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| The Intel Core Ultra 250K Plus "Arrow Lake Refresh" CPU is expected to arrive soon. |
We have covered several "Arrow Lake Refresh" leaks in the past, including benchmark numbers that left us with mixed feelings. But today, a fresh batch of data has emerged that finally paints a much clearer—and far more exciting—picture of Intel’s upcoming mid-range strategy. The upcoming Core Ultra 250K Plus has appeared on Passmark, and the performance improvements sure do look impressive.
For weeks, the tech community has been dissecting every rumor surrounding the Arrow Lake Refresh lineup, often met with confusion regarding core counts and clock speeds. However, this latest benchmark result suggests that Intel is not just refreshing for the sake of it; they are bringing significant hardware changes that could shake up the performance hierarchy in the desktop CPU market.
The Core Count Advantage
The Core Ultra 5 250K Plus is shaping up to be a fascinating successor. While it will replace the 14-core Core Ultra 5 245K, it is expected to pack an 18-core setup with 12 E-cores and 6 P-cores. That is a substantial increase in the number of energy-efficient cores, designed specifically to handle heavy multitasking and productivity workflows.
This new configuration stands in stark contrast to a previous Geekbench listing of the chip, which indicated almost identical single-core and much worse multi-core performance. At the time, industry observers suspected that was most likely an early sample that was unable to stretch its legs due to thermal or power limitations. Today’s Passmark numbers confirm that suspicion.
Breaking Down the Passmark Performance
The 18-core Core Ultra 5 250K Plus is quite the multi-core beast, and the numbers prove it. When stacked against its immediate predecessor, the 245K, the results are staggering. The single-thread score is only around 2.1% faster, which is a modest generational gain typical of a clock speed bump. However, the multicore score is a whopping 16.3% faster.
Clearly, the four additional E-cores are pulling their weight, further aided by the 100 MHz faster P-core and E-core boost clocks. For users who render video, compile code, or run virtual machines, this uplift is massive for a "Refresh" tier product.
To see the full breakdown of the benchmark data and explore the numbers yourself, you can view the official comparison here:
Core Ultra 5 250K Plus vs Core Ultra 5 245K vs AMD Ryzen 5 9600X.
Intel vs. AMD: Widening the Multi-Core Gap
Perhaps the most telling narrative in these leaks is the comparison to the competition. Compared to the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X (currently $190 on Amazon), the Core Ultra 5 250K Plus is now over a whopping 66% faster in the multithreaded test. This is a massive victory for Intel in raw throughput.
In single-core performance, the 250K Plus is ahead by a much more modest 4%. This is to be expected, since the 245K is already quite a bit faster than the 9600X in legacy benchmarks. However, it is crucial to maintain perspective here. Of course, the 9600X was the clear winner for gaming performance, and it might still be even after the 250K Plus arrives. AMD’s Zen 5 architecture still holds a slight edge in latency-sensitive tasks, but for users looking for a workstation hybrid, Intel’s offering is looking incredibly tempting.
The Bigger Picture: Arrow Lake Refresh Lineup
Apart from the aforementioned Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus, the Arrow Lake Refresh lineup will also consist of the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus, which will also feature four more E-cores with higher turbo clocks. This suggests Intel is standardizing the "Plus" moniker to indicate a significant core count upgrade over the non-Plus models.
Interestingly, the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus, however, was reportedly canceled, owing to product overlap that exceeded Intel's tastes. It seems the company is keen on keeping the halo products exclusive to the initial Arrow Lake release, preventing the Refresh line from cannibalizing sales of its own flagship SKUs.
For more details on the architecture and the discovery of these benchmarks, you can check out the coverage from the original source: TechPowerUp.
Final Thoughts
With a 16% multi-threaded uplift on the table, the Core Ultra 5 250K Plus is looking like the sleeper hit of the Arrow Lake Refresh generation. If Intel can price this competitively against AMD's Ryzen 5 lineup—and maintain the gaming performance we expect from the 245K—they might just have the perfect mid-range brawler on their hands.
As always, these are leaked benchmarks, so take them with a grain of silicon until official reviews drop. But if these numbers hold true, the 250K Plus will be a monster for productivity on a budget.
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| Core Ultra 5 250K Plus vs Core Ultra 5 245K vs AMD Ryzen 5 9600X. |