We have not heard much about Intel's much-debated "Arrow Lake-S Refresh" (or ARL-S Refresh) desktop CPU family in the second quarter of this year. Going back to March, Golden Pig Upgrade predicted another revival of Team Blue's troubled mid-gen update—aka the Core Ultra 300 series. A week or two later, Jaykihn—another tenured discloser of inside track info—theorized an upcoming lineup of "-K and -KF only" SKUs. Hardcore PC hardware enthusiasts and overclockers will likely welcome these unlocked offerings, but an alleged lack of "normal" refreshed options will sting certain consumer bases. The ever intrepid momomo_us has discovered an interesting tidbit; bringing and end to two+ months of "Arrow Lake-S Refresh" silence.

A leaked "W880 PCH" workstation-grade motherboard flow diagram mentions support for "Arrow Lake-S Refresh." This is under the banner of "Core Ultra (Series 2) processors up to 125 W TDP." Unsurprisingly, we are looking at repeat business with the current generation's LGA 1851 socket platform. Intel is still working on the "Nova Lake‑S" (NVL‑S) CPU range; serving as a natural successor to their "Arrow Lake-S" desktop lineup. Lately, data miners have unearthed details regarding a matching "LGA 1954" socket type. According to official announcements, "Nova Lake" processors are "on track" to launch somewhere within 2026. Before then, "Arrow Lake-S Refresh" CPUs are expected to arrive later this year—possibly signalling the final tranche of "ARL."The first wave launched late last October, but was not well received by PC gamers. Late last month, Team Blue rolled out a "200S Boost" factory-approved overclocking profile for unlocked Core Ultra 200S desktop processors. Around early May, the North American giant announced price cuts—in an effort to make their current-gen offerings appear more attractive to discerning buyers. We are many months away from a rumored retail release of refreshed variants, so speculative MSRPs have not yet turned up online.