While the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K at least represented a sizable boost in creative performance over the Core i9-14900K, the Core Ultra 5 245K doesn’t fare quite as well against its predecessor. While it is faster in multi-threaded workloads, it’s not much of an increase, which makes its slip in gaming performance even more disappointing.

Officially, Intel recommends an MSRP between $309 and $319, with the first Core Ultra 5 245K listing selling for $328.99 at Newegg. It's technically slightly cheaper than the $319 to $329 launch MSRP of its last-gen counterpart, the Core i5-14600K, though it now sells for as low as $255 at Amazon.

The Digital Foundry CPU review of the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and Ultra 5 245K, with the test rig, content creation benchmarks and much more.

The Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and Intel Core Ultra 5 245K are newly architected desktop processors, powered by the same Lion Cove P-cores and Skymont E-cores found in the Intel Meteor Lake chips released late last year for laptops.

The Intel Core Ultra 9 285 CPU sets a new standard for power efficiency and takes a significant step toward the future of computing.

Intel's Arrow Lake-based Core Ultra 200S series processors for high-performance desktop systems have arrived and we've taken them for a spin around - Page 4