Intel Arrow Lake Refresh CPUs arrive with native DDR5-7200 CUDIMM support — 12.5% higher speeds than initial Arrow Lake chips

Intel's Core Ultra 200S (codenamed Arrow Lake) series, which includes some of the best CPUs, already supports the best RAM available on the market. But the chipmaker isn't stopping there. Intel is continuing to improve memory support in the upcoming Arrow Lake Refresh processor family. According to an Intel datasheet (via Uniko's Hardware), we can now confirm those chips will offer even better memory compatibility out of the box.

With Arrow Lake Refresh, Intel is improving native CUDIMM support to DDR5-7200 in a 1 DPC (DIMM per channel) configuration, representing a raw bandwidth increase of 12.5% over the standard DDR5-6400 transfer rates supported by regular Arrow Lake processors.

However, it's worth noting that only CUDIMM support has been improved. For standard DIMMs or SO-DIMMs, the officially supported data rate remains at DDR5-5600 regardless of the rank design, consistent with the current Arrow Lake parts. CSODIMMs (SO-DIMMs with client clock driver chips, or CKDs) follow suit, maintaining a data rate of DDR5-6400 with no changes at all.

Arrow Lake is currently the only mainstream processor lineup to support CUDIMMs fully. AMD's Ryzen 9000 series (codenamed Granite Ridge) will accept CUDIMMs, but operate them in bypass mode. In other words, the CUDIMMs function as standard DIMMs without the benefits of the CKD.

Performance for 2 DPC configurations with Arrow Lake Refresh will mirror that of its Arrow Lake predecessors. Users can expect supported data rates of DDR5-4800 for single-rank modules and DDR5-4400 for dual-rank modules.

Of course, these recommendations constitute Intel's official specifications. Enthusiasts have long been utilizing faster memory via overclocking. It's likely, then, that Intel has optimized the integrated memory controller (IMC) on Arrow Lake Refresh to support higher CUDIMMs from the outset. The IMC's robustness has always been the determining factor as to whether a processor can manage memory exceeding Intel's baseline specifications.

In today's climate of memory shortages sparked by the AI boom, consumers might find it less exciting that Arrow Lake Refresh supports DDR5-7200 CUDIMMs. DDR5 prices have soared, making it challenging even for those willing to spend a small fortune to find DDR5-7200 CUDIMM kits in stock.

However, this spec will stand out in Intel's marketing materials and could help the chipmaker push Arrow Lake Refresh. Up until now, rumors have suggested that this refresh cycle will be a typical mid-cycle refinement with only slight increases in clock speed, so the new chips will need all the help they can get to compete with AMD's current and future Ryzen CPUs.

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