The Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF is a desktop processor with 14 cores, launched in October 2024, at an MSRP of $294. It is part of the Ultra 5 lineup, using the Arrow Lake architecture with Socket 1851. Core Ultra 5 245KF has 24 MB of L3 cache and operates at 4.2 GHz by default, but can boost up to 5.2 GHz, depending on the workload. Intel is making the Core Ultra 5 245KF on a 3 nm production node using 17,800 million transistors. The silicon die of the chip is not fabricated at Intel, but at the foundry of TSMC. The multiplier is locked on Core Ultra 5 245KF, which limits its overclocking potential.
With a TDP of 125 W, the Core Ultra 5 245KF consumes a lot of power, so good cooling is definitely needed. Intel’s processor supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel interface. The highest officially supported memory speed is 6400 MT/s, but with overclocking (and the right memory modules) you can go even higher. For communication with other components in the machine, Core Ultra 5 245KF uses a PCI-Express Gen 5 connection. This processor does not have integrated graphics, you will need a separate graphics card.
Hardware virtualization is available on the Core Ultra 5 245KF, which greatly improves virtual machine performance. Additionally, IOMMU virtualization (PCI passthrough) is supported, so that guest virtual machines may directly use host hardware. Programs using Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) can run on this processor, boosting performance for calculation-heavy applications. Besides AVX, Intel is including the newer AVX2 standard, too, but not AVX-512.