Intel Arrow Lake Refresh Specs Leak With Core Ultra 250K Plus and 270K Plus

Intel Core Ultra 200K Plus processors leak alongside major DirectX ray tracing optimization promising significant GPU performance improvements.

Hardware by Nakiro on Mar 05, 2026

New information about Intel’s upcoming processors and Microsoft’s latest graphics technology suggests that significant performance improvements could arrive in the near future. While some hardware updates are incremental, software advancements may deliver surprisingly large gains for gamers.

Recent leaks reveal additional details about Intel’s upcoming Core Ultra 200K Plus processors. These chips belong to the Arrow Lake refresh lineup rather than the next-generation Nova Lake architecture.

Intel Arrow Lake, Refresh Specs Leak, With Core Ultra 250K Plus, 270K Plus, NoobFeed

One notable change is the removal of the previously rumored Core Ultra 9 290K Plus processor. Instead, the refresh lineup will focus on two main models that could still offer strong performance depending on pricing.

Core Ultra 5 250K Plus Targets the Mid-Range Market

The first processor is the Core Ultra 5 250K Plus. According to the leaked specifications, the chip includes 6 performance cores and 12 efficiency cores. This configuration adds 4 extra efficiency cores compared to the 245K model.

Clock speeds have also been adjusted slightly. The processor reportedly includes a 100MHz higher turbo clock on both core types. The performance core base clock remains unchanged, while the efficiency core base clock is reduced by 100MHz.

Memory support reaches up to 7200MT/s, and the processor maintains the same TDP as the 245K. If Intel launches the chip at a similar price point, it could become an attractive option for mid-range desktop systems.

Core Ultra 7 270K Plus Offers Minor Clock Adjustments

The second processor is the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus. This model reportedly includes the same number of cores as the 285K but features slightly different clock speeds. The TDP remains consistent with both the 265K and 285K processors.

These refreshed processors are expected to be announced on March 11. Review embargoes are likely to lift around March 23, which may also coincide with the official release window. Ultimately, the success of these processors will depend heavily on how Intel chooses to price them against competing CPUs.

Intel Arrow Lake, Refresh Specs Leak, With Core Ultra 250K Plus, 270K Plus, NoobFeed

DirectX SER Could Transform Ray Tracing Performance

While CPU updates are important, a major software breakthrough from Microsoft may have an even larger impact on gaming performance. The company recently demonstrated a new technology designed to improve ray tracing efficiency within DirectX.

The technology is called Shader Execution Reordering, commonly abbreviated as SER. It is designed to optimize how GPUs handle ray tracing workloads.

Ray tracing calculations involve large numbers of complex shader operations that are often processed inefficiently. SER allows the game engine to provide hints to the GPU so it can reorder shader execution more effectively. By grouping similar workloads together, the GPU can process tasks in a more parallel and efficient way.

Early Tests Show Massive Performance Gains on Modern GPUs

Microsoft demonstrated the technology using a technical demo, and the results were impressive. When running on an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, the demo showed a performance increase of up to 40% in FPS. Intel’s Arc B-series GPUs reportedly achieved improvements as high as 90%.

These gains were achieved purely through improved workload management. The technology does not rely on upscaling techniques or frame generation systems.

Since the results come from a technical demonstration rather than a commercial game, real-world gains may be lower. Even so, a consistent improvement of around 20% would still represent a massive boost for ray tracing performance.

Game makers need to add support for SER, which means that existing games might not instantly get the benefits of the technology. But future games that use newer DirectX pipelines will probably include the capability.

As more developers start using the technique, AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel GPUs might all get better performance without needing new hardware. For gamers, this type of software optimization could significantly improve the performance of ray-traced games in the coming years.

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