These new Intel CPU specs leaks look very bad for PC gamers

A load of new Intel CPU specs have just been leaked, revealing that the company is potentially cooling up seven new chips to expand the Arrow Lake lineup. If the specs are right, all the new CPUs are going to be cool-running and power-efficient, and they’re not going to be easily overclockable. The leak comes soon after the Arrow Lake launch proved that Intel is struggling to make a good gaming CPU right now, even if the new chips have a decent amount of multi-threaded power.

Indeed, as we found in our Core Ultra 7 265K review, the new Intel Arrow Lake architecture really struggles with gaming, and if these leaked specs are correct, then these new Intel chips are going to be even worse, with extremely low clock speeds. The plus side is that the CPUs appear to have extremely low heat output, with the new Core Ultra 9 285T reportedly having a thermal design power (TDP) of just 35W, as does another T-branded chip, the Core Ultra 7 265T.

That’s good news if you want a 24-core CPU that doesn’t run hot, uses a small amount of power, and can still cope with multi-threaded workloads. However, its rumored 1.4GHz boost clock speed is shockingly low for what’s purported to be a desktop CPU – this is a spec we’d normally associate with a laptop CPU.

This latest rumor comes from regular (and often reliable) tech leaker momomo_us, who shared a screenshot with the specs in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The post reveals seven CPUs, ranging from Core Ultra 9 285 chips with 24 cores to Core Ultra 5 225 chips with just ten cores.

Assuming Intel sticks with its current split of P-Cores and E-Cores from the last couple of generations, we expect these low-end Core Ultra 5 chips to have six P-Cores and four E-Cores, while the Core Ultra 7 CPUs should have eight P-Cores and 12 E-Cores, making a total of 20. Finally, we would expect the Core Ultra 9 CPUs to have eight P-Cores and 16 E-Cores, for a total of 24. Two ‘F’ models are also listed, which we assume are models that don’t have an integrated GPU enabled, as Intel has used the ‘F’ suffix to denote these CPUs in the past.

Expected Core Ultra 9 285 specs

These are the rumored specifications of the new Intel Core Ultra 9 285 and 285T CPUs:

Expected Core Ultra 7 265 specs

These are the rumored specifications of the new Intel Core Ultra 7 265 CPUs:

Expected Core Ultra 5 225 specs

These are the rumored specifications of the new Intel Core Ultra 5 225 CPUs:

While these all look like power-efficient chips, assuming the TDP is right, none of these CPUs look good for gaming. The highest boost clock is seen on the Core Ultra 5 225, and even that’s just 3.3GHz. Even with a decent CPU architecture at its disposal, a CPU needs a solid clock speed for gaming, but the Core Ultra 7 265K struggled to get good frame rates with its 5.5GHz boost clock, let alone the 1.4-3.3GHz boost clocks mooted here.

We have to hope that there’s a mistake here, and the “up to” clock speed in the screenshot is actually the base clock, rather than the boost clock, which is quite possible. Of course, this is also based on a leak, and these specs could all turn out to be completely wrong, so take them with a grain of salt for the moment. If they’re right, though, then Intel is going to really struggle against AMD in the gaming arena.

If you want to buy the best gaming CPU right now, then check out our new Ryzen 7 9800X3D review, where we put AMD’s latest chip with 3D V-cache through our benchmark suite. It’s hard to find with the 9800X3D stock shortage right now, but its predecessor, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, is still a good buy if you can’t wait to buy a new chip.