Intel Nova Lake guide - all the latest on the new Core Ultra 400 CPUs

Intel Nova Lake is expected to be the next generation of Intel desktop gaming CPUs and arrive under the Core Ultra 400D and 400DX naming scheme. Despite the 400 in their name, these will be just the second generation of Core Ultra desktop CPUs, but are expected to bring huge increases in core counts and cache levels over the current Intel Core Ultra 200 / Arrow Lake series.

The arrival of Nova Lake is expected to be Intel's first serious threat to the dominance of AMD's AM5 X3D chips, when it comes to being the best gaming CPU in the world, and a huge part of how Intel is aiming to achieve that is by packing in a huge number of cores and massive amounts of L3 cache. Read on below to get the latest details on the upcoming release.

Intel Nova Lake specs rumors

These are the expected Nova Lake-S specs, based on the latest leaks and rumors.

Several Nova Lake cache and Nova Lake model leaks point to flagship models being expected to have a new naming scheme that sits above the existing Core Ultra 9 branding, and they will come with far higher specs too. The top models could have up to 52 cores and 288MB of L3 cache.

This increase in specs also brings a high TDP of 175W, which is 50W more than the 125W maximum of the current Arrow Lake flagship, the Core Ultra 9 285K.

This extra L3 cache, which has increased from 36MB on the 285K to 132MB on the core-equivalent model in the Nova Lake lineup, is expected to bring gains in gaming performance akin to how AMD's X3D works. The two cache designs are fundamentally different, but the gains could still be there.

Intel Nove Lake release date speculation

Based on the latest leaks and rumors, the Intel Nova-S release date is expected to be in Q4 of 2026 or in early 2027. This could mean an unveiling at the CES 2027 tech trade show in January of that year, which has regularly been an event where either new CPU designs are showcased, or where many products based on new CPUs announced at the end of the year before are shown off.

Intel Nova Lake is expected to launch at around the same time as AMD's rival Zen 6 CPUs, with both companies vying for that coveted top spot on gaming CPU charts. You can read more about that upcoming launch in our Zen 6 guide.