Intel is preparing to directly respond to AMD’s X3D series in the gaming performance market for desktop processors. The Core Ultra 400K series, codenamed Nova Lake-S, which the company plans to release at the end of 2026, reveals its technical limits with new leaks.

The Nova Lake-S series is coming soon.

The most striking aspect of these new generation processors is the massive cache layer added on top of the existing L3 cache architecture, called bLLC (Big Last Level Cache). This technology, which will only be found in “K” series models with an unlocked multiplier, maximizes performance, especially in latency-sensitive games and high workloads.

The top-of-the-line Core Ultra 9 model reaches up to 52 cores with Intel’s dual compute tile architecture. This massive core setup consists of 16 performance (P), 32 efficiency (E), and 4 low-power (LPE) cores.

The real excitement in the hardware world lies in the fact that this flagship model boasts a massive 288MB of bLLC cache. The Core Ultra 9 variant, a step down in the same series with 42 cores (14P + 24E + 4 LPE), also offers 288MB of cache support.

Moving down to the Core Ultra 7 segment, the hardware architecture shifts to a single compute chip. Processors in this group are listed in two different options: 28 cores (8P + 16E + 4 LPE) and 24 cores (8P + 12E + 4 LPE).

However, we see that the bLLC capacity is limited to 144MB in these models. On the platform side, radical changes are on the horizon. Nova Lake-S processors, with their LGA 1954 socket structure and 900 series chipsets, necessitate a new motherboard ecosystem.

Powered by the Xe3-LPG architecture on the graphics side, the series promises significantly higher processing capacity in artificial intelligence operations compared to previous generations, thanks to the NPU6 unit. Intel’s current roadmap indicates the last quarter of 2026 for these powerful processors.