GoKawiilThe Core Ultra 200K Plus (codenamed Arrow Lake Refresh) series reestablished Intel’s place in the processor market, but that's just the start. With its next-generation Core Ultra 400S (Nova Lake) chips, Intel intends to leave no doubt about who makes the best CPUs for gaming on the market. According to the latest VideoCardz leak, Nova Lake could deliver a knockout blow to AMD's upcoming Zen 6 chips with beefy rumored specifications.
Poised to be one of Intel’s most compelling processor launches in recent years, Nova Lake has generated relentless buzz across the hardware world. Now, VideoCardz reports having seen internal documents that allegedly include a comprehensive SKU list, which Intel has shared with its partners.
Intel is preparing to launch its highly anticipated Nova Lake chips under the Core Ultra Series 4 banner. It's a logical move, since Core Ultra Series 3 is already taken by Panther Lake. The next-generation desktop chips will reportedly adopt the Core Ultra 400S branding. Nova Lake will harness the power of Coyote Cove P-cores and Arctic Wolf E-cores, rumored to deliver a remarkable 20% IPC improvement over the already impressive Lion Cove and Skymont cores.
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Yet, perhaps the most groundbreaking feature of Nova Lake is the rumored introduction of a massive Big Last Level Cache (bLLC), designed to go head-to-head with AMD’s 3D V-Cache technology. If there is any credence to the early rumors, the L3 cache capacity inside Nova Lake could range from 144 MB to 288 MB, a feature that would dramatically boost gaming and productivity performance by reducing memory latency and improving data access speeds.
Intel Core Ultra 400S Designs*
Swipe to scroll horizontally Cores Die Type Configuration LP E-Cores NPU Memory PCIe 5.0 Lanes Thunderbolt 5 Ports Xe3 Cores 52 Dual 8P + 16E + Cache x 2 4 NPU 6 Dual Channel 24 2 2 28 Dual 8P + 16E + Cache 4 NPU 6 Dual Channel 24 2 2 28 Single 8P + 16E 4 NPU 6 Dual Channel 24 2 2 16 Single 4P + 8E 4 NPU 6 Dual Channel 24 2 2 8 Single 4P + 0E 4 NPU 6 Dual Channel 24 2 2
*Specifications are unconfirmed by Intel.
Intel is reportedly developing an ambitious lineup of five desktop die packages for its upcoming Nova Lake platform, targeting a wide range of users and workloads. The leaked information reveals that the core configurations will range from eight-core models to an industry-leading 52-core powerhouse.
The octa-core and 16-core chips seemingly use a single compute-die architecture, featuring four high-performance P-cores and either four or eight space-efficient E-cores. The approach aims to deliver a balanced blend of performance and efficiency for mainstream users.
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