TheCore Ultra 9 285Karrived with a thud . It ’s an interesting , and sometimes very telling , processor , but it ’s not necessarily a good one . Stacked up against some of thebest processors , the Core Ultra 9 285 K battle in gaming and even fall behind in critical productivity apps , which is n’t a capital offset for Intel ’s latest generation .

Thankfully , there are some splendid alternative . I ’ve reviewed just about every CPU that Intel and AMD have released in the past several multiplication , and I ’ve rounded up five mainframe that match , and often beat , the Core Ultra 9 285 grand — sometimes even for a modest price .

Core i9-14900K

When look for alternatives , it ’s born to point to a last - gen CPU like theCore i9 - 14900K. This is a unique situation , however . In the vast majority of program I ’ve test , the Core i9 - 14900 K hands down beat the Core Ultra 9 285K. Going with a last - gen CPU in this display case does n’t just mean save money . It also imply getting a faster mainframe , which is a strange change of pace liken to how we normally see new processor generations .

The Core Ultra 9 285 K is very strong when it total to rendition and video transcoding , but in diligence like Adobe Premiere Pro and Photoshop , the Core i9 - 14900 K is plainly faster . Based on my testing , the Core i9 - 14900 K is around 8 % faster in Premiere Pro compared to the Core Ultra 9 285K. That ’s a very stark startle considering originative apps like Premiere Pro leverage all of the components in your system , not solely the CPU .

In gaming , the Core i9 - 14900 K dominates . Out of the 10 biz I tested , the Core i9 - 14900 K was immobile in eight of them , and in the games were the newer Core Ultra 9 285 K do well , it was never by more than a few frames .

The Core i9 - 14900 K would be a better choice even if it were the same price as the Core Ultra 9 285 K , but it ’s actually much cheaper . At the time of writing , the central processing unit is $ 440 — nearly $ 200 less than what the Core Ultra 9 285 K is sell for . If you require to relieve even more , you could pick up the Core i9 - 14900KF , too , which shaves the integrated graphics but otherwise perform identically to the Core i9 - 14900K.

I would n’t blame you if you are n’t keen on picking up the Core i9 - 14900 K , however . It ’s been thecenter of a slew of unstableness issues , and it draw a fate more power than the Core Ultra 9 285K. Thankfully , Intel says it has address the unstableness problem , and I have n’t seen any reports that anticipate that claim yet . At this power point , it ’s safe to advocate the Core i9 - 14900 K , but make indisputable you perform any BIOS and chipset updates as soon as the mainframe get in .

Ryzen 9 9950X

We unremarkably see current - gen flagships duke it out on toll and performance , with AMD and Intel biting back at each other bet on what game or applications programme you look at . This generation is an exception , with the current - genRyzen 9 9950Xbeating the Core Ultra 9 285 KB in just about every software I tested . That ’s even true in a transcoding app like Handbrake , where the Core Ultra 9 285 K is remarkably fast .

The Ryzen 9 9950X was n’t a bang-up central processing unit at launch , but that ’s changed . AMD released a string of update for the processorthat massively improve performance . The big one for the Ryzen 9 9950X minify the latency between the two Congress of Racial Equality complex dies ( CCDs ) on the processor , which improved gaming performance in titles likeF1 22 , Final Fantasy XIV , andTiny Tina ’s Wonderlandsby upwardly of 12 % . The Ryzen 9 9950X would ’ve been competitive with the Core Ultra 9 285 K , but with these updates , it ’s just faster .

In productivity apps , the Ryzen 9 9950X is the fastest desktop mainframe you’re able to buy justly now . It predominate in apps like Premiere Pro and Photoshop , and it ’s the only central processing unit that can dethrone the Core Ultra 9 285 cat valium in rendering apps like Blender . Further , the Ryzen 9 9950X include a dedicated 512 - second data point way of life for AVX-512 book of instructions , which can make a monumental difference in operation in work load that can leverage AVX-512 book of instructions .

The big downside right now is that the Ryzen 9 9950X is expensive . Despite prescribed Mary Leontyne Price baseball swing from AMD , the disappointing launch of the Core Ultra 9 285 K has caused the Ryzen 9 9950X to sprout up in price . At the time of authorship , it ’s around $ 670 , which is about $ 40 more than the Core Ultra 9 285K. If you could wait a snatch , I suspect the central processor will drop back down to around $ 600 in the next month or two .

Ryzen 7 7800X3D

This one is for the gamers . The Core Ultra 9 285 K , despite its handful of success , is a disappointing gaming CPU . The Ryzen 9 9950X and Core i9 - 14900 K propose neat gaming performance , but if you ’re sharpen exclusively on gaming , there is n’t a CPU that can top the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. Game after game , it constantly usher up at the top of the charts , and sometimes by a important margin .

The central departure , as you’re able to read about in myRyzen 7 7800X3D review , is AMD’s3D V - Cachetech . This adds a bit of extra hoard on top of the CPU die , which can make a vainglorious difference in games . It ’s more storage that ’s physically close to the CPU die , and some games , includingRed Dead Redemption 2andCyberpunk 2077,show a monumental uplift in performance from that alteration .

In summation to slap-up gaming performance , the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is unusually effective . Even when outpacing the competition in games , the C.P.U. seldom draw more than 70 W , and in many titles , it draws less than 50 watts . It ’s also significantly cheaper than the Core Ultra 9 285K. you may pick it up for around $ 470 mightily now , which is close to $ 150 less than the Core Ultra 9 285 K is selling for .

The adult drawback here is productivity performance . The Ryzen 7 7800X3D is only an eight - core CPU , and it has bound clock swiftness due to the spare memory cache and the heating plant it generates . It ’s far behind the Core Ultra 9 285 K in apps like Premiere Pro and Photoshop , return more in - line with a midrange mainframe like the Core i5 - 14600K. Still , if play is your primary concern , nothing perplex the Ryzen 7 7800X3D.

Core i9-13900K

The most direct rival to the Core Ultra 9 285 K is , astonishingly , theCore i9 - 13900 K — a processor that ’s now two generations old . debut the Raptor Lake architecture , the Core i9 - 13900 K rest an impressive CPU with 24 cores that can shred through productiveness program program and still packs plenty of punt grunt . Even in 2024 , two years after the CPU released , the Core i9 - 13900 K is a lurid rival to current - gen options .

In secret plan , the Core Ultra 9 285 K and Core i9 - 13900 K trade blows . They often perform around the same level , and there are some titles , such asRed Dead Redemption 2andF1 22,where the Core i9 - 13900 K take a Pb . The 13th- and fourteenth - gen CPUs from Intel share an computer architecture , and overall , the two CPUs are very tight to each other in footing of functioning .

On the productiveness side , the moral force between the Core Ultra 9 285 K and Core i9 - 13900 K is similar to what I saw with the Core i9 - 14900K. In rendering apps like Cinebench and transcoding apps like Handbrake , the new Core Ultra 9 285 K dominates . However , the Core i9 - 13900 K still hold its own in Premiere Pro and Photoshop .

Just like the Core i9 - 14900 K , the Core i9 - 13900 K has seen instability problem . you may fix them by update to the late BIOS , at least consort to Intel . The company has also extended the warranty on all of its thirteenth - gen and fourteenth - gen CPUs from the stock two years to five years , so if you run into issues even after the BIOS update , Intel will supervene upon your CPU .

Ryzen 9 9900X

The unmatched duck out of AMD ’s lineup each generation is the 12 - core pick , and the Ryzen 9 9900X is no unlike . If you ’re implicated with play , you could preserve some money with the Ryzen 7 9700X , and if you want the best productivity performance , it ’s deserving spending up for the Ryzen 9 9950X. However , the 12 - nub Ryzen 9 9900X is surprisingly adequate to when stacked up against the Core Ultra 9 285K.

A bragging part of that is the thread count . The Core Ultra 9 285 K does n’t have Hyper - Threading , so you have access to 24 marrow but also only 24 threads . The Ryzen 9 9900X may only have 12 cores , but it come with 24 threads due to AMD ’s exercise of simultaneous multi - threading ( SMT ) . In Premiere Pro , the Ryzen 9 9900X couple the Core Ultra 9 285 K , and in Photoshop , it shoots forrader . In addition , you have access to AVX-512 instruction with this CPU , just like the Ryzen 9 9950X.

Gaming is no different . Although you occasionally see the Ryzen 9 9900X take a backseat to the tawdry Ryzen 7 9700X due to its double - CCD configuration , the CPU still handily beats the Core Ultra 9 285 K across most titles . It ’s unremarkably on the level of the Ryzen 9 9950X , as most games see little welfare from CPUs packing more than eight cores .

The freehanded grounds to keep the Ryzen 9 9900X in brain , however , is the monetary value . As the odd duck of the current generation , AMD has massively marked down the price of the Ryzen 9 9900X. you could pick it up now for just $ 429 — a full $ 200 less than the Core Ultra 9 285K.