Intel's desktop CPUs have had a tough time in the market since the "Raptor Lake Refresh" series was endangered due to thermal instability issues. That's why the company recently released new "0x114" microcode, which is designed to fix multiple underlying issues the company discovered in recent "field updates," but the issues remain unresolved.
According to @CapFrameX's benchmarks, Intel's 0x114 microcode failed to resolve ArrowLake-S's issues, and the tests again showed a significant drop in gaming performance. When running Cyberpunk 2077 on the Intel Core Ultra 9285K, the average FPS dropped by about 18%, which is still a more significant drop, especially when the original performance drop numbers are added up. While Intel has assured customers that the new BIOS update will deliver "double-digit" performance improvements, initial testing appears to be sending a completely different message.
Memory latency is also said to have increased, with in benchmarks it was up about 14%, which is quite disappointing. It is worth noting that this test is one of the more "reliable" tests performed on the latest 0x114 microcode. To prove that the new ARL-SBIOS update is flawed, we need to see more evidence.
Intel also plans to hold a media briefing around CES 2025 to discuss the performance issues of the Core Ultra200S, so this is likely to be the next event where we look at the fate of Intel's Arrow Lake-S series. For now, though, ARL-S consumers will need to wait for an official update from Intel to determine if the emerging benchmark is indeed consistent across all systems and reproduces the performance degradation brought about by the 0x114 microcode.