Intel’s Core Ultra 9 285K is firmly on top, beating the 14900K, KF, and KS in new single-core PassMark test
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Intel’s Arrow Lake processors are just around the corner, but they have been making waves for months, especially the flagship, Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, which has been running wild, outperforming the competition and the top processor of the 14th generation.
We've seen the 285K outperform the Ryzen 9 9950X, 14900K, and 14900KF. The only processor left was the 14900KS, but it seems like the 285K has also made its way to the special edition powerhouse CPU.
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Intel Core Ultra 9 285K PassMark score
In a recent post on X, PassMark highlighted that the 285K is at the top of the leaderboard with the best single-core performance, beating the Apple M3, 14900KS, and the 9950X chip. What this means is if you were looking for one of the best CPUs for gaming, this 285K is all set to take over the throne as soon as it is released, though it should probably be best used for serious productivity workflows if we’re honest.
This could be a huge upset for AMD as it outperforms their flagship Ryzen 9000 series processor and the standing best gaming processor, the Ryzen 9 7950X3D. However, there is still hope as maybe the 9000X3D will fire back with even better performance, especially with its unique X3D design with an abundance of L3 cache.
However, when we compare the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K to the 9950X, 14900K, 14900KF, and 14900KS, the latter chips have a significantly better CPU Mark score. So, while the 285K has better single-core performance, the competition is tough on the multi-core front.
The 285K has a lower TDP, making it more energy efficient, but the cores get less power, and it only has 24 threads compared to 32 threads of all the mentioned processors. On the flip side, depending on the benchmarking software, we have seen the 285K deliver better multi-core performance, which is great as more competition between companies means better products and deals for the consumer base.
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