New information has emerged about Intel’s Nova Lake processors, which it plans to launch in 2026. With the leak of an internal presentation slide, it has become clear that the Core Ultra 300 series will provide significant performance increases compared to its predecessor, the Core Ultra 200. The data shows that up to 60% difference can be made in multi-threaded performance based on architecture.
Performance of Intel Nova Lake processors leaked
The technical details in the slide reveal that Nova Lake promises a “>1.1x” increase in single-core performance and a “>1.6x” increase in multi-core performance. It is not specified which segment these figures apply to, but it is possible that the architecture was tested on a mobile-focused or entry-level system.
Another striking detail is that Intel is once again bringing gaming performance to the forefront after a long break. The phrase “leadership in gaming performance” on the slide reveals that Intel is developing a direct competition strategy against AMD’s 3D V-Cache technology, which it uses in its Ryzen 9000X3D series. The company is adopting an architectural approach that targets the gaming audience again with Nova Lake.
In the leaked technical configurations of the Nova Lake-S family, it is stated that the processors will have a total of 52 cores. The structure is as follows: 16 performance cores, 32 efficiency cores and 4 low-power auxiliary cores.
These auxiliary cores were not included in the total architectural calculation in the previous series, but in the new presentation, it is stated that this structure will now work integrated with the entire system performance.
With the new architecture, a radical change is also being made on the motherboard side. It is stated that the LGA-1954 socket will be used for Nova Lake-S desktop processors and the BGA-2540 socket structure will be used for mobile systems. This clearly shows that current motherboard structures will not be compatible with the new generation processors, and therefore users will have to change their motherboards when upgrading their systems.
All this information has not yet been officially confirmed by Intel. However, the leaked data shows that the Nova Lake architecture will bring a serious transformation not only in terms of performance, but also in terms of platform-based innovations.
The company is expected to keep the current Arrow Lake series in the market with renewed K models before the 2026 launch. It is predicted that Intel will make strategic moves to strengthen its position against AMD during this transition period.
