Intel Arrow Lake non-K 65W CPU box packaging leaked — Bulky design alludes to included stock cooler, likely arriving next month at CES

It's almost time for CES and as is tradition, Intel and AMD are anticipated to unveil their budget non-K / non-X family of processors in conjunction with affordable motherboards. Hardware data aggregator, momomo_us on X, has shared the box packaging of Intel's Arrow Lake non-K processors, expected to launch next month. The bulky design suggests the inclusion of a stock cooler, something missing from the K-lineup; not that you'd use a simple cooler with an unlocked chip anyway.

Going over the shared images, Intel is preparing a total of five different SKUs; the Core Ultra 9 285, Core Ultra 7 265/F, and the Core Ultra 5 245/F. Of course, these are just the 65W variants and their respective iGPU-less counterparts. Intel is also expected to announce the Arrow Lake T-lineup with a TDP of 35W. Rumored benchmarks show that the Core Ultra 9 285 beats the i9-14900K, at least in Geekbench. It's slightly disappointing this leak doesn't mention anything about the Core Ultra 3 200 series but they could also be slated for launch sometime later.

The packaging features lighter blue tones compared to the unlocked K-lineup, though still darker than previous generations. Nonetheless, the large box likely means that Intel will ship, at least the boxed versions of its non-K series, with a stock cooler. You'd still need to buy a new cooler should you opt for OEM/Tray models. Nothing new here but the reference cooler for LGA 1851 will likely be different and could feature a new design, but that's just a guess.

In terms of platform support, AM5 still has an edge over LGA 1851. Intel is yet to confirm if it plans to support future generations on LGA 1851, while AMD has promised support until 2027; just in time for Zen 6 following a two-year cadence. Likewise, budget B650 offerings have dropped in pricing so Intel needs a solid foundation to allure budget-conscious customers towards its platform.

Then we have the obvious Arrow Lake performance inconsistency debacle. Intel has addressed most of the issues, but a few remaining quirks are expected to be ironed out in January. Nova Lake should be the next major desktop launch from Intel, projected for 2027. In between Arrow Lake and Nova Lake exist several mobile-only generations such as Panther Lake and Wildcat Lake. While it is theoretically possible to port say Panther Lake to LGA 1851, let's wait for news from Intel or leakers; whichever comes first.