Recent Geekbench Browser database entries have outed test scores and basic specifications for two of Intel's upcoming "Arrow Lake Refresh" flagships. On January 13, a not-yet-launched Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus mobile unit was tracked in a new Acer Predator Helios gaming laptop . A few hours earlier, Team Blue's Core Ultra 9 290K Plus desktop chip entered the fray onboard a test rig built around Gigabyte's top-level and world record-holding Z890 AORUS TACHYON ICE mainboard configured with 48 GB DDR5-8000 of system memory. This leak shows the future 24-core "Arrow Lake Refresh" range topper posting overall scores of 3456 single-core and 24610 multicore points in Geekbench 6.5 test scenarios. Naturally, news reports have quickly compared the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus to a nearby non-refreshed "Arrow Lake" part— Core Ultra 9 285K .

The newcomer managed to build upon the current flagship's officially ranked achievements (based upon multiple entries); doing 7% better in single-core stakes, and 9% in multicore tests. When compared to AMD's fanciest "Granite Ridge" desktop offering— Ryzen 9 9950X3D —the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is 2% faster in terms of single-core results, and 11% above in multicore. Interestingly, the lesser Core Ultra 9 270K Plus model was Geekbenched in December —producing 3235 (single-core) and 21368 (multicore) tallies. The flagship "Arrow Lake-S Refresh" SKU is about 7% and 15% faster (respectively) than its (also) 24-core sibling. According to Geekbench diagnostic data and other specification leaks, the two (8P + 16E) siblings feature minor differences in core clock speeds, so it is possible that Team Blue engineers have tuned the more expensive option to a greater degree. Golden Pig Upgrade has proposed a March/April launch window for the Core Ultra 200 Plus desktop family, consisting of the two aforementioned models and an 18-core (6P + 12E) Core Ultra 5 250K Plus SKU .