Intel Core Ultra 9 285K "Arrow Lake" CPU crowned single-thread performance leader in PassMark

[DragonSlayer101]

Something to look forward to: Intel will launch brand new Arrow Lake-S desktop CPUs later this month. Ahead of its release, the flagship Core Ultra 9 285K has appeared on the PassMark benchmark website, providing insight into its single-threaded and multi-threaded performance.

The Core Ultra 9 285K achieved an impressive 5,268 points in PassMark's single-threaded benchmark, putting it ahead of competing processors like the Ryzen 9 9950X and the Apple M3 Max. While the AMD chip managed 4,739 points in the same benchmark, the M3 notched up 4,777 points. The Intel's flagship score also handily beat the 4,869 points achieved by the Intel Core i9-14900K.

Despite the impressive single-threaded performance, the Core Ultra 9 285K's multi-threaded results leave much to be desired. In this test, it managed only 46,872 points, significantly lower than the 66,702 points scored by the Ryzen 9 9950X. In fact, the 285K also fell short of the Core i9-14900K, which managed to achieve 60,305 points in the same benchmark.

New single thread CPU performance leader. #Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
(note that this might be an pre-release engineering sample, but results are looking good) pic.twitter.com/yqLECdl9XE

– PassMark Software (@PassMarkInc) October 5, 2024

Arrow Lake's new CPU core architecture is believed to be one of the main reasons for the 285K's stellar single-core performance. The lack of hyper-threading has also helped boost performance by allowing for more efficient single-thread execution. Ironically, the absence of hyper-threading is also a key factor behind its underwhelming multi-threaded performance.

It is worth noting that the tested CPU is likely a pre-release engineering sample, meaning it has not undergone the same level of fine-tuning and optimization that the retail SKUs will receive before hitting store shelves later this month.

The massive single-threaded score bodes well for gamers, while the underwhelming multi-threaded performance might disappoint users with workstation-type tasks like rendering, encoding, video editing, big data processing, among others.

As a refresher, the Core Ultra 9 285K will be Intel's new flagship Arrow Lake-S desktop processor, featuring 24 cores, including eight "Lion Cove" performance cores and 16 "Skymont" efficiency cores. The processor is expected to have a 3.2GHz base clock for the E-cores and a 3.7GHz base clock for the P-cores, with a Max Boost clock of up to 5.7GHz. It will include 36MB of L3 cache and have a 125W PL1 TDP.

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Intel Core Ultra 9 285K "Arrow Lake" CPU crowned single-thread performance leader in PassMark

 

[redgarl]

"Looking at the multi-threaded performance, the CPU scored 46,872 points which is much lower than the Core i9-14900K and Ryzen 9 9950X CPUs which scored 60,305 (+28.6%) & 66,702 (+42.3%) points, respectively."

Yeah, looking like a winner to me for a 24 cores CPU...

 

[Axeia]

Sounds great for very specific scenarios.

For gaming looks like AMDs X3D offerings would still win.
It's weak for multi threading.

So that leaves single threaded workloads that scale poorly with 3D cache. Iirc that's great for audio work but I can't think of much else.
Perhaps the low core count models would make for great budget gaming chips although super low prices are unlikely whilst using TSMCs latest node.

If the power draw is low enough perhaps they'll make for good gaming laptops.

 

[Jaabaaar]

Will it fit in my current motherboard or is it a new motherboard for this? With AMD you can update by just changing the cpu. Eg AM5 will have a couple more upgrades.

 

[Rapob]

Passmark is useless for testing. Lets see some Cinebench.

What I hope to see with Arrow Lake, is reduced powerdraw. This is what Intel needs the most really. Performance is pretty much fine even when looking at 13th and 14th gen vs Ryzen 9000.

It is not like 14900K/KS is not competitive on performance. Watt usage is just too high. Lunar Lake has great performance per watt and uses same CPU arch as Arrow Lake, so, there is hope.

I expect 9800X3D will be king for gaming, and still do well outside of gaming due to increased clockspeeds / less sensitive 3D cache. Or atleast most games, as not all games scale good with 3D cache. However, 9800X3D will have much higher clockspeeds than 5800X3D and 7800X3D so 9800X3D might be great overall regardless of game. Lets hope we see 5+ GHz at all times, or even higher. 7800X3D can drop close to 4.5 in demanding games and applications. If AMD/TSMC can deliver 5+ GHz at all times with 9800X3D and maybe even 5.5ish ST boost as well, it is going to be unbeatable for gaming, at least till Zen 6 3D in 2026+ or Nova or Razer Lake in 2026/2027

Might grab one. Can't wait for reviews.

 

[Puiu]

That's a way much higher drop in MT performance than I was expecting. I was thinking of something closer to 50-52K. Maybe the all-core clock speeds were not great on this engineering sample. ST performance is where most expected it to be considering the claimed IPC increased and subsequent drop in max boost clock speed.

If the 9800x3D can achieve 5.4-5.5GHz then it will be in a comfortable lead in gaming. It's all on AMD's court right now, they need to deliver a higher clock speed than the 7800x3D.