The preliminary power limits of Intel's Nova Lake "Dual Compute Tile" CPUs have been revealed, with up to 150W PL1 & 500W PL2.
Intel Nova Lake CPUs Could Boast Up To 500W PL2 & Over 800W PL4 Power Limits In Dual Compute Tile Configurations
A few days ago, we got to learn that Intel's Nova Lake-S Desktop CPUs with dual compute tiles could feature power consumption of 700W+, which was a bit shocking, but it looks like the power limits for Nova Lake-S Desktop CPUs have been further explained. According to Kopite7kimi, the number was based on a chip with all of its power limits removed and was the actual power consumption for a dual compute tile chip with as many as 52 cores. Think of it like a chip being pushed to the max with no power limit in place.
It is also said that this would be about the same ballpark as the PL4 limit, which is a small timeframe when the power spikes hit a pre-defined ceiling (maximum power threshold) to prevent CPU damage. From the information available, the PL1 for Nova Lake-S CPUs will be similar to the 125-150W baseline we see today, while the PL2 limits should be in the 250W-450W range.
Based on the information posted by HXL, it looks like we have an even better understanding of what the PL configurations for Nova Lake-S Desktop CPUs could be. The leaker does state that the power limits that are listed here are probably not final, so let's assume these are preliminary values. On the other hand, Jaykihn states that these values are for a 14+24 SKU, not the full 16+32 variant, and are outdated figures.
Starting with the PL1 or Base Power, this will be rated at 150W, so it looks like this would be similar to the KS lineup, which features a 25W higher base power "PL1" than standard K-series SKUs (150W vs 125W). As for the PL2 limit, this is where things get interesting.
PL2 is mostly defined as the MTP or Maximum Turbo Power. The Dual Compute Tile Nova Lake chip listed here as a PL2/PL3 power defined at 496/498W, which is almost 500W. That's quite a big jump in PL2 versus the existing Core Ultra 9 285K, which sits at 250W, or the 253W PL2 of the Core i9-14900KS.
Lastly, we have the PL4 limit, which is 854W. The existing Core Ultra 9 285K has a PL4 of 333-425W, and the 14900KS can burst up to 350W. Both the PL2 and PL4 values are on the high side, often 2x what the current-gen chips offer, but we have to remember that these are only specific to Nova Lake-S chips with two compute tiles. That's more than double the cores and massive amounts of cache. The single compute tile variants should still retain similar or slightly higher power limits, making the dual compute tile variants an entirely different tier of chip.
So based on these preliminary figures, we have the following power limits (PL1/PL2/PL4):
- Nova Lake-S (Dual Compute Tile) - 150W / 496W / 854W
- Arrow Lake-S (Core Ultra 9 285K) - 125W / 250W / 425W
- Raptor Lake-S (Core i9-14900KS) - 150W / 253W / 350W
That's all the information we have on Intel Nova Lake-S Desktop CPUs for today, but it looks like things are clearing up, and we are getting a more detailed picture of what the new platform and processors are going to look like. Once again, Intel's Nova Lake-S CPUs, along with the 900-series motherboards, are scheduled to launch later this year and will be competing against AMD's Zen 6-based Ryzen offerings, which also offer new architectural and platform innovations, so quite an interesting battle is being brewed up for 2H 2026.
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 |
About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.
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