Core Ultra non K series leaks in Canada: but will they sell?
Who's buying these?
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The Intel Core Ultra series has made a name for itself, mainly for the wrong reason. Intel’s newest series is far from perfect, but it does one thing well: it is efficient. So that begs the question: Why would we need more efficient chips if nobody is buying the efficient ones already on offer?
Traditionally, Intel CPUs gobble power like we’re about to run out, with some of the later chips able to top 280W when pushed hard enough. So, the need for a set of locked processors was pretty apparent. These were used in low-power builds or as a budget alternative for someone who doesn’t want to splash on an unlocked processor. But nobody needs to buy these things.
Intel Core Ultra (Non-K) CPUs leak from Canadian retailer
Canadian retailer PC-Canada seems to enjoy leaking products before they officially launch, as they have racked up somewhat of a track record. All of the upcoming non-K Core Ultra series processors have been listed on the site with the following prices:
CPU price list in CAD
- Core Ultra 5 225: $367.99
- Core Ultra 5 225F: $349.99
- Core Ultra 7 265: $585.99
- Core Ultra 7 265F: $561.99
- Core Ultra 9 285: $845.99
Who is going to buy these processors?
While we don’t know the specifications of the new processors and how much they reduce their power consumption from their respective K variants, we can draw some conclusions. A recent sales report showed that Intel had sold 40 units of Core Ultra CPUs over the last month from MindFactory, a German retailer. In contrast, nearly 5,000 AM5 units alone were sold from AMD, so if nobody likes the original K series, who will buy these variants?
Intel focused on efficiency this time and did very well; eliminating hyperthreading did hurt the performance of its latest chips, but it managed to claw back some performance by moving to the 3nm process. Despite the lack of hyperthreading, the Core Ultra series performs well in multi-core scenarios, but they barely beat the competition.
| CPU | Score | AVG temp (package) °C | Max temp (package) °C | Average PPT (W) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 9 9950X | Single 2,271 Multi 40,166 | Single: 64 Multi: 60 | Single: 69 Multi: 64 | Single: 73.54W Multi: 167.67W |
| Core Ultra 285K | Single: 2,134 Multi: 42,399 | Single: 45 Multi: 62 | Single: 51 Multi: 73 | Single: 29.98W Multi: 160.06W |
Here’s a snippet from our 9950X review showcasing that AMD’s top dog isn’t far behind the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K in multithreaded workloads. Again, praise is warranted for the CPU’s ability to outshine AMD without hyperthreading. However, the CPU has more cores to begin with. The efficiency gains here are very apparent in the single-core workloads. The 285K only uses an average wattage of 29.98, while the 9950X uses 73.54, more than double the power consumption.
What we don’t show in that review (because we conducted the tests after the review was written) is that PBO. However, the temperature rises dramatically; the 9950X offers a score of 43,202 in the CB multi-core test, which outshines the 285K by roughly 800 points.
At the end of the day, the top dog from Intel only consumes around 30W in single-core workloads (which is very good). How much more efficient will the non-K series be? how much will that hurt performance?
At the end of the day, I think Intel will have trouble shifting these CPUs unless they are heavily discounted against the normal K variants. Although it seems like a step back for Intel, it’s likely going to put Intel ahead in the future, as it fine-tunes this new architecture.
