The leak suggests Intel's enthusiast-grade Nova Lake-AX lineup will use a much larger platform than expected.
Intel Nova Lake-AX Appears With LGA 4326 Socket in NBD Shipping Logs, Challenging "Mobile-Only" Expectations
A new shipping manifest has unveiled some crucial details about Intel's upcoming Nova Lake-AX series, which is expected to go against AMD's Strix Halo. Unlike the current enthusiast-grade lineups, Nova Lake-AX (also mentioned as Razer Lake-AX) is set to deliver a far superior SoC with a massive iGPU tile that hosts up to 384 Execution Units or 48 Xe cores. Apart from Crescent Island, the Nova Lake AX will also utilize the Intel Xe3p architecture, which is categorized under the Arc C series.
However, as previously thought, the Nova Lake-AX didn't appear with a BGA socket in the NBD shipping manifest. Instead, it was associated with an "LGA" platform with a large socket that measures 37.5 x 56.5 mm. This is the LGA 4326 socket, which is unusually large and such a socket points toward a platform requiring significantly higher power delivery, I/O bandwidth, and memory signaling complexity.
For comparison, the regular Nova Lake-S desktop processors are expected to use the LGA 1954 socket, but the LGA 4326 is almost twice that size, which indicates a different class of silicon. We don't know how accurate this information is, but based on the shipping logs, Nova Lake-AX may not be limited to traditional laptop implementations. As per the leaker @x86deadandback, Nova Lake-AX could represent a workstation-class socketed APU.
As per earlier reports, the Nova Lake-AX is supposedly a direct competitor to AMD's Strix Halo that is able to run demanding graphical workloads without needing a discrete GPU. Reports also suggest support for up to 10,677 MT/s LPDDR5X memory, bringing a big upgrade over its predecessors. As far as the socket is concerned, it's possible that the listing refers to an internal validation platform rather than a final product. It's also possible that Nova Lake-AX could be a new hybrid platform, but if LGA 4326 is associated with Nova Lake-AX, it would be one of the most ambitious projects by Intel in years.
News Source: @x86deadandback
About the author: Sarfraz Khan is a hardware reporter with a focus on PC components and the builder community. With years of experience writing about PC hardware and laptops, his work has been featured on several reputable technology publications. Sarfraz's hands-on experience is demonstrated through his first-person accounts of using and comparing different hardware configurations, providing practical and relatable insights for everyday users. His technical analysis is respected by peers in the enthusiast community and has been cited by specialized hardware sites such as Germany's Igor's Lab.
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