Arrow Lake-S Core Ultra 9 285K CPU takes the top spot in PassMark's single-threaded performance benchmark
Intel is strapping in for a high-octane showdown, with its soon-to-be-launched Arrow Lake-S desktop CPU lineup. As part of Intel's rebranding of its 'Core' series, the new highest-end desktop CPU in the series will now be named the Core Ultra 9 285K. This high-end CPU has been the subject of many benchmark leaks in the past, and has now appeared in PassMark as well.
As can be seen from the chart, the Core Ultra 9 285K handily plants its flag at the very top spot in PassMark's single-threaded ranking, breaking the 5,000-point barrier. With a score of 5,268, the 24-core powerhouse pulls ahead of its predecessor - the Core i9 14900K, which scored 4,743 as well as Apple's M3, which scored 4,777. AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X trails behind, with 'just' 4,739 points.
The Core Ultra 9 285K's 24 cores are split between 16 'Skymont' efficiency-cores, and 8 'Lion Cove' performance-cores. Judging by the improvements in single-threaded performance, one might expect comparable improvements in multi-threaded scores as well, but that is unfortunately not the case.
Due to its lack of hyper-threading support, the Core Ultra 9 285K is left stalling in Passmark's multi-threaded test, managing only 46,872 points - a far cry from the 66,702 scored by the Ryzen 9 9950X, as well as the 60,305 points scored by the last-gen i9 14900K.
As we have previously reported, prominent tipster Moore's Law is Dead cited sources within Intel claiming that the high-end 24-core Arrow Lake-S CPU will sport a 13-15% uplift in single-threaded performance, which is a bit higher than the 11% uplift indicated by PassMark.
Of course, the tested CPU is likely an engineering sample. Therefore, take the aforementioned performance figures with a grain of salt. Moreover, it is not at all unlikely that the final product will boast even better performance. As with all benchmark leaks -- they're just numbers until the rubber hits the road.
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