Intel’s New Processors Built For Next-Gen AI PCs

AI enthusiasts and gamers will be big beneficiaries from the new Intel Core Ultra 200S series processor family, the company says.

Intel says the processors “will scale AI PC capabilities to desktop platforms and usher in the first enthusiast desktop AI PCs”. 

“Led by the Intel Core Ultra 9 processor 285K, the latest generation of enthusiast desktop processors includes five unlocked desktop processors equipped with up to 8 next-gen Performance-cores (P-cores), the fastest cores available for desktop PCs, and up to 16 next-gen Efficient-cores (E-cores) that altogether result in up to 14% more performance in multi-threaded workloads than the previous generation,” Intel says.

They are the first NPU-enabled desktop processors for enthusiasts and come with a built-in Xe GPU with “state-of-the-art” media support.

Intel says the new Core Ultra 200S series processors “significantly cut power usage”, with up to 58 per cent lower package power in everyday applications, and up to 165W lower system power while gaming.

“The result is a cooler and quieter user experience elevated by new AI gaming and creation capabilities enabled by the NPU,” says Intel’s Robert Hallock.

The family of processors has up to six per cent faster single-threaded and up to 14 per cent faster multi-threaded performance over the previous generation, Intel claims.

It says the processors deliver “up to 50 per cent faster performance in AI-enabled creator applications against competing flagship processors”.

“The newly available NPU enables offloading of AI functions. Examples include freeing up discrete GPUs to increase gaming frame rates, significantly reducing power usage in AI workloads, and enabling accessibility use cases such as face- and gesture-tracking in games while minimising performance impact.”

Intel Core Ultra 200S processors have 20 CPU PCIe 5.0 lanes, 4 CPU PCIe 4.0 lanes, support for 2 integrated Thunderbolt 4 ports, Wi-Fi 6E​ and Bluetooth 5.3​. 

The company says its Killer Wi-Fi delivers “supercharged wireless performance and enables seamless, immersive online gameplay through application priority auto-detection, bandwidth analysis and management, and smart AP selection and switching”.

Intel Core Ultra 200S series processors will be available at retail online and in stores starting October 24.