When the Intel Core Ultra 9 285 processor, codenamed Arrow Lake-S, arrives later this year, it will mark the arrival of Intel’s multi-chiplet design and an entirely fresh microarchitecture for enthusiast-class desktops. But those huge changes won’t be reflected in the processor’s packaging, as revealed Video card.
The Intel Core Ultra 9 285 will arrive in a fairly uncomplicated square-prism-shaped box with design language similar to the Core i9 14900K’s packaging. While the general language will be similar, the fresh box will be darker overall (albeit with a lot of blue accents) than its predecessor’s box, likely reflecting its higher performance. There are some dots on the packaging to support differentiate it from the previous generation. However, it seems that Intel is no longer offering its enthusiast-level processors in fancy packaging like it did in the past with the Core i9-12900K/KS, Core i9-11900K, and Core i9-9900K products.
There are indications that this is a Core Ultra 2-series processor. Arrow Lake-S processors are not “15th generation Core” processors.
The box image posted by VideoCardz does not reveal the specifications of the Core Ultra 285K (in fact, no model name was provided on the leaked page), though the top-of-the-line Arrow Lake-S desktop processor is expected to feature eight high-performance Lion Cove cores clocked at up to 5.70 GHz and 16 energy-efficient Skymont cores.
The compute chiplets for the upcoming Arrow Lake-S processors will be manufactured at TSMC using different manufacturing technologies. For example, the compute chiplet will be manufactured on one of TSMC’s N3 (3nm class node) manufacturing processes, while Intel will place all of the chiplets on a base die manufactured on its own 22FFL node.
Rumors have it that Intel will officially launch its unlocked Core Ultra ‘Arrow Lake-S’ processors in early October, before starting sales behind schedule next month. The enthusiast-level Core Ultra line is expected to include three models: the 24-core Core Ultra 9 285K, the 20-core Core Ultra 7 265K, and the 14-core Core 5 Ultra 245K.
The fresh processors will be compatible with next-generation motherboards based on the Intel Z890 chipset and equipped with the LGA-1851 socket.
