Intel may release Arrow Lake Refresh desktop CPUs this year after all - but not many of them

Intel's rumored to be preparing a fresh take on an Arrow Lake Refresh generation, so we might yet get new desktop CPUs from Team Blue later this year.

As VideoCardz picked up, one of the well-known hardware leakers on X, Jaykihn, posted to inform us that an Arrow Lake Refresh is seemingly back on the table (see above).

The leaker asserts that this new retake on the Core Ultra 200S chips will be different to the previously rumored refresh. (If you recall, speculation was rife about an Arrow Lake Refresh mid-2024, which Intel apparently cancelled).

While the leaker labels their latest claims as 'preliminary' (presumably meaning Intel is still mulling this over), the idea is seemingly to only refresh the unlocked processors (K, and KF models) from the Arrow Lake range. The previous refresh was going to be a more full-on affair, incidentally.

Opt-in what now?

At the same time, we could get what are described as opt-in uplifts to the existing Arrow Lake desktop K and KF ranges, according to Jaykihn.

What does that mean? VideoCardz asked the leaker exactly that on X, and received the reply that essentially Intel will implement new BIOS presets for performance profiles that won't invalidate the warranty of those who use them.

So, these will be profiles you can select to drive even faster performance from current Arrow Lake CPUs, and Jaykihn makes it clear these are a new idea (and distinct from Intel's existing scheme of BIOS profiles).

Exactly how they'll work, the leaker won't say yet, but they do admit that the idea is 'similar' to IPO, which is Intel Performance Optimization, another incoming tech from Team Blue that's apparently in the process of being finalized (see the other post on X, above).

The broad idea is to let people easily juice up their Intel CPU (a bit) while still maintaining warranty coverage. We should note that IPO is more about a modest boost in performance, which will lag behind OC profiles that offer a more supercharged experience.

It'll be intriguing to see how all this falls into place (if indeed it does) later this year.

All in all, it sounds like Intel has some useful new ideas in tow here, which is good to hear - although the company has quite some reputational ground to recover, let's put it that way.

We also found it surprising that Intel wouldn't have anything to offer on the desktop CPU front this year at all, as has been the line of thinking for some time now - although that still could be the case. This rumor might be out of line, or Intel might be considering the plan laid out here right now, only to eventually abandon it (once again).

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