- Intel revealed new Arrow Lake Refresh processors
- These are the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and Core Ultra 5 250K Plus.
- Both offer an increase in core counts over their Arrow Lake predecessors – and a whopping 15% increase in gaming performance.
Intel has launched a pair of new desktop processors, which are refreshed models that are a step forward for the company’s current Arrow Lake lineup.
Tom’s Hardware reports that these Arrow Lake Refresh chips are the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and Core Ultra 5 250K Plus. These are upgraded models of the existing Core Ultra 7 265K and Core Ultra 5 245K processors, respectively.
Robert Hallock, vice president of the Client Computing Group and general manager of Intel’s Enthusiast Channel segment, boasts: “First, the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and Ultra 5 250K Plus are the fastest desktop gaming processors Intel has ever built. Second, they almost double our competitor’s content creation performance. beat.”
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This is a big talk, so what exactly is new with these processors?
Intel has increased the core count, so the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus has eight performance cores plus 16 efficiency cores, which is four more efficiency cores than the 265K. The same treatment has been given to the Core Ultra 5 250K Plus with four additional efficiency cores, meaning it now has 12 efficiency cores to go along with its six performance cores.
As for clock speeds, they remain essentially the same as their predecessors, except for minor changes: you get 100 MHz more with the 250K, but the 270K maintains the same 5.4 GHz for performance cores as with the 265K.
Intel has made performance improvements elsewhere, however, including an increase of up to 900 MHz in the die-to-die speed of these new processors. This means lower system latency and a boost for PC gaming, Intel observes.
There’s also support for faster RAM – up to 7,200 MT/s DDR5 (compared to 6,400 MT/s on current Arrow Lake chips) – which will improve performance, as well as a new Intel Binary Optimization Tool or iBOT.
Intel explains that iBOT is “a first-of-its-kind optimization technology” that will “increase processor instructions per cycle (IPC) and user performance.”
We’re told that this tool can increase IPC in some games – think of it as a different way to increase performance aside from increasing the clock rate – and this is valid even if the game has been optimized for a different platform (like a console).
The proof will of course be in the game’s (independent) benchmarks, but Team Blue is already calling iBOT “a key aspect of Intel’s long-term performance roadmap for enthusiasts.”
In terms of gaming benchmarks for launch, Intel claims 15% faster gaming performance for the 270K Plus compared to the 265K, based on average frame rates across 38 games (at 1080p resolution, high detail, with iBOT enabled where supported).
The price of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is $299 and the MSRP of the Core Ultra 5 250K Plus is $199.
Analysis: a statement of intent from Intel
Intel has a lot of work to do to regain favor with the PC enthusiast and gaming world, as Arrow Lake was not well received by the gaming community, and before that we had these nasty stability issues with the 13th and 14th generation CPUs (which were not well received by anyone). However, this Core Ultra 200S Plus refresh – while a modest two-chip effort – is an important step toward rebuilding Intel’s desktop reputation.
The increase in gaming performance with the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is considerable, with additional cores, a speed-to-death increase, and complementary technology providing significant additional power. When you view these gains through the prism of asking prices – which are actually lower than older models, these refreshes succeed – you frankly have a powerful recipe for success.
Hallock’s PR boasts are obviously not empty, and the refreshed Arrow Lake processors here were a pleasant surprise to the gaming community and PC enthusiasts.
The only thing missing is a flagship refresh, with no 290K Plus model. This means that the flagship 285K is in a strange position, given that the new 270K Plus is its equal in core count and almost matches the former’s clocks (it’s 100MHz less in the boost stakes, but that’s not a big deal at all).
However, eyes will likely be on the Core Ultra 5 250K Plus, because at $199, it seems like a great value proposition and a much-needed breath of fresh air at a time when many PC components are becoming extremely expensive (RAM and storage, of course, as well as GPUs).
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