Intel’s “AMD X3D Rival” With Nova Lake CPUs To Feature Up To 24 Core Compute Tile With Larger Cache, Bigger 48 Chip To Launch Without “Big Cache” A Quarter Later

Intel's next-generation Nova Lake CPUs will feature bigger caches to compete against AMD's Ryzen X3D SKUs, but higher core chips will come later.

Intel Reportedly Picks 24 Core Nova Lake CPUs For Its "Big Cache" Endeavors To Compete Against AMD 3D V-Cache Offerings, Higher 48 Core Count Models Come Later But Without Bigger "Dedicated" Cache.

Intel's gaming performance has been lackluster to say the least. AMD's Ryzen 3D V-Cache offerings have been superb ever since the introduction of the 5800X3D, and newer iterations such as the 7800X3D and the 9800X3D have only made things worse for Intel.

While Intel's LGA 1700 socketed CPUs, such as Alder Lake and Raptor Lake, were decent enough, offering a mix of good gaming and multi-threading capability, AMD has really uplifted its gaming performance and efficiency figures with subsequent 3D V-Cache CPU solutions. The company now offers from 6 cores to up to 16 cores X3D SKUs. And the recent Arrow Lake or the upcoming Arrow Lake refresh CPUs don't look that great, even stumbling before their predecessors.

So what's next for Intel? Well, their X3D-Like solution in the form of "bLLC" variants. These offerings are expected to launch under the Nova Lake "Core Ultra 400" family, and will focus on expanding the LLC capability on certain variants but not all.

Last month, it was reported that Intel was selecting two specific die configurations that would be fused with a bigger cache. These should include an 8 P-Core and 16 E-Core variant, & an 8 P-Core and 12 E-Core variant based on the Coguar Cove & Arctic Wolf architecture. There will also be four additional LP-E cores on a separate low-power island, but the compute tile itself with be up to 24 cores. The leaked configs are as follows:

• Core Ultra 9 - 16 P-Cores + 32 E-Cores + 4 LP-E Cores (150W)
• Core Ultra 7 - 14 P-Cores + 24 E-Cores + 4 LP-E Cores (150W)
• Core Ultra 5 - 8 P-Cores + 16 E-Cores + 4 LP-E Cores (125W) + bLLC Variant
• Core Ultra 5 - 8 P-Cores + 12 E-Cores + 4 LP-E Cores (125W) + bLLC Variant
• Core Ultra 5 - 6 P-Cores + 8 E-Cores + 4 LP-E Cores (125W)
• Core Ultra 3 - 4 P-Cores + 8 E-Cores + 4 LP-E Cores (65W)
• Core Ultra 3 - 4 P-Cores + 4 E-Cores + 4 LP-E Cores (65W)

Previous reports also allege up to 144 MB of LLC for Core Ultra 7 and up to 180 MB LLC for Core Ultra 9 SKUs, but that should be taken with a grain of salt since the launch is still at least a year away and a lot can change in between.

As for the higher core count variant with up to 48 cores (+4 LP-E on low-power island), these chips are said to launch a quarter after the standard SKUs with a singular compute tile. The reason is that it will be harder to produce chips with dual compute titles, each packing the 8+16 configuration (16+32 in total). These chips are said not to go the "bLLC" route, which is interesting.

• Core Ultra 9 with bLLC = Up To 180 MB
• Ryzen 9 with 3D V-Cache = Up To 128 MB
• Core Ultra 7 with bLLC = Up To 144 MB
• Ryzen 7 with 3D V-Cache = Up To 96 MB

The single compute tile "Intel Nova Lake" CPUs might have enough space to accommodate bigger LLC on the die, while the dual compute tile SKUs may not have the real estate luxury to go the bLLC route. We also don't know if Intel will be using a technology similar to 3D Stacking, which Intel uses, or just putting the cache on the same die. 3D stacking gives AMD a lot of flexibility, and Intel also has the required tech to make their stacking solution, but we can't say for sure if that's something we will see with the Nova Lake generation of CPUs.

Intel's Nova Lake-S Desktop CPUs are expected to launch in 2026 on the latest Intel LGA 1954 socket and offer over 10% single and 60% higher Multi-threaded performance, so there's still some time before we get to see the new chips in action.

We are going to get Arrow Lake-S refresh as the last LGA 1851 socketed offering before it, but that shouldn't be that exciting since they will share the same architecture as the existing chips with minor updates. Since Panther Lake will be Core Ultra 300, we can expect Nova Lake-S to fall under the Core Ultra 400 family.

Nova Lake-S vs Arrow Lake-S

Family	Nova Lake-S	Arrow Lake-S
Core Count (Max)	52	24
Thread Count (Max)	52	24
Max P-Cores	16	8
Max E-Cores	32	16
Max LP-E Cores	4	0
Max Cache (L2+L3)	160-320 MB	76 MB
Max bLLC Cache	144-288 MB	N/A
DDR5 (1DPC 1R)	8000 MT/s	7200-6400 MT/s
PCIe 5.0 Lanes (Max)	36	24
PCIe 4.0 Lanes (Max)	16	4
Socket Support	LGA 1954	LGA 1851
Max TDP (PL1)	125-175W	125W
Max Power	~700W (Dual) ~350W (Single)	~400W
Launch	2H 2026	1H 2026

News Source: VideoCardz

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