Intel Core Ultra 9 295K leak hints at fastest new Arrow Lake gaming CPU

The launch of the Intel Core Ultra 200 series is only a few weeks away, so most of the new chips have been revealed for some time, and are even available for pre-order at some retailers. However, a new leak suggests that there is an entirely new CPU in the line that has not been spotted before. The Intel Core Ultra 9 295K is the model in question, and it might be the fastest chip of the lot.

You can read everything we know so far about the 285K and other Intel Core Ultra 200 CPUs in our Intel Arrow Lake guide, which explains the architecture the chips are built on and the models you can expect to see available for purchase soon at the shops . Meanwhile, we’ve already seen the company admit that the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D outperforms the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K. However, this leak could imply that Intel was only willing to admit defeat with the 285K because it knew it had the 295K waiting in the wings.

In short, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K is essentially the direct successor to the Intel Core i9 14900K, making it the mainstream flagship chip in the range, using the fuller capabilities of the Arrow Lake architecture in which it base That means a total of 24 cores, including eight P cores and 16 E cores, with an unlocked multiplier allowing the chip to be overclocked as well.

However, Intel has also made small variants of its flagship chips in the past, in the form of its KS and KF series. The first of these is an absolutely maxed-out version of the K series with increased clock speeds, such as the 14900KS. Meanwhile, the KF series is the same chip but without integrated graphics. The latter are generally not suited to higher clock speeds than the K-series, but can save you money if you pair your chip with one of the better graphics cards.

So back to the 295K leak, and this new chip has suddenly appeared on Intel’s website, in the support section where it talks about which processors ship without an included heatsink (spotted by the tech leaker regular @momomo_us on X (formerly Twitter)).

In addition to clarifying that “All Intel Core and Intel Core Ultra desktop processors that have the letters K, KF, KS, XE, or X in their number do not ship with Intel Thermal Solution (fan heatsink) “, Intel also lists some examples of Intel Core Ultra Chips that don’t include coolers. In this list we see the previously mentioned 265KF and 245K, but the mysterious new 295K is also mentioned.

What makes the prospect of a 295K chip performing similarly to a KS chip so exciting is that it could push AMD’s new 9800X3D CPUs and other 9000X3Ds when it comes to gaming performance, meaning that we could see a mini price war as the two. companies struggle.

However, while this leak is a post on Intel’s official website, we suspect it’s more likely to be a typo than a new chip reveal, especially considering the 285K isn’t mentioned on the site. Also, wouldn’t Intel call a 285K equivalent with a KS-like clock speed a 285KS? Whether this chip turns out to be a typo or a real product, we’re certainly hoping for a KS-class chip from Intel to arrive at some point, and we can’t wait to see what it can do.

In the meantime, you can find our current recommendations for the best gaming CPU in our guide which includes a wide range of options at different price points and from both AMD and Intel.