- Intel could be planning a giant change with Nova Lake CPUs in 2026
- Rumor has it that they are going to profit from extra cache for quicker gaming
- That is in an identical vein to AMD’s current 3D V-Cache chips, like the favored 9800X3D
Intel’s Nova Lake processors – which could possibly be its subsequent CPUs (although an Arrow Lake Refresh might come earlier than them) – are going to take a web page out of AMD’s 3D V-Cache playbook, it appears.
Based mostly on new rumors floating round on X, as highlighted by VideoCardz, Intel is wanting to make use of a big slab of cache to make a a lot better CPU for players, identical to AMD’s X3D chips.
AMD’s Ryzen 7 7800X3D stays our greatest gaming CPU (pound-for-pound), and Intel is seemingly hoping to faucet into an identical vein with Nova Lake chips utilizing what’s known as ‘bLLC’ or Massive Final-Stage Cache.
Clearly, take all this with a great deal of seasoning, however in keeping with Raichu, a well known leaker on X, we’ll see a Nova Lake flagship with 16 efficiency cores (and 32 effectivity cores). Together with that, there will be a lower-tier chip with 8 efficiency cores (plus 16 effectivity) that may have bLLC on board (the flagship will not).
One other publish on X, from Haze (an information miner), additionally claims there can be a second 8-core mannequin with fewer effectivity cores (12) that’ll have the brand new cache, and likewise 4 low-power cores (tiny ones). Certainly, each Nova Lake 8-core CPUs will supposedly have these, together with an influence consumption of 125W.
As VideoCardz factors out, the rumored plan is for 144MB of L3 cache to be utilized by Intel, greater than AMD’s present top-end payload of 128MB (on the Ryzen 9950X3D).
Regardless of the actual configuration of those CPUs would possibly finally be, the obvious plan is to have this new sort of cache powering up Nova Lake, processors anticipated to be launched later in 2026.
As talked about on the outset, it is not clear whether or not Nova Lake can be Intel’s next-gen CPUs, as previous rumors have indicated, or whether or not Crew Blue could be planning a stopgap refresh of present Arrow Lake chips earlier than then, to debut later this 12 months, as newer hypothesis contends.
We could possibly be Arrow Lake Refresh because the Core 300 sequence (alongside Panther Lake, which can be just for laptops), and Nova Lake can be Core 400, in idea (for each desktops and laptops).
Evaluation: a return to kind?
So, it appears Intel’s plan is a monster flagship processor for Nova Lake, aimed toward PC fans who desire a heavyweight chip that may do every thing – with 16 efficiency cores – after which a beefy 8-core chip that is ideally suited for players. The latter will value much less however be pepped up for video games with this new taste of cache, the equal of AMD’s X3D.
Whereas AMD does supply X3D processors with greater than 8 cores, that mannequin – the latest incarnation of which is the 9800X3D – is the mainstream providing for players by way of its pricing (the 12-core and 16-core X3D spins are predictably dear).
Okay, so does this contemporary Intel rumor appear doubtless? Effectively, Crew Blue does have to do one thing to get again within the good books of players, that is for certain. The corporate’s most up-to-date Arrow Lake chips upset with their PC gaming efficiency – even after a number of patches to easy issues over – and its repute has been tarnished by earlier generations affected by well-documented stability points (that are nonetheless an ongoing concern in some respects).
Certainly, some would possibly argue that it could possibly be too late for Intel to get better its standing with players. In spite of everything, belief and confidence within the CPU maker have been broken to a worrying extent, not less than from what I can inform (from on-line sentiment within the numerous boards I commonly lurk in). After all, that does not imply Crew Blue should not attempt – and possibly it could actually pull a rabbit out of the hat, gaming-wise, with a brand new route for Nova Lake by way of extra cache.
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