Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Flagship CPU Fate Confirmed After Benchmark Sightings

After months of benchmark leaks, the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus was a no-show when Intel unveiled its first Arrow Lake Refresh processors, which saw the launch of the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and Core Ultra 5 250K Plus on the desktop (see our review), along with a couple of mobile variants, the Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and Core Ultra 270HX Plus. So, what happened? Turns out Intel is content with its existing desktop models and isn't planning to launch to launch a new flagship in Arrow Lake Refresh trim.

It's a bit surprising, both because the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus was spotted in numerous leaks, including a retail listing in December of last year and, more recently, on Geekbench where it posted impressive scores, and because Intel's mobile lineup received a 290-tier refresh.

Be that as it may, Intel stated in no uncertain terms that it is not planning to launch a Core Ultra 9 290K Plus, not soon and not ever.

"Intel is excited to deliver exceptional value with our Intel Core Ultra 200S Plus series processors. The Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus are positioned to deliver outstanding gaming performance and incredible value compared to our competition. Our objective was to maximize performance for the desktop SKUs that are most widely available. As a result, Intel is not launching a U9 290K Plus SKU," Intel's Florian Maislinger said in a statement to PCGamesHardware.

Like the Core Ultra 9 285K, the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus that showed up in benchmark leaks touted 8 performance cores and 16 efficiency cores for 24 total cores, but with with faster clocks speeds (up to 5.8GHz versus 5.7GHz) and faster memory support (DDR5-7200 versus DDR5-6400).

Beyond the faster clocks and faster memory support, Arrow Lake Refresh introduces support for Intel's Binary Optimization Tool on the desktop, which is intended to make makes and applications run more efficiently for a gaming boost in supported titles.

Alas, Intel's statement to PCGH (as spotted by Videocardz) makes it clear that we're not getting a Core Ultra 9 290K Plus, despite the various leaks. While disappointing, those wanting a top-tier processor are probably better served waiting for Nova Lake at this point, which is expected to introduce a new socket that may end up spanning several generations of CPUs.