Intel has dropped a surprise bonus feature for owners of its Intel Core Ultra 200 series CPUs. The new Intel 200S Boost feature will be available via a motherboard BIOS update and can increase CPU and memory frequencies in one click, all while maintaining your CPU’s three-year warranty.
The new Intel CPU and motherboard feature is available now but will require your motherboard’s manufacturer to issue firmware updates that you’ll have to apply using the usual BIOS update features of your board. With Intel’s Core Ultra 200 CPUs having otherwise struggled to break into our best gaming CPU guide due to lackluster gaming performance, this free new feature could seriously increase their desirability.
Intel announced the new feature today on its website, with the post including details on which CPUs are supported and the boost settings users can expect. It breaks down the frequency increases into three areas: fabric, die-to-die, and DDR5 memory.
| Default specs for Intel Core Ultra 200S -K CPUs | 200S Boost overclocking profile for Intel Core Ultra 200S -K CPUs | |
| Fabric (aka SoC Tile/NGU) | 2.6GHz | Up to 3.2GHz VccSA ≤ 1.20V |
| Die-to-die (aka “D2D”) | 2.1GHz | Up to 3.2GHz VccSA ≤ 1.20V |
| DDR5 Memory UDIMM/CUDIMM 1 DIMM per channel (aka “1DPC”) | 6,400MT/s (3,200MHz) | Up to 8,000MT/s (4,000MHz) VDD2 ≤ 1.4V and VccSA ≤ 1.20V Module VDDQ and VDD ≤ 1.4V |
Fabric is a frequency related to the SoC tile of the CPU, which is the part that handles tasks such as I/O and AI. This can now run at up to 3.2GHz instead of 2.6GHz. Die-to-die is then the interconnect between different CPU dies contained in the overall CPU package and sees a huge boost from 2.1GHz to up to 3.2GHz. Finally, the DDR5 memory increase is related to the memory controller on the CPU now enabling XMP settings of up to DDR5-8000, up from a previous limit of DDR5-6400.
Although none of these settings seem directly related to the raw CPU core performance of the chip, Intel claims the combined effect is “a performance boost for low-latency workloads like gaming.”
As for which processors can access the feature, only the K-series chips from Intel’s latest Core Ultra 200 series are eligible, which are listed below. These chips are already relatively easy to overclock manually, as the “K” denotes that they’re multiplier-unlocked. However, conventional overclocking by adjusting the CPU multiplier isn’t covered by the CPU’s warranty, whereas this new Boost feature is. What’s more, this is the first time Intel has offered warranty coverage for XMP memory overclocking profiles or adjusting fabric speeds.
Intel 200S Boost supported processors:
- Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
- Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
- Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF
- Intel Core Ultra 5 245K
- Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF
We’ll be putting the new feature to the test very soon, but early testing by tech site, Tom’s Hardware, has shown a 7.5% average increase in gaming performance when gaming at 1080p on an RTX 5090. The site noted that the memory overclocking from DDR5-6400 to DDR5-8000 provided the biggest boost in performance, pointing out that simply dropping to using DDR5-7200 memory speeds reduced the overall performance increase to just 1.2%.
Nonetheless, the fact that Intel Core Ultra 200K CPU owners can now apply these settings for free, and with no concerns about warranty, is still a very welcome update. If only Intel would stop changing its motherboard sockets all the time, which it’s rumored to be doing again for its new Nova Lake socket, it would really start to garner some serious user goodwill.
For more on the top choice of motherboard to pair with your Intel CPU, have a read of our best gaming motherboard guide, which includes a wide range of options for all budgets, and check out our Core Ultra 7 265K review to see how Intel Arrow Lake CPUs perform without the new boost tech. If you’ve never flashed your motherboard before, then you can also read our guide on how to update your BIOS so you know what you’re doing.
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