Intel has introduced the Core Ultra 200S Plus processors, an update to its Arrow Lake desktop chips, featuring more cores and improved performance. These new CPUs aim to address previous shortcomings in gaming compared to AMD rivals. They will be available starting March 26 at reduced prices.
Intel's Core Ultra 200S desktop chips, codenamed Arrow Lake, launched in late 2024 as significant updates to the company's lineup. These processors are power-efficient and run cooler than the older 13th- and 14th-generation Core CPUs. However, they have sometimes struggled to match the gaming performance of predecessors and have competed against AMD's Ryzen 7000 and 9000-series X3D processors, which benefit from extra L3 cache.
The new Core Ultra 200S Plus chips, referred to as Arrow Lake Refresh, include the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus, 270KF Plus, Core Ultra 5 250K Plus, and 250KF Plus. Compared to the Core Ultra 7 265K, the 270K Plus adds four more efficiency cores, totaling 24 cores (8 performance cores and 16 efficiency cores). The Core Ultra 5 250K Plus gains four efficiency cores over the 245K, reaching 6 performance cores and 12 efficiency cores.
Improvements include boosted clock speeds, support for faster DDR5-7200 memory, and a 900 MHz increase to the internal communication bus between chiplets. Intel states these changes will boost gaming performance by an average of 15 percent. The chips use the LGA 1851 socket and are compatible with 800-series chipsets after a BIOS update. K-series models include an integrated GPU with four Xe Cores and a neural processing unit capable of 13 trillion operations per second.
Pricing is set at $299 for the Core Ultra 7 270K, down from the $399 launch MSRP of the 265K (current street price around $280), and $199 for the Core Ultra 5 250K, compared to the $309 launch of the 245K (street price around $210).
Additionally, Intel is introducing the Intel Binary Optimization Tool, described as a binary translation layer to improve performance in select games optimized for other x86 CPUs, including AMD chips and console ports from PlayStation and Xbox.
