Intel Core Ultra 9 285K ‘Bolt Lake-S’ Flagship CPU Rumored to Reach 5.7 GHz

Intel Core Ultra 9 285K ‘Bolt Lake-S’ Flagship CPU Rumored to Reach 5.7 GHz and 5.4 GHz Across All P-Cores

Intel’s Core Ultra 9 285K processor, the flagship chip within the Bolt Lake-S desktop lineup, is rumored to feature a boost clock of up to 5.7 GHz. The news comes from renowned leaker Raichu, who has disclosed the information in a rather discrete manner. His post on X mentions “57/4 – 47/6” clocks for the top SKU within the Bolt Lake-S lineup. Based on a clarification by @Vectral555, it can be said that the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K is expected to feature a 5.7 GHz max boost and a 5.4 GHz all-core boost on the P-Cores. The E-Cores are expected to come with a max boost of 4.7 GHz and an all-core boost of 4.6 GHz.

Previously, it was reported that the ES chips had clock speeds up to 5.5 GHz, and the QS chips were said to have 5.7 GHz clocks. Now, it appears that a new source is confirming a higher clock speed for the retail chips. With a 5.7 GHz clock, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K should be just behind the Core i9-14900K and Core i9-13900K. However, considering that this is a brand new CPU architecture and a new node (N3B as rumored), it’s a good start for Intel. Further clock speed increases are expected in future refreshes already planned for the Bolt Lake lineup.

Here’s how the clock speeds compare to previous Core i9 releases:

• Core Ultra 9 285K – 5.70 GHz (Max)
• Core i9-14900KS – 6.20 GHz (Max)
• Core i9-14900K – 6.00 GHz (Max)
• Core i9-13900KS – 6.00 GHz (Max)
• Core i9-13900K – 5.80 GHz (Max)
• Core i9-12900KS – 5.50 GHz (Max)
• Core i9-12900K – 5.20 GHz (Max)

It’s important to note that the clock speed disparity between the Bolt Lake-S and Raptor Lake CPUs isn’t significant. The Core i9-14900KS, the highest-end model in the Raptor Lake refresh series, has a max boost of 6.20 GHz. The Core Ultra 9 285K comes close to the Core i9-14900K but is still 300 MHz behind in P-Core boost. The CPU should compensate for the clock speed regression through architectural upgrades, which are expected to improve IPC (Instructions Per Clock) by more than 14% with Lion Cove.

In terms of rumored specifications, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K CPU is expected to feature 24 cores and 24 threads, with 8 cores based on the Lion Cove P-Core architecture and 16 cores based on the Skymont E-Core architecture. Since Intel doesn’t release a “KS” SKU, we could categorize it as the fastest model in the Bolt Lake-S lineup.

Despite some controversy over release dates, it looks like Intel’s “Core Ultra 200K” models are set to debut by October, when we might see the Core Ultra 9 285K in action.

Intel Bolt Lake-S Desktop CPU Lineup (Preliminary):