A previous leak stated that Intel had at least 12 Nova Lake desktop chips lined up, with at least 3 slated to arrive with the highly anticipated bLLC (big last-level cache), effectively making them direct competitors to AMD’s Ryzen X3D lineup. X user Jaykihn, a consistent source of Intel leaks, has now revealed exactly how much cache the chips pack- even the ones without bLLC. Some of them even surpass the recently unveiled Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition, and it’ll be interesting to see how much of that extra cache translates to gaming prowess.
| Tentative SKU name | Core Count (P+E+LPE) | bLLC | Cache |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core Ultra DX9 400 | 52 (16+32+4) | Yes | 288 MB |
| Core Ultra DX7 400 | 44 (8+24+4) | Yes | 264 MB |
| Core Ultra D9 400 | 28 (8+16+4) | Yes | 144 MB |
| Core Ultra 9 400 | 28 (8+16+4) | No | 36 MB |
| Core Ultra 9 400 | 22 (6+12+4) | Yes | 108 MB |
| Core Ultra D7 400 | 24 (8+12+4) | Yes | 132 MB |
| Core Ultra 7 400 | 24 (8+12+4) | No | 33 MB |
| Core Ultra 7 400 | 16 (4+8+4) | No | 18 MB |
| Core Ultra 5 400 | 22( 6+12+4) | No | 27 MB |
| Core Ultra 5 400 | 12 (4+4+4) | No | 15 MB |
| Core Ultra 5 400 | 8 (4+0+4) | No | 12 MB |
| Core Ultra 3 400 | 6 (2+0+4) | No | 6 MB |
Jaykihn has also revealed that the 52-core flagship will launch the Core Ultra DX9 4xx and the 44-core variant will launch as the Core Ultra DX7 4xx. The 28-core and 24-core models will launch as the Core Ultra D9 4xx and Core Ultra D7 4xx, respectively. Lastly, the 22-core model will not come with any special prefixes. Essentially, there’ll be three Core Ultra 9 SKUs with bLLC and two Core Ultra 7 SKUs- all with wildly varying core counts. Not particularly great for first-time buyers because ‘D’ now joins the ‘K’, ‘F’ and ‘KF’ in list of letters to look out for on Intel CPU product names.
Confusing letters notwithstanding, there’s also some conflicting information about the power draw of the Core Ultra DX9 and Core Ultra DX7 chips. Videocardz’s leak says it is 175 Watts, while Jaykihn’s table implies they start at 125 Watts. The top-spec Core Ultra 5 SKU has a TDP headroom of 125 Watts, while the non-D/DX Core Ultra X9 model with bLLC is limited to 65 Watts. Then again, these are still early leaks and more clarification should arrive once Nova Lake’s launch window approaches.
I’ve been an avid PC gamer since the age of 8. My passion for gaming eventually pushed me towards general tech, and I got my first writing gig at the age of 19. I have a degree in mechanical engineering and have worked in the manufacturing industry and a few other publications like Wccftech before joining Notebookcheck in November 2019. I cover a variety of topics including smartphones, gaming, and computer hardware.
