Intel's low-power Arrow Lake processors will be launched in January, but not because PC gamers care.

Intel's Core Ultra 200S doesn't have a lot to offer in terms of gaming performance. However, they are generally good at consuming power in games. It's a big improvement over Raptor Lake, which was notorious for its energy-hungry nature. Now, the chip giant is preparing to launch Arrow Lake processors that have even lower power requirements.

The processor's power requirements will not be lower, but they will be reduced significantly from the Ultra 7 265K and Ultra 5 245. Momomo_us, a well-known X user who is known for obtaining information ahead of time, posted the details on the new Arrow Lake models.

We're getting non-K and -T variants of the existing Core Ultra 200S chip. Core Ultra 9 285K and 285T will replace the existing Core Ultra 200S chips. The former has a 65W TDP, while the latter only 35W.

The clock speeds are going to be lower. In the case of the 285T, the base P-core is going to be 1.2 GHz, compared to 3.7 GHz for the 285K. Intel has not said how the reduced power limit will affect boost clocks, but we can make a reasonable guess based on the way they set the clocks of the Core i9-14900T.

The T variant has a P-core clock of 1.1 GHz and 5.5 GHz, respectively. The non-K 14900 has clock speeds of 2.0 and 5.8 GHz. Arrow Lake is more efficient than Raptor Lake so we might not see as much of a drop in peak boost clocks. We'll need to wait until the official launch before we know for sure.

The leaked details also indicate some additions to Core Ultra 5 range. The 225 (and iGPUless 225F), sporting only 10 cores, base clocked at 3.3 GHz with 20 MB of cache and a TDP of 65 W.

These chips are not aimed at PC gamers. T-models are typically sold to manufacturers looking for ultra-low-power chips to embed in embedded computers. The non-K models are usually purchased by system integrators who want to save some money.

You won't see me recommending a non-K Core Ultra 200S, as I don't recommend buying a standard Core Ultra 200S. The 245K isn’t bad, but there are better gaming options.

They'll be cheaper, yes, but who cares if they have a second-tier gaming experience at a brand new price?

Videocardz predicts that Intel will also launch its new range in January. This is likely to happen at CES 2025. We should also see the more affordable B860 mother board chipset announced around the same time.

You never know. Team Blue could do AMD's thing and drastically lower its prices to undercut sales of Zen 5 especially the Ryzen 7 9800X3D. Anyone fancy a bet on it happening?