When Intel unveiled the new generation of Core Ultra 200S (Arrow Lake) desktop processors last week, it introduced the Core Ultra 9 285K as the most powerful model, thus representing the successor to today’s Core i9-14900K. However, this fastest Arrow Lake has a lower frequency (maximum boost of 5.7 GHz) and lags behind in gaming performance. But Intel is apparently planning another more powerful model that could change the situation – Core Ultra 9 295K.
At the time of release, some of you wondered that the i9-14900K successor does not have a nine in its designation, but only an eight. However, this does not mean that Intel sees the 285K model as something of a category below, as the Core Ultra 7 (265K) and Core Ultra 5 (245K) similarly received lower numbers. Intel is probably using the “reset” marking to make more room for possible additional models – such as the special editions of the i9-12900KS, i9-13900KS and i9-14900KS processors in previous generations.
And it seems that something like a KS model is indeed coming in the Arrow Lake generation, but it won’t apparently be labeled 285KS. Intel made the mistake of writing on its processor website that examples of Core Ultra desktop CPUs are “295K, 265KF, 245K“. Of course, this could just be a typo or a mistake due to the expectation that Core Ultra 9 mode should have nine in the number like Core i9.
However, it is also possible that with this Intel just wants to deliberately attract attention and generate publicity, and the placement of that typo is not accidental. The fact that there could still be a special edition from Arrow Lake forming a model above today’s Core Ultra 9 285K is supported by one more source. Leaker Jaykihn, who already in August released on the internet the essentially completely accurate final specifications of the Arrow Lake desktop processors (including information about the 65W and 35W models, which will not be released until January), also wrote about this higher model – probably a special edition.
Intel Core Ultra 9 295K leaked on Intel website? Today, the 295K is no longer mentioned on that page, Intel has corrected the model name to 285K. The question of whether it was a mistake or an intention, however, remains
Intel is planning a configuration one step higher than the Core Ultra 9 285K
There are no known specs for this model above 285K. It wasn’t among those for which full specs were leaked, appearing only in data that listed features such as consumption limits and current limits for individual models, where it represented an additional “unknown configuration” that Jaykihn wrote at the time that it was unclear if Intel will indeed release.
If the mention of 295K on Intel’s website is intentional, then this may just be a sign that this unknown configuration will indeed be released and will just be named Core Ultra 9 295K. Its parameters would probably represent the equivalent of what the 13900KS and 14900KS models were before. This processor is supposed to have the same number of cores as the 285K, i.e. 8 powerful P-Cores and 16 efficient E-Cores with 36MB L3 cache, but apparently with higher frequencies.
But exactly as the KS models should have 150W TDP (that’s what the leaked documents show), while regular K models have a TDP of 125 W. The so-called the maximum turbo consumption (PL2) should be 250 Wi.e. the same as the Core Ultra 9 285K. But the processor will also support the so-called Extreme Profile, where PL2 or the maximum turbo consumption is increased to 295 W. This extreme profile can be chosen by motherboards as an alternative default setting instead of the Performance Profile (that’s the 250 W). More specifically, Intel recommends that boards choose the highest power settings that are appropriate for their power cascade and cooling. So it’s likely that for high-end boards this extreme 295W setting will default to the Core Ultra 9 295K. It would even fit with the model name.
However, this also applies to the Core Ultra 9 285K, Intel also allows the Extreme profile with PL2 295 W (while the Core Ultra 7 265K is said to no longer allow the extreme profile). So both processors can have this alternative higher consumption. The difference is that with the Core Ultra 9 285K, Intel also allows an alternative “Baseline Profile” that has the consumption reduced to 177W (probably the origin of the false reports that PL2 is reduced to this value on Arrow Lake). This mode is not recommended by Intel and is intended only for cheap boards that cannot draw 250 W. That unknown configuration, which may be a Core Ultra 9 295K model, no longer supports this baseline 177W mode at all, which is probably related to its “special edition” status.
In the extreme profile, the 295K and the already revealed 285K model have the same consumption and current limits (IccMax 400 A, for example). The difference between the two processors will probably only be in frequencies and “binning”. The 295K model will probably go with select silicon capable of achieving higher clocks (or the same clocks at a slightly lower voltage), which could be more appreciated by enthusiasts and overclockers, but of course at a higher price.
Intel Arrow Lake processor (illustration)
For now, it is a mystery how much Intel will manage to increase the frequency of the Core Ultra 9 295K. A small victory would be to get an extra 300MHz and match the 6.0GHz clock speed of the Core i9-14900K (although it would still be behind the 6.2GHz i9-14900KS).
With a higher clock rate, single-threaded performance would increase with this processor, and probably gaming performance as well. A few percent of extra performance (for example, 5900 MHz could theoretically bring up to 3.5% improvement over the 5700 MHz model of the 285K) in this model would allow the Arrow Lake processors to pull away a bit from the performance level of the previous generation and thus improve the impression of the new architecture and platform. even the performance of the other lower models would of course not change anything.
If the Core Ultra 9 295K comes out, it probably won’t be until the first or second quarter of next year, since that’s what Intel did with previous “KS” special editions anyway.
Resources: VideoCardz, jaykihn, Intel
Source: www.cnews.cz
