Intel has unveiled two new desktop CPUs as a refresh of the current Arrow Lake generation.
Intel has officially unveiled the long-awaited refresh of the Arrow Lake generation, which was launched in October 2024.
The new “Core Ultra 200S Plus” series will be launched in just under two weeks. With this move, Intel aims to offer stronger competition to AMD’s current Ryzen 9000 CPUs.
What the upcoming processors have to offer
While the new “Nova Lake” generation with up to 52 cores could be released at the end of 2026, Intel has now introduced two new models from the current processor generation.
The Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus and Core Ultra 7 270K Plus will launch on March 26, 2026.
The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is a 24-core processor that will be available starting at $299. The Core Ultra 5 250K Plus has 18 cores and will cost at least $199. Both CPUs will also be available as KF variants without integrated graphics.
Key information about the new processors:
- Higher core count: The new processors offer additional efficiency cores (4 more E-cores than their predecessors).
- Die-to-die frequency boost: An increase in D2D frequency of up to 900 MHz increases the speed of the CPU memory controller connection, which reduces system latency and improves gaming performance.
- Intel Binary Optimization Tool: This new technology optimizes instruction sequences (IPC) to improve performance in selected games, even if they were originally optimized for other architectures.
- Compatibility: The processors are compatible with existing 800 series motherboards.
How fast should the CPUs be?
Compared to the Core Ultra 7 265K, Intel claims that the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is 15 percent faster. Core Ultra 5 250K Plus offers an average increase of 13 percent over the Core Ultra 5 245K.
Intel shows the direct duel with AMD in its own presentation of the CPUs in comparison with the Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X.
AMD’s top X3D models are therefore not being targeted with the new processors.
However, independent tests have yet to show how well they perform overall, both in comparison with similarly priced CPUs from AMD and in terms of their general price-performance ratio.
