypass and V/f curve control allow fine-tuning, while support for CUDIMMs and CSODIMMs pushes DDR5 memory to over 8000 MT/s.
Intel claims up to 165W lower power consumption compared to the i9-14900K, with temperatures reduced by around 13°C, especially during gaming workloads. This results in improved performance without excessive heat or energy use.
Intel’s Own Peformance Numbers
I’d comment here but I’m under NDA. Kidding aside, Intel is targetting a more efficient approach compared to the previous Intel flagship but gen-on-gen improvement isn’t as large as most would want and also not impressive.
Initial Thoughts on Arrow Lake
Its been a tough few months for Intel and the launch of the Core Ultra 200S desktop parts is easily one of their first hurdles to regain some of their creds from enthusiasts. While its not the dominant processor that Intel used to have, its an improvement on the last generation but those keeping tabs on this launch are more hesistant than positive.
Still, if Intel manages to check at least the power and thermal situation, it may at least put it in parity with AMD with the Ryzen maker also having to deal with a poorly received launch despite already poised to go in for the kill and end Intel’s decade of dominance. AMD is still saving their ace with the successor of the 7800X3D still to be put into play.
Intel cannot afford to mess up this launch.
