Intel's Nova Lake CPUs are coming later this year, and after a few generations of only really competing with AMD at the highest power limits, Intel's next generation is looking increasingly exciting— especially for gaming performance. Per a VideoCardz report , a new leak offers a hint of what we might see from the big cache chips Intel has promised as a counter to AMD's X3D chips. It could be a lot: as much as 96MB more than even AMD's current dual-cache flagship, the 9950X3D2 , if the leak is to be believed.
Intel's top Nova Lake CPU is expected to have 52 CPU cores, potentially giving it an enormous multi-threading performance advantage. That's with 16 performance cores, the first time Intel has offered more than eight of those cores on a single flagship. But it's the cache that could be the biggest game changer, and now X leaker Jaykihn0 is claiming that CPU will have 288MB. For comparison, the 9950X3D2 has 192MB.
Jaykihn claims that the 40-core Nova Lake CPU will have 264MB of cache, the 24-core 144MB, the 18-core 132MB, and the entry-level 18-core chip 108MB.
Jaykihn also has some information on how this cache is distributed. Reportedly, each cluster of four performance cores gets a pair of 12MB shared L3 cache clusters, while each cluster of three efficiency cores gets 12MB of cache.
The chips with the big cache are expected to sport an additional "D" suffix to differentiate them. We don't yet have individual number designations, but there will be a mid-range Core Ultra 7 400D and high-end Core Ultra 9 400D models. The top ones, however, are expected to sport the DX moniker and sit above even Core Ultra 9 as merely Core Ultra 400DX models.
Intel has yet to confirm many of these details, but as we edge closer to a potential fall release, more leaks and rumors will give us a clearer picture of what to expect.
