Intel Core Ultra 9 285

The Core Ultra 9 285 is the locked, 65 W version of Intel's top Arrow Lake desktop chip, launched in the first quarter of 2025 for LGA1851 motherboards with 800 series chipsets. It has 24 cores, 8 performance cores and 16 efficient cores, with 24 threads and no Hyper-Threading. It boosts up to 5.6 GHz, with the performance cores rated up to 5.4 GHz and the efficient cores up to 4.6 GHz, and it has 36 MB of Intel Smart Cache plus 40 MB of L2 cache. It supports up to 256 GB of DDR5-6400 memory in two channels, ECC memory on supporting boards, and 24 PCIe lanes with PCIe 5.0.

Everyday tasks, gaming and heavy creative work all have plenty of headroom here. The 285 runs at a 65 W base power and can turbo up to 182 W, so with a capable cooler it has room to stretch out, while its lower rated power suits cooler and quieter builds. Its 24 cores suit video exports, 3D rendering, code builds and running several heavy apps at once. In small cases or with a basic cooler it will hold lower clocks during long all-core jobs, so cooling still shapes how fast it finishes big tasks.

The integrated Intel Graphics has 4 Xe-cores running at up to 2.0 GHz, which is enough for office work, video playback and several monitors, so you can run the PC without a graphics card. It is not meant for modern games, so gamers should plan on a dedicated GPU. The Intel AI Boost NPU is rated at 13 TOPS and handles light AI tasks such as Windows Studio Effects, but it is not a Copilot+ class NPU, which needs 40 TOPS or more.

The Core Ultra 9 285K has the same 24 cores but is unlocked for overclocking and runs at a 125 W base power, so it is the pick for enthusiasts with big coolers. The Core Ultra 9 285T keeps the 24 cores at 35 W for very small, low-power builds. The Core Ultra 7 265 is the cheaper 65 W step down with 20 cores. The previous-generation Core i9-14900 uses the older LGA1700 socket with Hyper-Threading. On the AMD side, the Ryzen 9 7900 is a 65 W, 12-core, 24-thread rival, and the Ryzen 9 9900X is a 12-core chip with a higher 120 W rating. The comparison pages below show each spec side by side.

Yes, if you want Core Ultra 9 multi-core power in a quiet or compact PC, or in a workstation that benefits from ECC memory support, and you have no plans to overclock. It costs close to the 285K, so if you have a large air cooler or liquid cooler and a Z890 board, the 285K is the better value for peak speed. For a gaming-first build, spend more on the graphics card and consider a cheaper Core Ultra 7 or Ryzen chip. The LGA1851 socket also means buying a new 800 series motherboard if you are coming from an older Intel platform.