Intel Ultra 9 290K Plus Leaks: Up to 11% Faster Than 9950X3D
Recent Geekbench 6 leaks suggest Intel is preparing a new desktop flagship: the Core Ultra 9 290K Plus. Part of the Arrow Lake Refresh (Core Ultra 200S Plus family), this CPU focuses on higher clock speeds rather than additional cores, extracting more performance from an established hybrid design.
🚀 Core Specs and Benchmark Results #
The Ultra 9 290K Plus retains the familiar 24-core / 24-thread configuration (8 P-cores + 16 E-cores) used by the 285K. The key differentiator is tighter binning, enabling a 5.8 GHz boost clock—100 MHz higher than the standard 285K—while keeping the PL2 at 250 W.
| Metric | Ultra 9 290K Plus | Ultra 9 285K | Ryzen 9 9950X3D |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cores / Threads | 24 / 24 | 24 / 24 | 16 / 32 |
| Max Boost Clock | 5.8 GHz | 5.7 GHz | ~5.7 GHz |
| Geekbench 6 (ST) | 3,456 | ~3,200 | ~3,397 |
| Geekbench 6 (MT) | 24,610 | ~22,580 | ~22,156 |
Performance deltas:
- vs. 285K: ~7% higher single-core, ~9% higher multi-core
- vs. 9950X3D: ~2% single-core lead, ~11% multi-core advantage
These numbers underline Intel’s strength in raw multi-threaded throughput.
🧪 Test Platform and Memory Scaling #
The leaked scores come from a high-end enthusiast configuration:
- Motherboard: Gigabyte Z890 AORUS TACHYON ICE
- Memory: 48 GB DDR5-8000
Notably, the Plus lineup officially supports DDR5-7200, up from DDR5-6400 on earlier Arrow Lake parts. This helps reduce memory pressure in workloads like compiling, rendering, and simulation.
🎮 Productivity vs. Gaming Reality #
Despite strong synthetic results, gaming tells a more nuanced story:
- Productivity: The 290K Plus excels in compiling, content creation, and heavy multitasking.
- Gaming: With no major changes to cache hierarchy, AMD’s 3D V-Cache CPUs (9950X3D, 9800X3D) are still expected to dominate average FPS and 1% lows.
In short, Intel wins on throughput, AMD retains an edge in latency-sensitive gaming.
🧭 Strategic Role of the “Plus” Refresh #
The Ultra 9 290K Plus is part of a broader bridge generation for the LGA 1851 platform. Intel’s objectives appear to be:
- Sustain competitiveness against Zen 5 X3D refreshes
- Extend the lifecycle of 800-series motherboards
- Buy time ahead of the major transition to Nova Lake-S (LGA 1954)
🧾 Summary #
The Core Ultra 9 290K Plus is a classic frequency-first refresh. It delivers meaningful gains in multi-threaded benchmarks—enough to edge out AMD’s 9950X3D in Geekbench—but it remains an evolution rather than a clean-slate redesign.
For users focused on productivity and raw compute, it looks compelling. For pure gaming, AMD’s cache-heavy approach is still likely to hold the crown.