Introduction
Intel’s Core Ultra Desktop Processors (Series 2) are here, and we aren’t going to have a long introduction for this, instead, we have a lot of benchmarks, and some important performance you need to be aware of. You can check out our announcement article, which details all the architecture information, and a deep dive YouTube video we did on the presentation.
This launch review will focus on a review of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and Intel Core Ultra 5 245K desktop CPUs launching on October 24th, 2024. The Intel Core Ultra 9 285K has a suggested eTail price of $589, and the Intel Core Ultra 5 245K has a suggested eTail price of $309.
The Intel Core Ultra 200S Desktop CPUs (Intel Core Ultra Desktop Processors (Series 2) are based on an Intel packaged design, with tiles (Compute/SOC/IO/GPU) produced by TSMC. The compute tile is TSMC N3b, the SOC and I/O die are TSMC N6, and the GPU die is TSMC N5, all packaged together based on Intel Foveros technology.
The P-Cores in the compute tile are based on Lion Cove and the E-Cores are based on Skymont architectures. While these are also found on the Lunar Lake mobile platform, the SOC/IO/GPU is closely related to the Meteor Lake platform, and thus follows through on Intel being able to hybridize the tiled architecture overall.
Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
The Intel Core Ultra 9 285K is an 8 P-Core/16 E-Core CPU, and now the P-Cores do not support SMT/Hyperthreading. Therefore this gives us 24 cores or 24 Threads. It has an L3 cache of 36MB and an L2 cache of 40MB. It has an Intel Thermal Velocity Boost of 5.7GHz, and an Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 frequency of 5.6GHz. The P-Core Max frequency is 5.5GHz, and the Base frequency is 3.7GHz. The E-Core Max frequency is 4.6GHz and the Base frequency is 3.2GHz. The processor base power is 125W, but the maximum Turbo Power is 250W.
Intel Core Ultra 5 245K
The Intel Core Ultra 5 245K is a 6 P-Core/8 E-Core CPU which gives it 14 cores or 14 total Threads. This CPU has an L3 cache of 24MB and an L2 cache of 26MB. It lacks Intel Thermal Velocity Boost and Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0. Therefore, the P-Core Max Frequency is 5.2GHz, with the Base Frequency at 4.2GHz. The E-Core Max Frequency is 4.6GHz and the Base Frequency is 3.6GHz. The Processor Base power is also 150W, but the Maximum Turbo Power is 159W.
MSI MEG Z890 ACE
New motherboards and sockets are required for this CPU series, as it is now based on LGA1851. The chipset launching with the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K is the Intel Z890 chipset, which is the flagship chipset, with the most PCIe lanes available. There will be configurations of motherboards based on this chipset, and for our launch review today, MSI supplied us with its top-tier MSI MEG Z890 ACE motherboard, with a retail MSRP of $659.99 at launch.
We will have a full review of this motherboard in the future, for now, just know that it supports every feature of the Intel Core Ultra 200S series, and has a ton of options for overclocking and memory overclocking. This motherboard is loaded with features and has a very easy-to-use MSI click-BIOS. Also, today, we have a full review of the MSI MPG Z890 CARBON WIFI, which will retail at launch for $499.99, so make sure to check that out as well. We will have more Z890 coverage coming, so stay tuned.