Intel Core Ultra 200 – Our initial assessment of the new CPU series

Referreport

After Intel held its in-house exhibition, the Intel Innovations 2024which was originally supposed to take place from September 24th to 25th in San Jose, California, due to its self-imposed austerity measures and consolidation plans, Intel now wants to start off with good news and is preparing the launch of the new Core Ultra 200 processor series.

Guide: Buying the perfect gaming CPU

Core Ultra 200: New architecture

The series, also known as Core Ultra Series 2 (Arrow Lake), relies on specialized cores, with both the fast performance cores (P-Cores) and the efficiency cores (E-Cores), which are designed for the highest possible efficiency, receiving an upgrade of the microarchitecture used. As with the latest mobile processors Core Ultra 200V (“Lunar Lake”), the “Lion Cove” and “Skymont” architectures are used.

A new graphics unit

Intel is also making a generational change with the Core Ultra 200 (“Arrow Lake”) for the graphics unit integrated into the hybrid processors, the so-called IGP (“Integrated Graphics Processor”), and instead of Xe (“Alchemist”), it is now using Xe² (“Battlemage”) for the first time with a total of 4 Xe² cores or 64 execution units, which in turn results in a total of 512 shader units.

Sockets and chipsets

Along with the new processors, Intel will also introduce a completely new platform based on Socket 1851 (“LGA1851”), which in turn will be provided with the corresponding range of functions by the three “refreshed” chipsets, the so-called PCHs (Platform Controller Hubs), Z890, H870 and B860. For the first time, only DDR5 RAM will be supported.

The technical specifications of the new platform are as follows:

Intel 800 Series
- Code name: Arrow Lake-S
- CPU socket: Intel® LGA-1851
- Publication: October 2024
- Chipsets: Intel Z870, H870 and B860
- Connectivity (internal):
  - PCIe 5.0: 20×
  - PCIe 4.0: 28×
  - DMI: 4.0 x8
- Connectivity (external):
  - WiFi: Wi-Fi 7 (IEEE 802.11be)
  - Bluetooth-compatible: Bluetooth5.4
- Memory: DDR5-5600+

The new socket with its 1851 contact pins can also already accommodate the Core Ultra Series 1 (“Meteor Lake-PS”), which are also marketed as Core 100 and Core Ultra 100 and, according to the manufacturer, are aimed particularly at the edge area.

Intel

The CPU models

As things currently stand, the Intel Core Ultra Series 2 will consist of a total of 14 CPUs that operate with a PBP (“Processor Base Power”) of 35 to 125 watts and an MTP (“Maximum Turbo Power”) of 177 to 295 watts, as well as clock frequencies of up to 5.7 GHz on 10 to 24 processor cores with 10 to 24 threads. Hyperthreading, the so-called SMT (“Simultaneous Multithreading”), does not exist.

As several sources report, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K with 24 processor cores and a clock speed of 3.7 to 5.7 GHz will be the top model in Intel’s new desktop portfolio. A total of 8 P-cores and 16 E-cores as well as a graphics unit with 512 shader units will be offered in the desktop.

The Chinese website BenchLife has clearly summarized all technical specifications of all 14 models of the Core Ultra 2 Series (Arrow Lake).

BenchLife

Processor Base Power and Maximum Turbo Power

As can be seen from the latest information provided by @jaykin0 As can be seen from the data shared via the short message service X – formerly Twitter – the Core Ultra 200K, which is particularly relevant for gamers, has a Processor Base Power (PBP) of 125 watts (PL1) and a very high Maximum Turbo Power (MTP) of 177 watts (PL2) if Intel’s factory settings (Intel Baseline) are adhered to.

In practice, however, the peaks could be significantly higher. As the predicted values for PL3 and PL4 at least suggest. While idle and partial load are known to be among the great strengths of Core CPUs, it will be exciting to see what consumption values ”Arrow Lake” will deliver under full load.

@jaykihn0

The Core Ultra Series 2 includes the Core Ultra 200, Core Ultra 200S and Core Ultra 200K models, which, with their open multiplier, are aimed particularly at gamers and overclockers.

According to current information, their TDP rating will be as follows:

PL1: 35 to 125 W
PL2: 177 to 295 W
PL3: 179 to 297 W
PL4: 329 to 490 W
ICC: 287 to 400 A

While the PL2, PL3 and P4 are expected to decrease slightly compared to Raptor Lake-S while the PL1 and TDP rating remain the same, the ICC/ICC Max will be slightly increased.

As can be seen from the detailed document by @jaykin0, Intel was said to have previously planned additional models with up to 32C/32T and even 40C/40T as well as a significantly higher TDP, in addition to the planned models, which are led by the Core Ultra 9 285K with 24C/24T. However, this was ultimately rejected.

How fast is Lunar Lake?

So how fast is Intel’s Lunar Lake chip? That might not be the right question. Qualcomm has been praised for its power-efficient Snapdragon chips. AMD’s mobile Ryzens are primarily aimed at performance. And Intel? They’re trying to reduce power consumption without sacrificing the processing power we’re used to.

Intel has reduced the performance of the Core Ultra 200 by 30 percent, but made each thread much more efficient – each processor thread in Lunar Lake is two to three times more powerful than in Meteor Lake. Put another way, Intel estimates that the Core Ultra 9 288V will use 34 to 50 percent less power when browsing the web and running productivity applications compared to the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H (Meteor Lake). When gaming, power consumption drops by 11 to 35 percent, while performance increases to 68 percent.

Conclusion: Intel Core Ultra 200

Intel’s upcoming Core Ultra Series 2 (Arrow Lake) will certainly be the manufacturer’s first chiplet/tiles design in the desktop, providing significantly more efficiency and performance and will now also be able to compete with AMD’s CPUs in terms of AI performance. However, it remains questionable whether it will be enough for the gaming crown, which the Ryzen 9000X3D (Granite Ridge-X) is also aiming for towards the end of the year.