Today, Intel launched their new Core Ultra “Plus” series processors:
- Core™ Ultra 5 250K Plus
- Core™ Ultra 7 270K Plus
Let’s look at the specs, differences from the existing line-up, and who are these chips aimed at?
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Intel’s “Arrow Lake” architecture has been available for some time, with the initial launch in October 2024. These chips were met with initial criticism as they under-performed in gaming, and even offered mediocre benefits in productivity-based workloads over the outgoing Rocket Lake architecture, which is supposed to be Intel’s strong suit. Through Windows Updates, driver updates, and additional tweaks to software such as Intel’s Dynamic Tuning Technology, some of these issues have been addressed… but the gaming performance is still underwhelming. PC enthusiasts also reported that the value proposition was low, given the high pricing of both DDR5 and Z890 motherboards at launch.
Intel seeks to rectify the underwhelming gaming performance through the launch of today’s new CPUs: Core Ultra 5 250K Plus and Core Ultra 7 270K Plus. Variants with the integrated Intel graphics disabled are also planned as “KF” editions of the same SKUs.
| Model | Core configuration | Max P-core Boost | Official Max RAM speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core Ultra 9 285K | 8P+16E | 5.6GHz | DDR5-6400 |
| Core Ultra 7 270K Plus | 8P+16E | 5.5GHz | DDR5-7200 |
| Core Ultra 7 265K | 8P+12E | 5.5GHz | DDR5-6400 |
| Core Ultra 5 250K Plus | 6P+12E | 5.3GHz | DDR5-7200 |
| Core Ultra 5 245K | 6P+8E | 5.2GHz | DDR5-6400 |
Some SKUs omitted for brevity.
It’s plain to see the improvements of the new “Plus” SKUs, as the Ultra 5 250K Plus strikes a balance between the existing 245K and 265K in core-count and boost behavior; while the Ultra 7 270K Plus is practically a 285K with less-aggressive boost behavior. In addition to the higher rated DDR5 memory support, there are additional improvements behind-the-scenes; Intel has improved the fabric speed for die-to-die communications from its old default 2.6GHz to a new, automatically-enabled 3.2GHz. This was already possible on existing SKUs by enabling “200S Boost Mode” in the BIOS of select motherboards, which alone could increase performance by up to 7% in some gaming scenarios - think of this like the Infinity Fabric on AMD’s Ryzen chiplet architecture. However, despite all of this, it might be too little, too late…
Intel’s LGA1851 platform and 800-series chipsets are on their last leg; it is widely rumored (all but confirmed) that the follow-up to Arrow Lake, codename Nova Lake, arrives in late 2026 with an all-new, incompatible LGA1954 socket. This begs the question, who is this refresh even for? No one who already owns a Core Ultra system would be likely to upgrade to one of the new SKUs, as the improvements are marginal at best. This is not the type of uplift that excites existing users.
New builders and system buyers who are buying into the LGA1851 platform today are potentially stuck without an upgrade path going forward, as we don’t anticipate anything above the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus. Not to mention the still-underwhelming gaming performance; despite all of these improvements, the new Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is generally beaten by AMD’s last-gen Ryzen 7 7800X3D in gaming scenarios even with the Intel “Platform Performance Package” installed, which is the successor to Dynamic Tuning Technology.
So who would buy this? Our conclusion is simple; there are a very specific set of requirements for somebody to be interested in purchasing one of the new Intel Ultra “Plus” CPUs. The user must:
- Be a power user with productivity-related tasks at the forefront of their usage scenario
- Be currently using a platform such as Intel 11th gen or AM4, or older
- Not particularly care about their future CPU upgrade path
- Be accepting of gaming performance that is nearly tied (but slightly behind) AMD’s last generation chip
If even ONE of these requirements are not met, then we conclude the user would be far better served by an AMD solution on Socket AM5.
Are you interested in buying one of the new Intel Core Ultra “Plus” CPUs? What are your usage scenarios, and what features entice you? Leave us a comment below and we’ll be sure to respond.
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