Intel shores up its desktop CPU lineup with boosted Core Ultra 200S Plus chips

"The Core Ultra 200S Plus processors (also referred to as Arrow Lake Refresh, in some circles) add more processor cores, boost clock speeds, add support for faster memory, and speed up the internal communication between different parts of the processor. Collectively, Intel says these improvements will boost gaming performance by an average of 15 percent."

"The Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and 270KF Plus add four more efficiency cores compared to the Core Ultra 7 265K, bringing the total number of cores to 24 (8 P-cores and 16 E-cores). If you wanted that many CPU cores previously, you would have had to spring for a Core Ultra 9 chip."

Intel's Core Ultra 200S desktop chips, launched in late 2024, offered power efficiency and cooler operation but sometimes underperformed in gaming compared to older 13th and 14th-generation processors, particularly against AMD's Ryzen 7000 and 9000-series X3D chips. To strengthen its desktop lineup, Intel introduced the Core Ultra 200S Plus processors, featuring additional cores, increased boost clock speeds, faster memory support, and enhanced internal processor communication. The Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and 270KF Plus add four efficiency cores for a total of 24 cores, while the Core Ultra 5 250K Plus and 250KF Plus add four E-cores, reaching 18 total cores. These upgrades collectively deliver approximately 15 percent average gaming performance improvement.

Read at Ars Technica