Intel Core Ultra 200S Saga: 3 Months of Fixes Benchmarked!

[Kenrou]

TLDR: non-zero difference

"Since Intel's terrible launch In October 2024, we have created content discussing the Intel Core 200S processors multiple times - but today Leo gathers 3 months of bug fixes and updates into one video. Are these processors now finally fit for the hardcore PC gamer audience? Leos arrives at a verdict."

00:00 Back story
01:19 Industry updates
03:13 Leo discusses
03:53 Latest Intel updates with Robert Hallock
10:17 Leo’s thesis and his thoughts
12:53 Memory latency
13:47 Leo shares his notes
15:09 Cinebench 2024 Multi Core
15:48 Cinebench 2024 Single Core
16:43 Geekbench 6 Multi Core
17:24 Geekbench 6 Single Core
17:58 CPU Power Consumption
18:53 Cyberpunk 2077
19:56 Far Cry 6
20:50 Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
22:11 Total War Pharaoh
23:16 Assassin's Creed Mirage
24:03 Leos closing thoughts

 

[Woomack]

Maybe I missed something, but there was no update/fix for a month. It's more like 2 months of fixes, as Intel still hasn't released the one that was supposed to be released in December

 

[mackerel]

I can't be bothered to watch the whole thing, but I saw a screenshot of what looked like a bios from December, presuming that is what was tested. If so, he's basically a month late to that party. e.g. TechPowerUp released their testing of that microcode on December 19. https://www.techpowerup.com/review/arrow-lake-retested-with-latest-24h2-updates-and-new-bios/

Maybe I missed something, but there was no update/fix for a month. It's more like 2 months of fixes, as Intel still hasn't released the one that was supposed to be released in December

The last release was the microcode update in December. The promised "final" fix was the CME firmware thing "January". They still have a working week to get that out to not be late.

 

[mackerel]

After seeing some reports elsewhere, I went back to this video. The content is still bad in that, unless I missed it, it remains unclear what was tested. Description mentions the the mobo used, which had a bios update mid January presumably with the fix. I'll wait for someone else to do a better presented test than try to unravel this mess.

Intel's summary:

Intel® Core Ultra 200S Series Field Update Overview

The document provides an overview of the Intel® Core Ultra 200S Series field update, detailing performance improvements and known issues. It includes information on the correct performance baseline, the impact of various power plans, and the resolution of specific performance issues. The...

www.intel.com

 

[Woomack]

I see that ASUS released a BIOS with the mentioned fix. Gigabyte probably did, too, but there is no info in patch notes except that the latest Win11 updates are required for optimal performance. MSI has a BIOS from mid-January but no description at all. ASRock has the last BIOS from December. Since I only have ASRock in tests right now, I won't check it.

 

[unsafesteagle]

Ya I noticed those over the weekend ASUS "game mode" and also dynamic RGB pass to windows os ..
Gigabyte aero has updated their beta bios couple days ago haven't loaded that up yet

 

[Woomack]

I'm more curious why Civilization VII is not available with Intel CPUs in all EU stores that I checked, and some in the US, too. If anyone missed it, there is a promo - the new Assassin's Creed and Civilization VII with any Core Ultra CPU (and some other stuff). For some reason, the list of stores is very short. Still all stores I checked have only Assassin's Creed, but no Civilization VII, and both should be added to CPUs and PCs.

 

[Woomack]

I see that ASUS released a BIOS with the mentioned fix. Gigabyte probably did, too, but there is no info in patch notes except that the latest Win11 updates are required for optimal performance. MSI has a BIOS from mid-January but no description at all. ASRock has the last BIOS from December. Since I only have ASRock in tests right now, I won't check it.

I don't know if it wasn't listed before or if I missed it, but ASRock BIOS from 26 Dec includes the mentioned fix. However, I haven't noticed any significant differences in performance. I'm using the ASRock Z890 OCF with the latest Win11 updates, and my FarCry 6, Cyberpunk 2077, 3DMark Time Spy, or AIDA64 latency results are barely better. Intel claims a 10-97% performance difference in those benchmarks. It would be hard to miss. The 30%+ gains are between power plans, but additional improvements are supposed to be on the same power plan, and still, 10-30% better results when I see nothing.

 

[mackerel]

I don't know if it wasn't listed before or if I missed it, but ASRock BIOS from 26 Dec includes the mentioned fix.

The December releases were for the microcode update, but the full and final fix also required a CSME update which seems to have been released around mid-January.

 

[Woomack]

The December releases were for the microcode update, but the full and final fix also required a CSME update which seems to have been released around mid-January.

It was released earlier and just officially introduced in mid-January (10 or 11). ASRock used the full package on the latest beta from the end of December. ASUS used it on the 10th of January and others some days later. This is why I returned to this thread: I thought that ASRock had the older package, but it matches all the stuff others released in mid-January.

ASRock OCF BIOS:


Intel docs:

 

[Woomack]

Little update:
In Black Desert Online, Balanced and Performance plans work about the same right now - ~150FPS on the same spot. However, the Power Saver plan gives ~60FPS less, and the CPU (P-core) frequency drops to ~3.2GHz (~40W package power in hwinfo64).
So they fixed the Balanced plan, but the Power Saver is still broken.
This is on ASRock Z890I Nova - the latest BIOS and Windows updates.

I haven't noticed any performance gains using the Performance plan, but I will try to test some more when I rebuild the test rig (or simply start testing B850 mobos in the upcoming days).

 

[mackerel]

So they fixed the Balanced plan, but the Power Saver is still broken.

That raises the question, what is the expected behaviour for these power plans? I just tried quickly looking but I'm not seeing a good description of what it actually does anywhere.

The description on my system:

 

[Woomack]

The Power Saver has a wider range of min and max frequency and power management. Like in laptops it's often the default plan and has the CPU management between 5-100%, and more often drops to the minimum to save the power. Additionally, other devices and screen are turning off much faster to save the power.
The Balanced's times before devices "go to sleep" are longer than the Power Saver's times, and it keeps frequencies higher for longer.

On older Intel and AMD processors, the Power Saver plan was still boosting the frequency to the max but kept it around a minimum more often when the CPU was under light load. Right now, it's even below the base frequency specified by Intel. Here is how it looks on my 265K under load:

 

[unsafesteagle]

My 265k loaded up smooth like butter , altho custom boost frequency was not.
cpu only boosted to 5.2 ghz

 

[Woomack]

Overclocking or manual settings, in general, are very confusing compared to the last generations. You may leave something from the power management or additional voltages a bit too low or too high, and it will affect other settings, causing low frequency or throttling-like behavior. It took me some time to figure out some settings.

 

[Kenrou]

TLDR: Meh

"Intel Core Ultra 200S: 104 Days Later - Final Review & Performance Insights" ⇾ "Leo finally brings the end to the 3 and a half month Intel Core Ultra 200S saga with a review featuring all the latest bug fixes and patches. its been a long journey and now we can finally move onto the motherboard content."

00:00 Intro
01:10 Architectural recap / pricing
07:01 Retesting and hardware
10:33 Cinebench 2024 Multi Core
11:41 Cinebench 2024 Single Core
12:33 Geekbench 6 Multi Core
13:02 Geekbench 6 Single Core
13:34 CPU power consumption
14:22 7-ZIP V24 Benchmark
15:12 AIDA64 Memory Bandwidth
16:01 Memory latency
16:46 3DMark TimeSpy
17:28 Far Cry 6
18:13 Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
18:55 Assassins Creed Mirage
19:20 Total War Pharaoh
20:08 Cyberpunk 2077
20:53 Leos considers the platform

 

[Woomack]

Isn't it the same as the last one? I mean content-wise, but maybe slightly updated. I haven't heard about any updates other than those from early January, which was covered some time ago. There has been no new BIOS and no new Windows updates since then.

 

[EarthDog]

Isn't it the same as the last one? I mean content-wise, but maybe slightly updated. I haven't heard about any updates other than those from early January, which was covered some time ago. There has been no new BIOS and no new Windows updates since then.

LOL, yes.. it's just this YTer getting his piece.

 

[Woomack]

I know barely anyone cares about new Intel CPUs nowadays, but ASRock just released a new beta BIOS that says:
1. Update Intel Microcode 0x116.
2. Update Intel ME version. (19.0.0.1895)

I'm just starting tests of the 3rd B860 mobo, so I can compare it.

Edit:
So far, it doesn't look any better. AIDA64 latency is even worse.

 

[EarthDog]

I didnt notice a difference either.... latency didn't change a lot at all on my end.