These new Intel CPU spec leaks are looking very bad for PC gamers

A lot of new things Intel CPU Specifications have just leaked showing that the company may launch seven new chips to expand Arrow Lake's lineup. If the specs are right, all new CPUs will run cool and be power efficient, and they won't be easily overclockable. The leak comes shortly after the launch of Arrow Lake showed that Intel is currently struggling to develop a good gaming CPU, even if the new chips have a decent amount of multi-threaded performance.

As we found in our Core Ultra 7 265K test, the new Intel Arrow Lake architecture actually has problems with gaming, and if these leaked specs are correct, these new Intel chips will perform even worse at extremely low clock speeds. The plus point is that the CPUs apparently have extremely low heat output. The new Core Ultra 9 285T is said to have a Thermal Design Power (TDP) of just 35W, as does another T-brand chip, the Core Ultra 7 265T.

That's good news if you want a 24-core CPU that doesn't run hot, uses little power, and can still handle multi-threaded workloads. However, the claimed boost clock speed of 1.4GHz is shockingly low for a supposed desktop CPU – that's 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 of 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 few 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, for 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 that we assume are models without an integrated GPU, as Intel has used the “F” suffix in the past. used to name these CPUs.

Expected Core Ultra 9 285 specs

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

Expected Core Ultra 7 265 specs

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

Expected Core Ultra 5 225 specs

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

While these all look like energy efficient chips, none of these CPUs look suitable for gaming if the TDP is right. The Core Ultra 5 225 achieves the highest boost clock, and even this is only 3.3 GHz. Even if a CPU has a decent CPU architecture, it needs a solid clock speed for gaming, but the Core Ultra 7 265K struggled to achieve good frame rates with its 5.5GHz boost clock, let alone the ones here discussed boost clocks of 1.4 to 3.3 GHz.

We have to hope that there is a mistake here and the “up to” clock speed in the screenshot is actually the base clock and not the boost clock, which is entirely possible. Of course, this is also based on a leak, and this information could all turn out to be completely false, so take it with a grain of salt for now. However, if they are right, Intel will have major problems with AMD in the gaming space.

If you're looking to buy the best gaming CPU right now, check out our new Ryzen 7 9800X3D test, where we put AMD's latest 3D V-cache chip through our benchmark suite. Given the current stock shortage of the 9800X3D, it's hard to find, but its predecessor, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, is still a good buy if you can't wait to buy a new chip.