Any hopes that Intel would bring the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus to market have evaporated. Following the launch of its Arrow Lake Refresh CPUs, the company has outright said it’s not going to make the rumoured would-be flagship processor.
In an interview with Club386, we asked Robert Hallock, Intel’s VP and GM of its enthusiast channel, about the potential for a more powerful chip that could replace the 285K. “I’m sure you saw the rumours of the 290K,” said Hallock, “we’re not going to make one.”
Explaining the decision, Hallock said that “we had a choice, because we absolutely want to put all the performance of this wafer in the Ultra 7 and Ultra 5, and it was just a choice of how we want to run the business.” Basically, it looks as though Intel wanted to prioritise a high-volume product that would sell well, and wouldn’t need specially-binned dies that could run at high clock speeds.
So, despite 290K Plus benchmarks appearing in recent filings, there’s currently zero chance the CPU will ever see a mass market release. While the enthusiast in me bemoans this decision, I understand where Intel is coming from as a business.
Hallock tells us that the 285K will still remain available, confirming that “We’re not EOLing it”. He says the chip will be available at “promotional pricing”, but cost and availability will vary across regions. At the time of writing, the Intel CPU is available on Amazon for $557, but I expect prices will come tumbling down in the near future. According to our test results, the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus is a far better buy at $299, consistently outperforming the more-expensive chip, so a price cut feels inevitable.
This isn’t to say that Intel will stop competing with AMD beyond the $300 mark. The Nova Lake release date is fast approaching, likely arriving at the tail-end of the year, and rumours of 52-core configurations have me very excited to see what the company’s cooking up.
In our interview with Hallock, we also discussed the possibility of Intel adopting multi-generational socket support, and you can expect more cuts from our conversation soon. Until then, give our best CPU guide a look to learn more about our favourite chips on the market.
