Intel scraps flagship chip
Intel officially cancelled the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus from its Arrow Lake Refresh lineup — a move meant to simplify the stack as Intel pivots to new products. (gsmgotech.com) At the same time a Wildcat Lake low‑power SKU, the 'Core 3 304', surfaced in Geekbench showing about double single‑core performance versus last‑gen in early listings. (startupnews.fyi) (tipranks.com)
Intel is positioning the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus as the top Arrow Lake Refresh SKU, listing an 8 P‑core / 16 E‑core configuration and a stated maximum turbo of 5.5 GHz in Intel communications cited by TechPowerUp. (techpowerup.com) Reported frequencies for the refresh show P‑cores boosting to about 5.4 GHz (base 3.7 GHz) and E‑cores to about 4.7 GHz (base 3.2 GHz), figures said to be roughly 100–200 MHz below earlier rumors for the higher‑binned flagship. (techpowerup.com) Leaked benchmark traces that circulated before Intel’s update indicated the shelved flagship had shown approximately a 10% advantage over the Core Ultra 9 285K in some Geekbench runs, according to reporting on those leaks. (techpowerup.com) A new Geekbench entry lists an Intel Wildcat Lake “Core 3 304” as a 5‑core 1+4 cluster with a 1.50 GHz base and a 4.28–4.30 GHz peak, posting 2,472 single‑core and 6,708 multi‑core points in the public database. (videocardz.com) That Core 3 304 result translates to roughly an 84–86% single‑core uplift and about a 49% multi‑core gain versus the N300/Twin Lake predecessors in comparative benchmarking cited by Wccftech and Yahoo. ( ) Analysts and the coverage emphasize the listing is an early engineering sample with one P‑core apparently disabled and that Wildcat Lake is being pitched at higher low‑power envelopes (around 9–15W, with many parts at ~15W), so final retail performance and thermals could change before launch. (tech.yahoo.com)
