The Nova Lake-S desktop CPUs are rumored to have way more cache than even AMD’s 9950X3D2.
AMD recently launched its most expensive mainstream desktop 3D V-cache desktop processor, the 9950X3D2, at $899. The new 9950X3D2, as the name suggests, has double the L3 (level 3) cache as the 9950X3D at 192 MB. The total cache amounts to 208 MB. We have seen how the massive cache can help AMD, especially in situations like gaming, which depends on rapid data to and fro. The chips tend to enjoy a very healthy lead over Intel.
However, it looks like the latter will soon have an answer to AMD’s X3D parts, and a new report suggests Intel may actually even blow away the best X3D processor with its new creation. The upcoming next-gen Nova Lake-S desktop processors have long been rumored to be packing a large amount of L3 cache called bLLC or big Last Level Cache. Before that, Intel was also said to be working on a new L4 cache that would have helped boost certain aspects of performance.
Following the initial reports of the large bLLC, a new report from a leakster has now shared additional spec details about Nova Lake-S, including the amount of bLLC. The report claims that Intel’s top chip will pack up to 288 MB of L3 cache, a whopping 50% more than AMD’s 9950X3D2. The 288 MB will supposedly be arranged across two compute tiles with each tile having 144 MB of L3 cache, compared to 96 MB on AMD’s current 9950X3D.
The flagship “Core Ultra 400DX” is said to be the one featuring the 288 MB of cache, which will feed 52 cores across the two tiles, so each tile will have 26 cores in the (8+16+2) core configuration. This huge cache could also benefit the on-board powerful integrated graphics greatly.
Here are the full purported specifications in the table below:
| Model | Total Cores | Core Configuration (P+E+LP) | Cache (bLLC) | TDP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core Ultra 400DX | 52C | (8+16)+(8+16)+4 | 288MB | 175W |
| Core Ultra 400DX | 44C | (8+12)+(8+12)+4 | 264MB | 175W |
| Core Ultra 9 400D | 28C | 8+16+4 | 144MB | 125W |
| Core Ultra 9 400 | 28C | 8+16+4 | – | 125W / 65W |
| Core Ultra 9 400 | 22C | 6+12+4 | 108MB | 65W |
| Core Ultra 7 400D | 24C | 8+12+4 | 132MB | 125W |
| Core Ultra 7 400 | 24C | 8+12+4 | – | 125W / 65W |
| Core Ultra 7 400 | 16C | 4+8+4 | – | 65W / 35W |
| Core Ultra 5 400 | 22C | 6+12+4 | – | 125W / 65W |
| Core Ultra 5 400 | 12C | 4+4+4 | – | 65W / 35W |
| Core Ultra 5 400 | 8C | 4+0+4 | – | 65W / 35W |
| Core Ultra 3 400 | 6C | 2+0+4 | – | 65W / 35W |
Back in 2021, there were rumors of a “Zen 5 killer” that Intel was cooking up in its labs, and it looks like those plans may finally be met. It will be interesting to see how things go once these are out. This could well be the best threat Intel has posed to AMD since the advent of Zen.
Source: Jaykihn (X)
