Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and Ultra 5 245K review: gaming losses, content creation wins

We've done the bulk of our testing with DDR5-6000 CL30 RAM, as this is the sweet spot for many Intel and AMD systems. The Core 200S processors do support up to DDR5-6400 without "overclocking", and we do have some DDR5-8400 testing on page seven if you're interested.

Remember that you can mouse over the results in the tables below (as long as you're using a desktop browser rather than a phone) to get dynamically generated performance readouts for all processors we've tested. Meanwhile, clicking the graph swaps you into percentages, making it a bit easier to judge relative performance at a glance.

This page is about FPS fps, with Counter-Strike 2, Cyberpunk 2077 and Crysis 3 Remastered representing the many facets of the genre.

Counter-Strike 2

Counter-Strike 2 is a lovely rebuild of a game that has entertained for decades, and it also demands extremely high frame-rates for top level competition. I'm not anywhere near that, but I still feel qualified to tell you that the 285K is not the ideal choice for aspiring pros.

We recorded a 1080p average of just 469fps, which means the 14900K is nearly 20 percent faster and the 9950X is 22 percent faster than the new Intel flagship chip. The 245K also fails to impress, with a 362fps average which is fine... but the 14600K is 25 percent faster the 9600X is 48 percent faster. Interestingly, Hardware Unboxed's review suggests that the version of Windows may be to blame, with the 285K's CS2 average frame-rate 14 percent better on Windows 23H2 than in 24H2.

Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk is another game that shows unusually low frame-rates for the 285K and 245K, a phenomenon that appears to have afflicted several reviewers we reached out to. The 245K and 285K are nearly indistinguishable here, with 52fps averages that come behind the Ryzen 5 5600X and 12600K - very odd indeed. If you're interested in the margins of the victory for the 14900K, 5800X3D and 7800X3D, they're around 45 percent.

Crysis 3 Remastered

Once again, we end on a "win", as Crysis 3 Remastered shows the 285K actually beating out its ancestors with a 12 percent lead versus the 14900K. That puts the 285K in the same esteemed company as the 9950X, with the 7800X3D still taking the overall crown with a six percent lead over the 285K and the 9700X also outgunning the new Intel chip by five percentage points. The 245K is also decent here, with an average 11 percentage point lead at 1080p over the 14600K.

Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and Ultra 5 245K analysis

• Introduction, test rig and content creation benchmarks
• Gaming benchmarks: Dragon's Dogma 2, Baldur's Gate 3, Starfield
• Gaming benchmarks: Flight Simulator 2020, F1 24, Forza Horizon 5
• Gaming benchmarks: Counter-Strike 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Crysis 3 Remastered [this page]
• Gaming benchmarks: Far Cry 6, Hitman World of Assassination
• Power analysis: Counter-Strike 2, Far Cry 6, Forza Horizon 5
• RAM gaming benchmarks: Cyberpunk 2077, Far Cry 6, Flight Sim 2020
• Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and Ultra 5 245K: the Digital Foundry verdict