Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and Ultra 5 250K Plus reviews reportedly drop on March 23

Intel’s Core Ultra 200K Plus reviews in 6 weeks

Intel’s unannounced Core Ultra 200S Plus desktop refresh may have a review date. Leaker HXL claims the review embargo for the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and Core Ultra 5 250K/KF is set for March 23, 2026 at 6:00 AM Pacific Time.

The same post only names two desktop SKUs, Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and Core Ultra 5 250K Plus, alongside KF variants. In Intel’s naming, KF models typically ship without an integrated GPU, while K models keep the iGPU enabled.

Intel has not publicly announced the Core Ultra 200S Plus desktop stack so far, and there is no official review schedule or SKU list. That means the March 23 date should be treated as a leak until Intel or board partners publish formal embargo guidance.

Core Ultra 7 270K Plus & Ultra 5 250K/KF review embargo at Mar/23, 2026 6AM PST.

— HXL (@9550pro) February 7, 2026

Core Ultra 290K Plus canceled

Separately, our own reporting indicates Intel has canceled the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus . That information came from two sources, and Intel has not issued a public cancellation notice.

Had it shipped, the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus would offer 24-core specs with 8 P-cores and 16 E-cores, plus similar power limits to the Core Ultra 9 285K and small frequency increases including a higher Intel Thermal Velocity Boost peak. With the 270K Plus also expected to land at 24 cores in leaks, dropping 290K Plus would reduce stack overlap at the top end.

The question is, is anyone even waiting for this update?

Arrow Lake vs Arrow Lake Refresh
VideoCardz.comUltra 9 285K Ultra 7 270K Plus🆕 Ultra 7 265K Ultra 5 250K Plus🆕 Ultra 5 245K
Cores (P+E)8P+16E 8P+16E 8P+12E 6P+12E 6P+8E
TVB5.7 GHz
Turbo Boost Max5.6 GHz 5.5 GHz 5.5 GHz
P-Core Turbo5.5 GHz 5.4 GHz 5.4 GHz 5.3 GHz 5.2 GHz
E-Core Turbo4.6 GHz 4.7 GHz 4.6 GHz 4.7 GHz 4.6 GHz
P-Core Base3.7 GHz 3.7 GHz 3.9 GHz 4.2 GHz 4.2 GHz
E-Core Base3.2 GHz 3.2 GHz 3.3 GHz 3.5 GHz 3.6 GHz
Memory SupportDDR5-6400 DDR5-7200 DDR5-6400 DDR5-7200 DDR5-6400
Base Power125 W 125 W 125 W 125 W 125 W
Max Turbo Power250 W 250 W 250 W 159 W 159 W

Source: HXL