Intel’s DISASTER launch – Core Ultra 285K/265K/245K

Today’s launch of Intel Core Ultra 200S has gone badly and we are confident that other reviewers will hold a similar view. The biggest issue for us has been the installation of Windows 11 24H2 which packs a couple of Gotchas, as we discuss in our video. After that, however, gamers will have to contend with erratic and unpredictable performance. This feels like it is a BIOS/driver issue, rather than a fundamental question of architecture, but whatever the explanation, we are clear that Intel Core Ultra 200S is not yet ready for release to the public and urgently requires further work.

Timestamps

00:00 Start
01:28 Some hardware for testing
03:03 Power profiles / initial run
03:48 Getting the Z890 MAG Tomahawk working
05:52 Windows 24H2 ‘breaking’
07:00 Troubleshooting this problem
09:12 Installing beta drivers/software
11:26 Performance issues
11:56 Windows Power Plan fixes (!)
12:40 It's fixed now?
13:15 Switching to Nvidia GPU output
13:51 Tales of woe – they may differ slightly
14:40 Conference call with an Intel team of 7
16:29 Some performance figures (at this point)
18:59 Memory latency issues?
19:15 Memory bandwidth
19:40 3DMark CPU Profile
20:05 Leo’s Thoughts – so far anyway (and wait for X3D).

Test System:

• CPU – Intel Core Ultra 200S
• Motherboard – MSI MEG Z890 Ace
• Graphics Card – MSI RTX 4090 Ventus 3X 24GB
• Memory – 48GB Kingston Fury CUDIMM DDR5-8200
• Storage – 1TB Crucial T700 PCIe Gen5 NVMe M.2 SSD
• CPU Cooler – MSI MAG CoreLiquid I360 AIO
• Power Supply – Seasonic Focus ATX3 GX-1000 Gold ATX 3 and PCIe 5 ready
• Operating System – Windows 11 24H2

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KitGuru Says: The launch of Core Ultra 200S has gone badly and we shall revisit these CPUs after further testing.

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