Intel's new Core Ultra 200S series of desktop processors launched to a mostly negative response, due to the regression in gaming performance compared to the previous generation of chips. However, they are pretty good at content creation tasks and they consume far less power in gaming, so they could be suitable for some folks. But what motherboard do you buy?
The new Arrow Lake CPUs only fit into an LGA1851 socket, so you can't fit one in a previous-generation motherboard. At the moment, there's only one chipset available (Z890) and most board vendors have focused on creating ATX-sized models that are quite expensive. Then again, if one is going to spend over $500 on a Core Ultra 9 285K, you're probably best off getting a suitably capable motherboard to ensure the setup lasts you as long as possible.
