IntelCore™ Ultra 9 Desktop Processor 285K 24 cores (8 P-cores + 16 E-cores) up to 5.7 GHz

My latest build June 18, 2025 was an all blackout no ARGB workstation to run SolidWorks: Intel Core Ultra 9 285k, MSI MAG Tomahawk Z890E wifi motherboard, G.Skill Flare X5 DDR5 64GB 6000 MT/S, Samsung 990 Pro SSD 1TB M.2, Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 1050 watts power supply, upHere 8x6mm heat pipes direct contact 280Watt TDP CPU air cooler, Corsair 4000 RS Frame case, Corsair RS 120mm case fan, and PNY Nvidia RTX 2000 ADA 16GB GPU.The first thing I did was to update the BIOS on the mobo. With nothing(no RAM no CPU) on the mobo I inserted a 32GB USB flash drive with the latest BIOS file on it into the BIOS flash USB port, connected the power supply 8-pin and 24-pin cables to the mobo, turned on the power supply and press the BIOS flash button on the mobo, and in about five minutes the BIOS update was done (the LED light went out). Assembled all the parts into the case. I applied a very thin and even layer of thermal paste to both the CPU and the CPU cooler. For air flow I did three 120mm fans intake in the front and one 120mm fan at the rear. This fans arrangement forces cool air to flow across the entire motherboard which cools the RAM, VRM, help CPU air cooler intake and the GPU.I ran Cinebench 2024 and Core Temp for a10-minutes multicore stress test. With all 24 cores running at 100% the temperature range for all cores varied from 73 to 78 with every now and then a couple of cores spiked to 82 on for a few seconds then came back down under 80 degrees. The 285k drew around 205watts during the stress test. Even all six fans (four on the case, two on air cooler) rammed up to 100% the whole system was not noisy at all. I let the system burnt in for 24 hours and not a single hiccup. The CPU was very stable, the temperature was low and the system was very quiet.The Nvidia RTX 2000 ADA 16GB GPU is not for gaming and this system was not intended for gaming but for work station doing CAD type program specifically SolidWorks.I did a similar system back in January this year with the same CPU and mobo and I must say I was and I am impressed by the performance, reliability and stability of the Intel Core Ultra 285K and MSI MAG Tomahawk motherboard.Final thought: In day to day real life working with SolidWorks the 24 cores of the CPU will hardly reach 100% capacity. This is an over-built quiet system with a lot of horsepower to spare and most importantly a stable system for professional work.

I ended up getting a bundle deal with my GPU which contained a motherboard that could only fit one of these ultra core chips. So naturally I grabbed the beefiest one available (this one). It works pretty well with my Aorus Master Z890. It runs real hot though. Every time it has to do any work it spikes to 90C pretty quick and stays around 80C while working through a task. Make sure you invest in a really good cooling system for this.I was previously on AMD, but because of the bundle giving me a mobo that I didn't necessarily want, I made the switch. It's not bad. Easy install. Really snappy with heavy load programs such as Blender, Zbrush and Substance Painter. Works great for what I need, and isn't bad considering this is my first intel chip in about 10 years.

Not much to say - works perfectly, no issues, and fast! Doesn't seem to run too hot, as the fans on the case aren't kicked in beyond their minimal rotation speed, even when I'm pushing the system (I don't game, but do use it for music, which loads it down).

I am a programmer who works with compiled programming languages in a large codebase all day long, and I bought this processor after seeing it at or near the top of many compiler benchmarks. Indeed, this processor cuts through my work like a knife through hot butter, and it is a joy to watch it speed through tasks! And unlike previous generations of Intel processors, it is quite easy to keep it cool even with cheap air coolers. Despite minor overclocking, the processor stays 10-20 °C away from thermal throttling even under hours of the most intense stress tests (like Cinebench). Furthermore, the processor has been quite stable for me, as I have not encountered any crashes.Keep in mind that many of the mixed/negative reviews are focused on gaming, where the gaming performance for the price is quite disappointing. If Intel manages to iron out all of the major issues (a very big if), this processor will exhibit gaming performance similar to an i9-14900K while being significantly-more power efficient. Accordingly, this could be a strong mixed gaming/productivity processor in the future, but in the meantime, I would not buy this processor if having top-tier gaming performance is important to you. For productivity-focused users like me, however, I would highly recommend this processor for many productivity tasks, where it is often the fastest consumer-grade processor ever made.

Not sure what to say.... Intel Core Ultra 9 285K (Arrow Lake family) is the newest Intel processor, released at the end of October 2024. According to Wikipedia, it uses a a variety of new production and packaging technologies, and for this reason it no longer follows the standard Intel generations and numbering of the type i5, i7, i9. Reportedly, it consists of at least 4 chips, all build by TSMC (the CPU itself is built using TSCM's cutting edge N3B technology, which Intel cannot built itself so far, while Intel does the last step, packaging of all chips on an interposer. Intel sees this technology as a blueprint for future generations of CPUs, and the new socket, LGA1851, is a new development which Intel, according to the trade publications, plans to use for several future generations. Hence, in terms of upgradability of CPU on an existing motherboard, it seems to be the best bet across Intel CPUs. High performance and relatively low power are main features of this CPU. This particular package includes on CPU itself, but no thermal paste and of course no cooler. Very easy to drop into the socket. Excellent speed. Intel's design, TSMC's leading edge manufacturing.

Does the job well, but a couple things to keep in mind.1. Make sure to update your BIOS or else you have issues w/ this CPU and MB.2. It does not have Hyperthreading