Intel has launched a Core Ultra 200S-exclusive (K processors) overclocking feature to optimize performance from the BIOS.
The New Intel 200S Boost Overclocking Profile Rolls Out to Help Gamers Gain Performance with Core Ultra 200S SKUs Without Voiding Warranty
If you own one of the Core Ultra 200S processors, especially the K-SKUs, this new feature might be your best possible hack to increase gaming performance without worrying about your CPU's warranty. Intel just introduced a new overclocking profile, which it calls "200S Boost".
The 200S Boost overclocking profile essentially optimizes your CPU to add additional gains to your system's performance, especially in games as advertised by the company. What essentially it does is that it unlocks the frequencies of fabric, die-to-die and system memory to enhance performance. As per Intel's table, you can increase the fabric clock from 2.6 GHz all the way to 3.2 GHz and the die-to-die clock from 2.1 GHz to 3.2 GHz. This is a solid uplift in clocks and the good part is that you won't be voiding your warranty through this overclocking method.
As for the memory, Intel recommends a 1DPC (1 DIMM per Channel) configuration for overclocking the RAM up to 8000 MT/s through the 200S Boost. All these tweaks are said to enhance performance in low-latency applications and games. The gaming performance of Arrow Lake CPUs, particularly the Core Ultra 200S desktop processors, wasn't that good when they came out and to this day, Intel hasn't been able to figure out a way to boost the performance.
It did roll out several BIOS updates but nothing worked. Therefore, most users still opt for AMD Ryzen 9000 CPUs, particularly the X3D ones that do the job far better than any Intel processor can. Even though we don't expect the 200S Boost to do any miracles, we speculate slight bump in performance, especially in gaming, to compete with higher-end Intel 14th gen processors or come closer to Ryzen 9000 non-X3D CPUs.
The 200S Boost will be available on select Z890 motherboards at the moment but will expand to more models when their manufacturers release a newer BIOS bundled with this feature. Intel points out that the motherboard design, memory, BIOS optimizations, and other components play a crucial role in 200S Boost overclocking and one shouldn't expect identical performance boost on different configurations.
The 200S Boost profile will be limited to the five Core Ultra 200S processors: Core Ultra 9 285K, Core Ultra 7 265K/KF, and Core Ultra 5 245K/KF. The feature won't work with 2DPC memory configuration as well, but Intel says users with 4x UDIMM configuration will still see a bump in memory speeds.
News Source: Intel
