Intel Nova Lake leak drops some juicy bits about upcoming Intel Core Ultra series 4 chips

Intel’s next Core Ultra desktop chips just got a lot more interesting

By Vikhyaat Vivek Published April 15, 2026

Intel employee holding chip Core Ultra Series 3 — Intel employee holding an Core Ultra Series 3 chip Intel

Intel‘s upcoming Nova Lake chips have just surfaced in the rumor mill, and the latest leak drops a few juicy details about how the Core Ultra Series 4 desktop family could take shape.

The company’s Nova Lake desktop lineup may be built around three different die variants. These are reportedly labeled Nova Lake-S 8P+16E, 8P+12E, and 6P+8E, giving us an early idea of how Intel could segment its next mainstream desktop CPUs across high-end, midrange, and entry tiers.

Why is this leak getting attention?

Intel is not just refreshing its desktop lineup, but potentially reorganizing how it scales core counts and product tiers. Wccftech says the top Nova Lake-S die is expected to feature eight performance cores and 16 efficiency cores, while the mid-tier and lower-tier versions trim the E and P-core count to hit different segments. If that is accurate, Intel looks set to keep leaning into its hybrid design strategy.

What does the leak actually say about the lineup?

The leaks suggest that the three dies could map to the broader Core Ultra Series 4 stack, with the 8P+16E configuration likely handling higher-end SKUs, the 8P+12E part covering the middle, and the 6P+8E die aimed at cheaper chips. Each die is said to include integrated Xe3 graphics. To better rival AMD’s X3D-style gaming chips, there are rumors of a big LLC (or bLLC) variants that ccould feature 144MB of cache, while dual-tile versions may go as high as 288MB.

If this leak is on the money, Nova Lake could be another sign that Intel wants to sharpen the separation between desktop processors without going overboard on flagship-only core inflation. Intel could even build a dual-compute-tile Nova Lake chip with up to 52 cores, built from two dies each carrying 8 performance cores and 16 efficiency cores, plus 4 low-power efficiency cores that are not doubled.

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The report also mentions a 44-core variant using the same dual-tile idea. Both are said to target enthusiast users and could run at up to 175W. Beyond this, the rest of the desktop lineup will include the Core Ultra 9, 7, 5, and 3 series processors, with mainstream models ranging between 35W and 125W. Other notable info includes up to 74 TOPS of AI performance, default DDR5-8000, Thunderbolt 5, and WiFi 7 support, along with the new LGA 1954 platform, also referred to as Socket V.

Vikhyaat Vivek is a tech journalist and reviewer with seven years of experience covering consumer hardware, with a focus on…

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