Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Intel’s new Arrow Lake CPUs can still consume a ton of power

Pins on Core i9-12900K.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Intel has made a big deal about the efficiency of its upcoming Arrow Lake CPUs, which are looking to earn a spot among the best processors when they release later this week. Some early benchmark results HXL on X (formerly Twitter) show that the CPUs can still draw a ton of power if you stray from Intel’s default power settings, however.

The post, which you can see below, shows the Core Ultra 9 285K peaking at 370 watts of power draw in Cinebench R23’s multi-core test. The CPU itself is blacked-out, but you can tell it’s the Core Ultra 9 285K from the 24 cores picked up by Cinebench. The Core Ultra 9 285K has a maximum turbo power of 250W, according to Intel, and a base power of 125W.

Recommended Videos

5.6+4.9

Source: QQ pic.twitter.com/YuY1l0z92K

— HXL (@9550pro) October 21, 2024

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

There’s a little more to the story than the maximum power draw, however. As you can see from the result, the CPU reached 46,289 points in the test. That’s one of the highest scores we’ve ever seen. For context, AMD’s recent Ryzen 9 9950X scored 42,707 points in our testing. Even more impressive, the Core Ultra 9 285K is pulling off that level of a performance improvement with 24 threads compared to the 32 available to the Ryzen 9 9950X.

According to VideoCardz, this isn’t the performance you should expect out of the box. The outlet claims the result here is for the Core Ultra 9 285K without a power limit, which you should be able to configure in the BIOS. At the default power settings, the score should be slightly above 42,000 points, at least according to a handful of leaked benchmarks.

Intel has already confirmed that, with the Core Ultra 9 285K, PL1 equals PL2. Intel defines various power levels for its CPUs, and the Core Ultra 9 285K is no different. PL1 is the maximum turbo power, while PL2 is the maximum turbo power over a short term. For the Core Ultra 9 285K, that means the CPU will stay at 250W under maximum boost, at least with Intel’s default power settings. As we’ve seen with CPUs like the Core i9-14900K, however, there’s a good chance motherboard makers will allow you to remove the power limits for higher performance.

The result shared by HXL likely has the power limits removed. That’s a positive sign, allowing enthusiasts with high-end systems to get much higher performance with adequate cooling. There’s a good chance we won’t see this level of performance from most systems, though.

Intel is still recovering from its instability fiasco with the Core i9-13900K and Core i9-14900K, which was related, at least in part, to unlimited power limits in the BIOS. Given the months-long issue, there’s a strong chance Intel has pushed motherboard brands to abide by its default power settings for Arrow Lake CPUs, at least for the settings out of the box.

Jacob Roach
Lead Reporter, PC Hardware
Jacob Roach is the lead reporter for PC hardware at Digital Trends. In addition to covering the latest PC components, from…
Intel did the unthinkable with its new Arrow Lake CPUs
A render of an Intel Core Ultra 200-S chip.

It finally happened. Intel killed Hyper-Threading on its desktop CPUs. The new Arrow Lake range, called Core Ultra 200S, ditches the simultaneous multi-threading (SMT) feature that Intel has held onto for more than a decade. And according to Intel, it doesn't need the extra threads to still deliver a generational performance improvement, even up against the best processors.

Intel says the new range, which we break down in detail in our post focused its gaming potential, can deliver an 8% performance improvement in single-threaded workloads over the previous generation, and a 4% uplift compared to the Ryzen 9 9950X. Those are pretty small margins, but the real impressive stuff comes in multi-threaded performance.

Read more
How AMD boosted Ryzen 9000 CPUs by 17% overnight
amd ryzen 9000 retested dt respec

AMD's Zen 5 CPUs, called Ryzen 9000, released with a collective sigh. None of them have it made it onto the list of the best processors, not so much because they're bad, but just because they aren't the best option. Outside of a few niche tasks, they felt more like a price increase and less like a performance increase compared to the previous generation. But that's changing.

We've seen a handful of updates from AMD over the last couple of months, which have culminated in a new BIOS for AMD motherboards that boosts performance across the range -- or so AMD says. I retested the full range of Zen 5 CPUs across games and productivity apps to see where they really sit now that the launch dust has settled.
How did we get here?

Read more
Intel’s upcoming Arrow Lake CPUs might run into cooling trouble
The cold plate and heat pipes on the Noctua NH-D15 G2 CPU cooler.

By nearly all accounts, Intel is gearing up to release its 15th-gen Arrow Lake CPUs in a matter of weeks. The new generation, which will compete for a slot among the best processors, will use the new LGA 1851 socket, and the redesigned package might be problematic when it comes to keeping the CPU cool.

According to famed overclocker and YouTuber der8auer, the hot spot on Arrow Lake CPUs is "quite a bit further north," meaning that the hottest part of the CPU is situated at the top of the package. Different hot spot locations is nothing new -- for instance, AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X has a hot spot more toward the southern part of the package -- but it's something that cooling companies will need to account for in order to get the best performance.

Read more