Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus
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- iGPU:
- Intel Graphics (4-core Xe-LPG)
- Boost/Base Clock:
- 5.6 GHz / 3.7 GHz (P-core); E-core up to 4.8 GHz
- Core/Thread Count:
- 24 Core / 24 Thread (8 P-cores + 16 E-cores)
- Cache:
- 76MB total (36MB L3 + 40MB L2)
- NPU:
- 13 TOPS INT8
- TDP:
- 125 Watts base, up to 250 Watts Turbo (PL1/PL2)
- CPU Socket:
- LGA1851 (FCLGA1851)
- CPU Process Node:
- TSMC 3nm (compute tile)
- CPU Series:
- Arrow Lake Refresh, Intel Core Ultra 200S Plus
- Memory Support:
- DDR5-7200, 2-Channel
- PCIe Lanes:
- 24 (PCIe 5.0)
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Manufacturer: Intel Last updated: September 8, 2026
Launched in March 2026, the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is the flagship of Intel's "Arrow Lake Refresh" family, marketed as Core Ultra 200S Plus. It succeeds the Core Ultra 9 285K on the same LGA1851 socket and 800-series chipset, keeping the identical 24-core, 24-thread layout (8 performance cores plus 16 efficiency cores) and 76MB total cache pool, while raising P-core boost by 100MHz to 5.6 GHz and E-core boost by 200MHz to 4.8 GHz.
Intel also increased die-to-die and ring bus clock speeds on the Plus family, and bumped official memory support to DDR5-7200, up from DDR5-6400 on the original Arrow Lake launch. The chip is unlocked for overclocking, built on a chiplet design with the compute tile manufactured at TSMC on a 3nm process, and runs at a 125W base power with up to 250W under Turbo.
Intel Graphics (Xe-LPG)
A modest 4-core Xe-LPG integrated GPU, adequate for display output and light desktop use but not intended as a gaming solution; this is a chip built around a discrete GPU pairing for anyone who wants integrated graphics purely as a fallback or for a headless build.
How Is the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus in Terms of Performance
Intel's own testing reports roughly a 7% single-thread and 9% multi-thread uplift over the outgoing Core Ultra 9 285K, and claims a 2% single-core and 11% multi-core advantage over AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D in the benchmarks Intel has published. The Plus family's gains come primarily from the higher die-to-die and ring clock speeds Intel added platform-wide, alongside the core clock increases, rather than from a new silicon design; Intel has also shipped a new Binary Optimization Tool alongside the launch aimed specifically at improving enthusiast workload performance.
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 Single-Core scores estimate real-world responsiveness in everyday use: a browser, office applications, and most games lean on one fast core more than many slower ones. Geekbench 6 Multi-Core scores estimate performance under genuinely parallel workloads: video encoding, 3D rendering, compiling code, and running several demanding applications at once. Cinebench 2024 measures sustained multi-threaded rendering specifically and is a useful cross-check against Geekbench for workloads that hold every core at high load for minutes rather than seconds. See the benchmark comparison chart above for how this chip measures up against others in its class.