Intel Announces Fixes for Arrow Lake CPU Gaming Performance

Intel’s Core Ultra 200S-series CPUs got off to a rocky start, but several of the original issues are resolved—and CES will see another update, bringing better performance. That’s according to Robert Hallock, VP and General Manager, Client AI and Technical Marketing at Intel, who spoke with HotHardware in an interview about Arrow Lake CPUs.

When our colleagues at PCMag reviewed the flagship Intel Core Ultra 9 285K processor, they found it to be an impressive CPU with sub-par performance in certain areas, particularly some gaming tests. The processor showed a 17-percent increase in its Cinebench score (over the Core i9-14900K). And it shone in the Blender test. There were some lower-than-expected scores from the synthetic tests, too, but the CPU’s real hit-or-miss pattern was brightest in the game tests.

The Core Ultra 9 285K was slower than the Core i9-14900K in F1 2024 and in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, but the new CPU was a monster in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. In the end, the CPU snagged four (out of five) stars and PCMag noted that performance could improve with updates. Several weeks and some updates later, Hallock and HotHardware discussed the improvements.

“At the end of the day there were four root issues that we needed to address and fixes for those are actually already in the field right now,” said Hallock.

As The Verge noted, one of the issues really just came down to how Intel timed its update. An update that addressed processer power management (PPM) in Windows landed after reviews, likely accounting for some of the benchmarking weirdness. Intel schedules the updates with Microsoft, but Hallock clarified that it’s not an issue with Microsoft.

Intel published a blog post covering the issues and fixes, which numbered five when all was said and done. Intel’s Application Performance Optimizer (APO) wasn’t taking effect, which may have affected some games. And the BSOD issue came down to a conflict between Windows 11 24H2 and Epic Games’ anti-cheat software, which Epic has since resolved with an update.

One thing to be on the lookout for is a BIOS update in January. Intel already resolved BIOS issues for Intel Z890 motherboards, but it has improvements coming with the next BIOS update. Intel will be addressing all of this at CES in early January.