A new Intel CPU lineup is reportedly in the works, based on the Arrow Lake architecture used in its existing Core Ultra 200 gaming CPUs. According to the latest rumor, the Intel Arrow Lake refresh is coming to both desktops and laptops, and given Intel’s previous naming strategies, it could possibly use Intel Core Ultra 300 branding.
Previous rumors had pointed to the Intel Core Ultra 200 range being the only CPUs to use the new LGA1851 motherboard socket, severely limiting its longevity compared to AMD’s AM4 and AM5 sockets. However, if this rumor is true, you could buy the best gaming motherboard you can afford for Intel Arrow Lake now, and potentially still be able to upgrade to a next-gen CPU later.
This latest rumor comes from regular tech leaker Golden Pig Upgrade Pack in a post on the Weibo forums, which was spotted by Videocardz. According to a Google translation of the leaker’s post, “After Arrow Lake S Refresh, Arrow Lake HX Refresh is confirmed to return,” where Arrow Lake S refers to desktop CPUs, and Arrow Lake HX refers to Intel’s high-end laptop gaming CPU range.
“Don’t criticize the interface for only one generation,” says Golden Pig Upgrade Pack, referring to rumors that the LGA1851 socket would only get one generation of CPUs, adding that “AI PCs are getting bigger and stronger.” The latter implies that Arrow Lake refresh CPUs will feature a stronger neural processing unit (NPU) than existing Arrow Lake CPUs.
The latter have a peak performance rating of 13 TOPS, which is well below the 40 TOPS required by the Microsoft Copilot+ AI engine – a minimum standard that’s already met by AMD and Qualcomm’s NPU-enabled chips. However, when asked if Intel is going to refresh its NPU further down the thread, Golden Pig Upgrade Pack replies that “this is not an epic upgrade,” so the AI performance may not be massively improved.
As with all rumor stories based on leaks, none of the above has been officially confirmed by Intel, so it can’t be taken as fact yet. Golden Pig Upgrade Pack has good form on previous CPU rumors, though, correctly leaking the Ryzen 9 9950X3D launch timeframe in February, and also correctly leaking the new AMD Ryzen AI Max branding for the company’s Strix Halo platform before it was released.
If they’re based on exactly the same Arrow Lake architecture as Intel’s current Core Ultra 200 chips, though, these rumored chips don’t look promising for gaming. Intel’s Arrow Lake launch got off to a shaky start at the end of 2024, with gaming performance not only well behind the latest AMD chips, as we found in our Ryzen 7 9800X3D review, but also behind Intel’s own last-gen Raptor Lake CPUs. As we found in our Core Ultra 265K review, while the new CPUs are really power-efficient and strong when it comes to multi-threaded performance, there can be serious bottlenecks when it comes to churning out high frame rates.
Ideally, Intel could attempt to address gaming performance if it is indeed working on an Arrow Lake refresh. However, based on previous Intel CPU refreshes, if this rumor is true, the CPUs will be based on the same existing CPU architecture as its Core Ultra 200 chips, but with a few tweaks such as higher clock speeds and maybe different core counts. There was barely any difference between most Intel 13th-gen and 14th-gen Raptor Lake CPUs if you compared equivalent models, after all.
In the meantime, make sure you check out our guide to the best gaming CPU if you’re looking to buy a new processor now, where we guide you through all our current recommendations to suit a range of budgets.
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