There are no miracles, just hard work: Five problems are said to have slowed down the Intel Core Ultra 200S at launch, four of which Intel has now fixed with BIOS updates and updates for Windows 11 24H2. The 5th fix should bring additional “single-digit” gaming performance in January. This doesn't make the Arrow Lake-S a high-flyer either.
“Single-digit” increases with microcode update 114 from January
If a manufacturer offers an increase in performance in the “single-digit range“Announced, then it is clear that the increase will definitely not be higher. In view of Intel's latest performance forecasts for Arrow Lake (the company had previously indicated gaming performance at the same level as its predecessor and only five percent behind AMD's X3D), such announcements should be treated with particular caution – because in the Core Ultra 200S test things turned out differently.
But first things first.
Intel identifies five problem areas
Shortly after the launch of the Core Ultra 200S, which was disappointing in terms of gaming performance, Robert Hallock, responsible for technical marketing at Intel, explained that the company would try to unlock more performance via a microcode update.
Intel let the launch of Arrow Lake go wrong in October in several ways due to its own mistakes: Windows 11 24H2 was not yet at the level it needed, and there were also immature BIOS versions and missing drivers and software. In total, there were five major construction sites, Intel explains today:
- A missing Performance & Power Management (PPM) package.
- Intel Application Performance Optimizer (APO) failed to take effect
- BSODs when attempting to launch game titles using the Easy Anti-Cheat service.
- Select performance settings that were misconfigured by the checker or BIOS operations that were enabled early.
- New BIOS performance optimizations
Intel
ComputerBase had raised the first problem on the day (best performance vs. balanced: Core Ultra 200 is too slow with Windows' standard profile), and the editorial team had already reported on the third problem – but at that time only in connection with the 12th. Gen Core – reported (blue screens: Windows 11 24H2, Easy Anti-Cheat and 12th Gen Core in the clinch. Intel now cites problems with the Application Performance Optimizer (APO) tool and incorrectly configured motherboards among testers as further points.
Four problems in the test had no influence
While the first point only occurred in the Windows energy profile “Balanced” and could be remedied by switching to “Highest Performance” (as ComputerBase had also tested), problems 2 and 4 are said to have ensured that games running with APO ran faster are running, couldn't live faster. In ComputerBase's test course there are indications that the only relevant game was Cyberpunk 2077 and its APO profile was not yet ready at launch – another own goal.
Four problem areas have been resolved
According to Intel, points 1 to 4 have already been fixed. This now requires at least Windows 11 24H2 Build 2314 and a BIOS with microcode update 113. In fact, the editorial team can confirm that the balanced, high-performance issue is history. And the extremely poor performance of the new CPUs in Cyberpunk 2077 has now been resolved.
Microcode update 114 with gaming booster
The last point is addressed with the microcode update 114, which is currently in the testing phase and is scheduled for widespread delivery from January 2025 – but the first manufacturers are already distributing it (as a beta). This update should then be paused and not only about APO says that they will produce single-digit performance gains in gaming, according to the forecast. ComputerBase will try to follow up on this as soon as possible.
The year 2025 in focus
Intel will publish more information on this topic at CES 2025 in early January. The timing is certainly relevant, after all, from January onwards the entire range of affordable mainboards with new chipsets as well as many other processors from the Arrow Lake S series below the K CPUs will come onto the market. Then all the major OEM partners also jump on board. So far, Arrow Lake has been more of a DIY product and a flop there. Most recently, system integrators also said that so far almost no one has bought these solutions. Intel wants and must straighten this out for 2025.
ComputerBase received information about this report from Intel under NDA. The only requirement was the earliest possible release date.
