MSI Leak on Core Ultra 200: Insights and Implications
The slides presented by MSI have confirmed that Intel is planning a Refresh or Arrow Lake-S.
The leak originated from HardwareLuxx, which published the embargoed presentation from MSI regarding next-gen Intel and AMD platforms. This leak provided the first confirmed insights into the performance of the Ryzen 9000X3D, alongside details on the Core Ultra 200, encompassing both performance and power profiles.
MSI’s presentation included a slide delineating the Arrow Lake-S power settings, featuring the Default Profile, Performance Profile, and Extreme Profile. Notably, the Extreme Profile is exclusive to the Core Ultra 9K series and will void the warranty.
Insights from the slide indicate that the Core Ultra 5K series will have a default PL1/PL2 setting of 125W each, upgradeable to 125W/159W with the Performance Profile. In contrast, Core Ultra 7K models will feature a 125W/177W Default profile, upgradeable to 125W/250W. The Core Ultra 9K series promises a 125W/175W Default configuration, extending to 250W/250W under Performance and 250W/295W at Extreme levels.
A detailed look at the right side of the presentation reveals information from Intel, indicating both Arrow Lake-S and Arrow Lake-S Refresh. This represents the first mention by Intel of the Refresh, which current rumors suggest may have been canceled.
This discrepancy raises questions about whether MSI might be using an outdated slide or if the Refresh remains a possibility. Uncertainty also looms over Intel’s future plans for the Core Ultra 300 series, with speculation about the cancellation of the 8P+32E die and the potential introduction of a Panther Lake die for desktops, though neither Intel nor MSI have confirmed these developments.
Concerning power limits, MSI asserts that an unlocked power setting can significantly increase consumption (the Unlimited setting in MSI motherboards). Under this configuration, power use can escalate from the default 279W to 349W and temperatures can rise from 64°C to 77°C. However, even with this unlimited setting, the Core Ultra 9 285K CPU is expected to consume less power and maintain lower temperatures compared to the Core i9-14900K, despite the latter having an unlimited power option:
Under unlimited performance settings, the Core i9-14900K reportedly demonstrates a 10% increase in various synthetic benchmarks. However, this performance boost may not necessarily translate well in gaming scenarios.
MSI also shared their own Cinebench data, indicating improved single-core (1T) and multi-core (nT) performance according to Cinebench R23 benchmarks.
With approximately 20 days remaining until official review coverage, many anticipate further details regarding power profiles. Intel has indicated that the new series should not be impacted by Raptor Lake’s previous instability issues, suggesting that overclocking or power limit adjustments may pose less concern than with last-generation CPUs.
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