The flagship CPU that Intel never released , the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus, has now been benchmarked & gives us an idea why it never entered retail segments.
The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus was going to be the flagship chip within the Core Ultra 200S Plus "Arrow Lake Refresh" family . This chip was expected to retain the same configuration as the Core Ultra 9 285K, & would've offered 24 cores and 24 threads. The clock speeds were going to be set at 3.7 GHz Base, 5.8 GHz boost, 36 MB of L3 cache, and 40 MB of L2 cache.
Bilibili outlet, , recently got access to the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus from one of their fans who managed to get two prototype variants of the chip from his sources close to Intel. To verify that the chip was real, it was first booted up in the BIOS, where it showed the exact "290K Plus" naming, and then the CPU was checked in the new Intel BOT (Binary Optimization Tool) app. Since only newer Intel 200S Plus CPUs can enable BOT support, the 290K Plus also checked the list, showing that it was indeed the real deal.
With that, the user proceeded to test and benchmark the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus across various apps and games. First up, the clock speeds of the chip were definitely faster than the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus at a peak 5.5 GHz P-Core boost and a peak 4.8 GHz E-Core boost when running multi-threading tests such as Cinebench.
In applications, the CPU was a marginal 2-3% faster than the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus. Versus AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D2, it was a tad bit slower in some benchmarks, and faster in some, but the differences weren't that big. Again, in Rendering, the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus was around 4% faster on average, which again is not a huge deal.
In gaming, Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus offered a maximum of 8% gain over the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus, but the average uplift was close to 2-3%. At the same time, the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 was much ahead at 1080p. A similar amount of performance can be seen in the 1440p gaming benchmarks.
51972 goes on to claim that the minor differences in performance between the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and Core Ultra 7 270K Plus could have been the reason why Intel didn't launch the flagship. He stated that with a little bit of overclocking, the 270K Plus can easily match or even exceed the performance of the 290K Plus.
| Game | U9‑290K PLUS | U7‑270K PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| CS2 | Avg FPS: 368 / 1% Low: 214 | Avg FPS: 364 / 1% Low: 212 |
| PUBG | Avg FPS: 193 / 1% Low: 99 | Avg FPS: 189 / 1% Low: 96 |
| Delta Force | Avg FPS: 234 / 1% Low: 93 | Avg FPS: 216 / 1% Low: 90 |
| Black Myth: Wukong | Avg FPS: 98 / 1% Low: 87 | Avg FPS: 99 / 1% Low: 88 |
| Resident Evil 9 | Avg FPS: 138 / 1% Low: 103 | Avg FPS: 139 / 1% Low: 100 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | Avg FPS: 206 / 1% Low: 123 | Avg FPS: 201 / 1% Low: 123 |
| Game | U9‑290K PLUS | U7‑270K PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| CS2 | Avg FPS: 352 / 1% Low: 211 | Avg FPS: 344 / 1% Low: 209 |
| PUBG | Avg FPS: 189 / 1% Low: 103 | Avg FPS: 188 / 1% Low: 94 |
| Delta Force | Avg FPS: 218 / 1% Low: 89 | Avg FPS: 204 / 1% Low: 78 |
| Black Myth: Wukong | Avg FPS: 86 / 1% Low: 76 | Avg FPS: 87 / 1% Low: 78 |
| Resident Evil 9 | Avg FPS: 95 / 1% Low: 73 | Avg FPS: 95 / 1% Low: 73 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | Avg FPS: 184 / 1% Low: 127 | Avg FPS: 183 / 1% Low: 129 |
The biggest thing going on for the 270K Plus is its pricing, with an MSRP of $299, and it , which is amazing. Meanwhile, a 290K Plus would've been priced around $399-$499, and would've made it far less valuable than the already impressive 270K Plus.
Intel Core Ultra 200S "Arrow Lake" and Arrow Lake Refresh CPU Specs:
| CPU | Cores/Threads | Base Clock (P/E Core) | Max Boost (P/E Core) | Cache (L3 / L2) | Memory Support | TDP (PL1 / PL2) | Price (SEP) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core Ultra 9 290K Plus | 24/24 (8+16) | 3.7 / 3.2 GHz | 5.8 / 4.8 GHz | 36 MB / 40 MB | DDR5-7200 | 125W / 250W | Cancelled |
| Core Ultra 9 285K | 24/24 (8+16) | 3.7 / 3.2 GHz | 5.7 / 4.6 GHz | 36 MB / 40 MB | DDR5-6400 | 125W / 250W | $589 US |
| Core Ultra 7 270K Plus | 24/24 (8+16) | 3.7 / 3.2 GHz | 5.5 / 4.7 GHz | 36 MB / 40 MB | DDR5-7200 | 125W / 250W | $299 US |
| Core Ultra 7 265K | 20/20 (8+12) | 3.9 / 3.3 GHz | 5.5 / 4.6 GHz | 30 MB / 36 MB | DDR5-6400 | 125W / 250W | $394 US |
| Core Ultra 7 265KF | 20/20 (8+12) | 3.9 / 3.3 GHz | 5.5 / 4.6 GHz | 30 MB / 36 MB | DDR5-6400 | 125W / 250W | $379 US |
| Core Ultra 5 250K Plus | 18/18 (6+12) | 4.2 / 3.5 GHz | 5.3 / 4.7 GHz | 24 MB / 26 MB ? | DDR5-7200 | 125W / 159W | $199 US |
| Core Ultra 5 245K | 14/14 (6+8) | 4.2 / 3.6 GHz | 5.2 / 4.6 GHz | 24 MB / 26 MB | DDR5-6400 | 125W / 159W | $309 US |
| Core Ultra 5 245KF | 14/14 (6+8) | 4.2 / 3.6 GHz | 5.2 / 4.6 GHz | 24 MB / 26 MB | DDR5-6400 | 125W / 159W | $294 US |
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