Intel announced its newest desktop processors this week, the Intel Core Ultra 200 series, the first desktop processor with a built in NPU for AI workloads.
The new processor series, previously known by its codename, Intel Arrow Lake, has been entirely rearchitected to focus on efficiency and performance-per-watt and features the same multi-module die architecture as Intel Meteor Lake laptop processors.
The new processors are a major change for Intel’s desktop portfolio, featuring new performance and efficiency core architecture.
The new Skymont efficiency cores have a claimed 32% instruction-per-clock (IPC) increase over the previous generation Gracemont cores featured in Intel Raptor Lake and Raptor Lake Refresh.
Intel also says that its Lion Cove performance core architecture has a 9% IPC uplift over its previous-gen Raptor Cove performance cores.
In addition to the new P-core and E-Core architecture, the new Core Ultra 200 series processors will feature Intel Xe-LPG graphics architecture, the same architecture that powers Intel’s Arc Alchemist graphics cards.
This gives the CPU’s integrated GPU powerful new hardware-accelerated ray tracing support, as well as Intel XeSS support built right into the CPU.
While this won’t replace the best graphics cards in a desktop system, for more budget-oriented desktops or all-in-one PCs, the new Core Ultra 200 series processors will bring significantly better graphics performance than the iGPU found in Intel Raptor Lake processors currently on the market.
The Core Ultra 200 series will also be the first desktop processors to feature integrated neural processing capabilities that previously required a dedicated graphics card. And while the 13 TOPS NPU in the Intel Core Ultra 200 series isn’t as powerful as the recently released Intel Lunar Lake laptop processors, for AIO desktops, this NPU will empower a number of new features that simply aren’t possible on a previous-gen Intel desktop chip.
The entire chip architecture is capable of 36 TOPS spread across the CPU, NPU, and iGPU, and the sky is the limit when you factor in dedicated GPUs, which have much more powerful neural network capabilities.
The new processors will go on sale later this month, with five SKUs available at launch.
| Header Cell – Column 0 | CPU Cores/Threads | CPU Max Frequency | GPU Cores | NPU |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intel Core Ultra 9 285K | 24 (8P+16E) / 24 | 5.7 GHz | 4 | 13 TOPS |
| Intel Core Ultra 7 265K | 20 (8P+12E) / 20 | 5.5 GHz | 4 | 13 TOPS |
| Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF | 20 (8P+12E) / 20 | 5.5 GHz | N/A | 13 TOPS |
| Intel Core Ultra 5 245K | 14 (6P+8E) / 14 | 5.2 GHz | 4 | 13 TOPS |
| Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF | 14 (6P+8E) / 14 | 5.2 GHz | N/A | 13 TOPS |
- This story is developing…
