Intel's latest earnings call let loose that the company is working on next-gen Nova Lake CPUs to arrive by 2026, but a recent leak shows what we might expect from its new CPU variants — and it's looking mighty.
Spotted by user HXL on X, a Reddit post detailed rumored specifications for Intel's upcoming lineup of Nova Lake CPUs, with the flagship Nova Lake-S variant expected to come with 16 Performance cores (P-cores) and 32 Efficiency cores (E-cores). If accurate, we could see double the performance and efficiency over Arrow Lake desktop processors.
Nova Lake Configuration RumorsNVL-SK: 2*8+16 NVL-HX: 1*8+16 NVL-S/NVL-H: 4+8 NVL-U: 4+0https://t.co/olvUda0A2pJanuary 31, 2025
Compared to the Intel Arrow Lake-S CPUs, with the flagship Intel Core Ultra 9 285K equipped with eight P-cores and 16 E-cores, Nova Lake could significantly upgrade Intel's arsenal. It also stands to compete with the upcoming AMD Zen 6, which is set to offer 32 cores in total, as noted by Wccftech.
As a quick explainer, P-cores are designed for high-performance and demanding tasks, while E-cores work to optimize power efficiency and power background tasks. The more a CPU has, the better it is at delivering powerful performance and managing efficiency.
Here's a breakdown of what Intel Arrow Lake currently offers:
| Header Cell - Column 0 | CPU cores | Max GHz | GPU Xe cores |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF ($294) | 14 (6 performance, 8 efficiency) | 5.2 GHz | 0 |
| Intel Core Ultra 5 245K ($309) | 14 (6 performance, 8 efficiency) | 5.2 GHz | 4 |
| Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF ($379) | 20 (8 performance, 12 efficiency) | 5.5 GHz | 0 |
| Intel Core Ultra 7 265K ($394) | 20 (8 performance, 12 efficiency) | 5.5 GHz | 4 |
| Intel Core Ultra 9 285K ($589) | 24 (8 performance, 16 efficiency) | 5.7 GHz | 4 |
We also saw other Nova Lake CPU configurations, including those for the Nova Lake-HX, H and U processors. Nova Lake-HX is expected to offer eight P-cores and 16 E-cores. H (tipped for mobile devices) should offer four P-cores and eight E-cores. And the lower-end U variant will have just four P-cores.
Whether these configurations are accurate is still up in the air, as the next-gen Intel Nova Lake CPUs aren't expected to arrive until next year. Still, it's exciting to see what the company may have in store, especially since Intel even apologized for its Arrow Lake desktop CPU performance issues (and fixes).
Now, with the Nvidia RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 out (even with stock being non-existent), PCs are set to get a considerable boost over the next few years. There's still much to learn about Intel's new lineup of processors, but hopefully, we'll see Intel Nova Lake CPUs contribute to these performance gains.
More from Tom's Guide
- Intel Lunar Lake benchmarks — here’s how it compares to Snapdragon X and Apple M3
- Intel offers apologies and fixes for Arrow Lake performance issues: What you need to know
- I just built an RTX 5090 gaming PC — here’s what I used and how to build your own
