In retrospect AMD's 'Zen 5' Ryzen 9000-series proved to be one of the most divisive launches of recent years, filled with suspect marketing and performance claims which simply didn't match the tests conducted by independent outlets. Intel's Core Ultra 200S series is unlikely to cause quite so much spilled ink as its chief rival but that doesn't mean everything is going its own way.

The first aspect of a flagship CPU's launch that all eyes will turn to is raw performance, particularly leadership over the competition and prior generations. With the Core Ultra 9 285K Intel simply haven't achieved a clear victory. They're nip and tuck with both the current Zen 5 flagship and prior generation top performers, winning on a few but losing out in the most heavily threaded tests, but at no point is a clear picture available. But then again, in a blow for realistic if deflating marketing, Intel didn't claim they would achieve outright leadership.

So, has there been progress over Raptor Lake? Undoubtedly. Performance per watt metrics are significantly better for the Ultra 9 285K compared to both the i9-14900K and i9-13900K despite broadly similar results in all but the most heavily threaded workloads. Temperatures too are lower, though perhaps not quite as chilly as Intel might have hoped. Both metrics are competitive with the Ryzen 9 9950X.



Where Intel might start to pull ahead is in features, both CPU-specific and platform-wide. On-board hardware video encode performance continues to be game-changing and the ability to offload AV1 encode/decode onto the iGPU has enormous potential for content creation and streaming. I/O on Z890, while being only slightly better than X870E's platform standard loadout, is much more comprehensive down the range and could be a real highlight for mainstream gaming builds that would otherwise opt for X870.

Perhaps the biggest concern for end-users adopting the Core Ultra 200S platform with Z890 will be its longevity. AMD have pledged to support AM5 until 2027, Intel however don't appear to be keen on making a multi-generational commitment. That really could be the difference between the two going forward.

The Intel Core Ultra 9 285K is a significant technological improvement over the previous generation that nonetheless fails to exceed it in raw performance. Much like Zen 5, the market may view it as only a marginal upgrade; unlike AMD's offering however there will be no suggestion of making a retrograde step of opting for the older platform. It is competitive in its $600 price tier



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