Intel is allowing reviews to lift the lid on the performance of its new Core Ultra processors today and below you can see just how fast they are in games and content creation. We’ll be focussing on the Core Ultra 5 245K in this article to see if it’s the best gaming processor and worthwhile when it comes to content creation too.
At $309 the Core Ultra 5 245K is around $50 more than AMD’s Ryzen 5 9600X and Intel’s own Core i5-14600K, but nearly $200 cheaper than the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. Essentially the replacement for its Core i5 range, specifically the Core i5-14600K, it features the same core count at the latter, but has lower frequencies and fewer threads thanks to the removal of hyper threading. You can also see a review of the Core Ultra 9 285K below.
Intel Core Ultra 9 245K test system
I used a fully up to date test system that included Windows 11 24H2, Nvidia driver 566.03. This is installed onto a WD Blue SN5000 SSD with other hardware including a Palit Game Rock RTX 4090 graphics card, MSI MEG Z890 Ace motherboard and 48GB Kingston DDR5 8200 CUDIMM memory. The other systems included 32GB DDR5 6000 memory.
Intel Core Ultra 9 245K content creation performance
The Core Ultra 5 245K performed well overall in content creation, usually outstripping the Core i5-14600K and Ryzen 5 9600X by significant margins with the exception of Photoshop where AMD’s Zen 5 architecture used with its Ryzen 9000 CPUs seems to offer better performance. It’s also true that overall it’s a better option here than AMD’s Ryzen 7 7800X3D.
Intel Core Ultra 9 245K gaming performance
Moving on to gaming and like the Core Ultra 9 285K, the Core Ultra 5 245K was very inconsistent in games. In Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, it proved to be roughly on par with expectations with the the new Core Ultra 5 245K bettering the Core i5-14600K and even matching the Ryzen 9 9950X. However, both Ryzen X3D models were faster.
In Cyberpunk 2077 and Counter Strike 2, though, it clearly has issues, struggling to stay anywhere near the other models on test, especially in Cyberpunk 2077. Despite swapping out hardware plus reinstalling drivers and software, it failed to improve on these performances raising questions on whether gamers should consider it at all.
Intel Core Ultra 9 245K memory speed performance
The Core Ultra 200 series is touted as supporting high speed memory and Intel itself has said the sweep spot is around the DDR5 8000 mark. Below we can see that outside of games, it’s maybe not worth opting for anything faster than the currently popular DDR5 6000 kits, but games definitely saw more of a benefit.
Intel Core Ultra 9 245K power and thermals
Reduced power consumption and temperatures were also on Intel’s list of claims and happily these turned out to be true with noticeably lower thermals both on average across all cores and the peak core temperature. Power consumption was also far lower so there could be savings to be made on cooling and power supplies, potentially making this a good choice for small form factor systems too.
Intel Core Ultra 9 245K conclusions
In addition to inconsistent gaming performance, Intel’s new platform suffered from various bugs during testing, which have been corroborated with other reviewers. This definitely needs attention before any kind of recommendation can be made, regardless of how good the Core Ultra 5 245K was in content creation.
The trouble for Intel is that for a multi-purpose system, AMD has some very tempting options, although many including the Ryzen 7 7800X3D are admittedly much more expensive. This is a new processor socket and platform, so teething issues are definitely not uncommon, but Intel needs to fix these issues as a matter of urgency given AMD has already announced its Ryzen 9000 X3D models will arrive at least in part on November 7th.
Overall the Core Ultra series has potential and the lower power and thermals are extremely welcome and much overdue. Now it needs to focus on on what previous generations have done best – offering great gaming performance in addition to excellent content creation power too. It’s mostly there with the latter, but the former needs work.
