Intel's Arrow Lake-S Refresh "Core Ultra Series 2" CPUs are now confirmed and will be supported by existing LGA 1851 socketed motherboards.
Leaked Block Diagram Confirms Intel's Core Ultra Series 2 "Arrow Lake-S Refresh" Desktop CPUs
Intel's Arrow Lake-S Refresh Desktop CPUs have been rumored for quite some time, but it looks like there's even more evidence that these chips are coming to the market soon. The latest leak comes from Momomo_US, who has posted a picture of a block diagram of a W880 motherboard, which lists support for Intel's Arrow Lake-S and Arrow Lake-S Refresh Desktop CPUs.
— 188号 (@momomo_us) May 30, 2025
The Intel Arrow Lake Refresh platform will encompass both Arrow Lake-S and Arrow Lake-HX lines, with the former aiming at the desktop segment and the latter going into enthusiast-grade laptops. It's been known for a while that the Arrow Lake-S refresh won't be a major upgrade over the existing lineup, with most of the changes coming in the form of higher clock speeds and a faster NPU. It is unknown if we will see any more SKUs in the lineup since Arrow Lake-S dies max out at 8 P-Cores & 16 E-Cores.
The Intel Arrow Lake-S Refresh CPU lineup is expected to retain compatibility with the existing LGA 1851 socket and the current 800-series motherboards, hence why it is mentioned in the W880 PCH board's manual. The CPUs will retain the same PL1 TDPs of up to 125W in unlocked design, but this will be the last LGA 1851 socketed lineup before Intel launches its newer LGA 1954 socket, which is designed around its next-gen Nova Lake-S Desktop CPUs.
This two-generation cadence is a bit of a downside on Intel's side, as AMD's platforms last much longer and support several generations of CPUs, as we have seen with AM4 and now with AM5. The only bright side is that you will be able to reuse your cooling solution on the new socket since it retains the same dimensions as the existing one, though we don't know how older coolers will work with the new IHS, and if the new ILM will require any offset mounting kits.
Intel has started to offer significant price cuts on its existing Core Ultra Series 2 family. The Core Ultra 7 265K/KF models are already cut down below $300 US, which makes them a great buy. The CPUs aren't generally bad if you look at the overall package, it's just that the gaming performance, which is a crucial metric for PC builders as the majority of users make up this audience, turned out to be bad and Intel's Core Ultra 200S boost has only offered a little uplift versus the stock gaming performance.
Intel Desktop CPU Generations Comparison:
| Intel CPU Family | Processor Process | Processor Architecture | Graphics Architecture | Processors Cores/Threads (Max) | Platform | Memory Support | PCIe Support | Launch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alder Lake (12th Gen) | Intel 7 | Golden Cove (P-Core) Gracemont (E-Core) | HD 700 Series | 16/24 | LGA 1700/1800 | DDR5 / DDR4 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2021 |
| Raptor Lake (13th Gen) | Intel 7 | Raptor Cove (P-Core) Gracemont (E-Core) | HD 700 Series | 24/32 | LGA 1700/1800 | DDR5 / DDR4 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2022 |
| Raptor Lake Refresh (14th Gen) | Intel 7 | Raptor Cove (P-Core) Gracemont (E-Core) | HD 700 Series | 24/32 | LGA 1700/1800 | DDR5 / DDR4 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2023 |
| Arrow Lake (Core Ultra 200) | TSMC N3B | Lion Cove (P-Core) Skymont (E-Core) | Xe1 (Alchemist) | 24/24 | LGA 1851 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2024 |
| Arrow Lake Refresh (Core Ultra 200 Plus) | TSMC N3B | Lion Cove (P-Core) Skymont (E-Core) | Xe1 (Alchemist) | 24/24 | LGA 1851 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2026 |
| Nova Lake (Core Ultra 400?) | TBA | Coyote Cove (P-Core) Arctic Wolf (E-Core) | Xe3 (Battlemage) | 52/52 | LGA 1954 | DDR5 | PCIe Gen 5.0 | 2026-2027? |
| Razer Lake (Core Ultra 500?) | TBA | Griffin Cove (P-Core)? Golden Eagle (E-Core)? | TBA | TBA | LGA 1954? | TBA | TBA | 2027-2028? |
| Hammer Lake (Core Ultra 700?) | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | LGA 1954? | TBA | TBA | 2029-2030? |
About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.
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