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When Intel’s Core Ultra 9 285K arrived and hit the benchmarks this fall, reviewers noticed that the Arrow Lake flagship CPU put up mixed results. It handled certain compute workloads with ease but didn’t allow for the gaming performance we expected. It performed worse than Raptor Lake in some game benchmarks.
Intel investigated its Core Ultra 200 series processors and came back with a To-Fix list that covered a number of issues dragging on Arrow Lake CPU performance. The Arrow Lake-S Performance Update made clear that Intel was taking the issue seriously and that it had plans in place to improve performance for disappointed customers.
In the end, improving the performance of the CPU came down to software and BIOS updates. A Windows update resolved some issues, and Epic Software fixed an anti-cheat issue, as well. Intel told its customers to look for a BIOS update in January that would improve the performance of its Core Ultra 200 series processors.
Credit: Intel
At CES 2025 in Las Vegas, Intel discussed the Core Ultra 200 situation again and said it had a BIOS update available immediately to improve several facets of CPU performance, including application optimization, power management, and others. Intel also pointed to performance improvements in games, as PCWorld noted. For Far Cry 6, Intel expected systems to see boosts by up to 16%. That boost should be even higher in Cyberpunk: 2077, which could go to 26%. Intel saw a 21% performance increase in DOTA 2 on an Arrow Lake processor, Wccftech pointed out.
Synthetic benchmarks were showing even more performance improvement. The 3Dmark TimeSpy Overall score blew all other scores out of the water, showing a 97% improvement, according to Intel. That’s a stunning change.
Granted, all of these performance boosts are coming from Intel’s tests. Until our colleagues at PCMag can run more benchmarks, we’re taking everything with the usual grain of salt. What’s clear is that, if you haven’t already, you’ll want to update the BIOS to get the fixes Intel released. And, of course, making sure Windows is up-to-date is critical.
The CPU problems appear to be in the rearview, then, though it will definitely behoove users to keep an eye out for additional BIOS updates or other patches. Intel has its Core H and HX processors for gaming laptops coming up next and those will hopefully hit the ground running.