On Oct. 24, Intel’s Core Ultra 200S series will be released for desktops. The chip focuses on performance per watt and has a built-in NPU.
The new Core Ultra 200S CPU series, codenamed Arrow Lake, should be cooler and more energy efficient than previous editions. Interestingly, this is Intel’s first desktop CPU with a built-in NPU, or Neural Processing Unit. An NPU is specifically designed to perform AI tasks faster than GPUs.
Promising chips
“The CPU delivers Intel’s best performance in desktops and laptops. It can deliver that performance at significantly lower power, and it also delivers both the first Intel AI desktop and laptop,” General Manager Josh Newman told The Verge.
Compared to previous generations, you can expect a halving of power consumption. Thanks to the NPU, creatives who want to work with AI are also in the clear. However, their 13 TOPS (Tera Operations per Second) do not qualify them for the Copilot Plus certificate.
Intel is also improving memory support with the Core Ultra 200S series and Z890 motherboards, supporting up to DDR5-6400, up to 48 GB per DIMM and up to 192 GB maximum capacity. The new hardware is expected in stores starting Oct. 24.
It has been less than a month since Intel launched the Core Ultra 200V CPU series. The 200-S series is perfect for heavy-duty tasks, while the 200V series focuses mainly on energy efficiency, and less on that powerful performance.