Intel Core Ultra 9 285K Vs Ryzen 7 7800X3D: Which Should You Buy?

Today intel has lifted the lid on performance numbers for its new Core Ultra 200 ‘Arrow Lake’ desktop processors and everyone wants to know how fast they are in games and content creation. We’ll be putting the Core Ultra 9 285K flagship to the test today, comparing it to 14th Gen models such as the Core i9-14900K and also against AMD Ryzen 7000 and 9000 models including the Ryzen 7 7800X3D and Ryzen 9 9950X to see which is the best gaming processor as well as the best in content creation. You can see my review of the cheaper Core Ultra 5 245K here.

So far, Intel has claimed we’ll see higher multi-threaded performance despite lower frequencies and the remove of hyper threading, significantly lower power consumption and temperatures, but gaming performance not much better than these processors’ predecessors. Coupled with a poor start for AMD’s Ryzen 9000 series and you’d be forgiven for being pretty disappointed in you’re a PC gamer right now.

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AMD has also just announced that it’s first gaming-focussed Ryzen 9000 3D V-Cache processor will be released on November 7th too, further increasing the height of the mountain that Intel needs to climb today.

Intel Core Ultra 9 285K specifications and pricing

Intel Core Ultra 9 285K test system

I used a fully up to date test system that included Windows 11 24H2, Nvidia driver 566.03. This is installed onto a WD Blue SN5000 SSD with other hardware including a Palit Game Rock RTX 4090 graphics card, MSI MEG Z890 Ace motherboard and 48GB Kingston DDR5 8200 CUDIMM memory. The other systems included 32GB DDR5 6000 memory.

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Intel Core Ultra 9 285K content creation performance

Overall performance here is usually very good for the Core Ultra 285K, often sitting at the top of the graphs. The only major setback was in Photoshop where the lastest AMD CPUs were faster and occasionally not offering much benefit over the likes of the Ryzen 9 9950X and Core i9-14900K. Still, on average it’s a great CPU for content creation.

Intel Core Ultra 9 285K gaming performance

Gaming performance was very mixed. We already knew that the new CPUs would not offer much benefit over the 14th Gen models such as the Core i9-14900K. However, while this is generally true, it was also underperforming and recorded inconsistent results too. Cyberpunk 2077 for example saw it sit way down the graph to the extent that the Ryzen 5 9600X and Core i5-14600K offered significantly higher frame rates. Something definitely wasn’t working right there.

It was also slower than expected in Counter Strike 2, but Assassin’s Creed: Mirage and Microsoft Flight Simulator were roughly in line with expectations. Even so, AMD’s 3D V-Cache models are practically unbeatable overall, with its expected release of what could be the Ryzen 7 9800X3D on November 7th compounding this issue for Intel.

Intel Core Ultra 9 285K memory speed performance

Arrow Lake supports extremely high memory speeds and Intel actually recommends a sweet spot at around DDR5 8000. Currently, popular kits sit around the DDR5 6000 mark but below you can see the benefits of faster memory with Arrow Lake. It doesn’t seem to offer much benefit outside of games, but both Cyberpunk 2077 and Assassin’s Creed: Mirage benefitted by noticeable amounts.

Intel Core Ultra 9 285K power and thermals

Intel has touted the power and thermal improvements of the Core Ultra Series and these were indeed areas we hoped it would improve given how power hungry and hot-running the 14th Gen models were. Thankfully all the above turned out to be true, with significantly lower power consumption and lower operating temperatures.

Should you buy the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K?

While AMD’s Ryzen 9000 series wasn’t much faster in practically any metric than the Ryzen 7000 series and a disappointment as a result, Intel does at least see some significant gains in content creation performance as well as far lower power consumption and thermals. Gaming performance is concerning, though, as there are clearly issues that go deeper than just being no faster than the previous generation plus reviews have been met with bugs and stability issues too – not unusual for a new processor socket.

Cyberpunk 2077 in particular saw frame rates that were far too low, pointing at issues with software or drivers given the CPUs otherwise performed as expected. The real issue for Intel is that it’s debateable whether it has done enough here to tempt people to buy into its new LGA1851 socket. It may have similar or greater longevity than AMD in terms of future proofing, but for gamers, the choice is clear and will likely get clearer on November 7^th. For content creation, power efficiency and thermals, Arrow Lake is very promising, but the inconsistent and mediocre gaming performance needs fixing.