Meteor Lake refresh leaks — Intel finally has a counter to X3D

Refreshed P-cores and a new 3D-cache variant in the leaked Core Ultra 200 SKUs. The on-package cache strategy is finally arriving from Intel.

Meteor Lake refresh SKU leaks confirm Intel is finally shipping a 3D-cache competitor to AMD X3D. The Core Ultra 285K3D is the headline part — refreshed P-cores, new on-package L3 expansion, and gaming benchmarks that finally close the X3D gap. Launch window is Q3 2026.

The structural read: Intel needed something concrete on the gaming front to stop the AM5 platform momentum. The 285K3D is not a clear win over the 9700X3D or 9800X3D, but it is competitive — and that has not been the Intel story for two years.