Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and Ultra 5 245K review: gaming losses, content creation wins

These certainly aren't the most exciting gaming results in the world, but perhaps that's not the point. If the Core Ultra 9 285K is a more power-efficient processor than the Core i9 14900K, it could at least save its owners a bit of money - but how much?

We performed a basic power analysis of the 285K versus the 14900K by recording total system power draw at the wall in three games at three resolutions, so we can see how the gulf in system usage varies as CPU load increases. We used as closely matched systems as possible - identical GPUs, RAM, peripherals and power supplies, though the different chips require different motherboards.

Our first title is Counter-Strike 2, which is heavily CPU-limited at 1080p and 1440p but, thanks to the omission of DLSS/FSR 2, is surprisingly GPU-limited at 4K, even on an RTX 4090. Here, we measured the 285K system typically drawing around 30-40W less at the wall than the Core i9 14900K system, while the difference in maximum power draw ranged from 36W (at 4K) to 65W (at 1080p).

Taking just the 1080p results - with the 14900K averaging 556fps and the 285K 469fps - we're looking at 18 percent higher performance for the 14900K at the cost of 16 higher power draw. That's hardly a slam dunk in terms of efficiency.

Far Cry 6 is another game where we recorded around an 18 percent advantage for the 14900K, and here we see around a 15 percent increase in power draw - so efficiency stays fairly flat.

Finally, Forza Horizon 5 is more GPU-limited than the other benchmarks, and offers a correspondingly smaller difference in both frame-rate and power terms. However, it does deliver a rare performance win for the 285K, with a three percent frame-rate advantage at 1080p - despite the 14900K system pulling down an extra eight percent more juice.

Again, it's hardly scintillating stuff for Intel's latest and greatest, raising our suspicions that the 285K and 245K are underperforming versus even Intel's conservative 14900K-adjacent expectations. Let's move onto our quick DDR5 testing before we get to the final page to discuss our findings overall.

Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and Ultra 5 245K analysis

• Introduction, test rig and content creation benchmarks
• Gaming benchmarks: Dragon's Dogma 2, Baldur's Gate 3, Starfield
• Gaming benchmarks: Flight Simulator 2020, F1 24, Forza Horizon 5
• Gaming benchmarks: Counter-Strike 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Crysis 3 Remastered
• Gaming benchmarks: Far Cry 6, Hitman World of Assassination
• Power analysis: Counter-Strike 2, Far Cry 6, Forza Horizon 5 [this page]
• RAM gaming benchmarks: Cyberpunk 2077, Far Cry 6, Flight Sim 2020
• Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and Ultra 5 245K: the Digital Foundry verdict