The anticipation surrounding Intel’s upcoming gaming CPUs is reaching a crescendo, with recent benchmark leaks hinting at the imminent arrival of the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus. This new addition promises to enhance the gaming experience, showcasing a notable increase in core count compared to its predecessor, the Core Ultra 7 265K. The 270K Plus introduces an additional four E-Cores, which, while not significantly impacting gaming performance, will undoubtedly bolster the chip’s capabilities in multi-threaded tasks such as video encoding and 3D rendering.
Intel’s Arrow Lake architecture has already demonstrated its strengths in multi-threaded performance, cool operation, and power efficiency, as highlighted in our review of the Core Ultra 7 265K. Although recent benchmarks indicate that Intel is closing the gap in gaming performance, AMD’s X3D chips still maintain a lead in this arena.
Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus specs leak
The specifications for the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus have surfaced through a benchmark listing on Geekbench, despite Intel’s official announcement still pending:
| Core Ultra 270K Plus | |
| Total cores | 24 |
| P-Cores | 8 |
| E-Cores | 16 |
| Base clock | 3.7GHz |
| Peak boost clock | 5,487MHz (likely 5.5GHz) |
| L3 cache | 36MB |
| Architecture | Intel Arrow Lake |
| Socket | Intel LGA1851 |
While the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus may not immediately claim a spot on the list of best gaming CPUs upon its release, Intel appears to be strategically enhancing the chip by increasing core counts to leverage the strengths of the Arrow Lake architecture. This approach mirrors Intel’s previous strategy with the Core i7 14700K, which also saw a core count increase while retaining the same architectural foundation as its predecessor.
What sets the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus apart is its core configuration: with eight P-Cores and 16 E-Cores, it matches the core count of the higher-end Core Ultra 9 285K. In contrast, the Core i9 14900K maintained a four E-Core advantage over the 14700K. As for the anticipated Core Ultra 9 refresh, now speculated to be named the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus, it may not surpass its predecessor in core count but could feature enhanced clock speeds for differentiation.
The benchmark leak also reveals some clock speed details for the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus. Its base clock is listed at 3.7GHz, slightly lower than the 265K’s base clock, while the maximum boost clock is recorded at 5,487MHz. However, these figures stem from a Lenovo machine flagged as “invalid,” suggesting that the CPU in question may be an engineering sample. Thus, the final specifications may vary. A boost clock of 5.5GHz seems plausible if Intel opts to focus on core counts over clock speed for this release.
Importantly, users with existing Intel Arrow Lake systems will likely find that upgrading to the new CPU won’t necessitate a motherboard change, as it utilizes the LGA1851 socket. This means a simple BIOS flash on current boards should suffice for compatibility. For those contemplating a new build, our guide to selecting the best gaming motherboard may prove helpful.
The question remains: will this new offering from Intel be sufficient to challenge AMD’s dominance, or should enthusiasts hold out for the forthcoming Nova Lake? Engaging discussions are welcome in our community Discord server.
