Intel is starting to look like a sleeping dragon about to awaken from a long rest, following new rumors regarding its Nova Lake processors. We needn’t retread the many woes the chip manufacturer has endured in recent years, but things seem to be looking brighter for Intel, if recent rumors pan out to be true. Between firmware updates and new BIOS features, attempts to give its current Core Ultra 200S product line the effect of aged “Fine Wine” have provided significant improvements, but AMD’s 3D V-Cache technology still reigns supreme among many PC gamers. However, that could change within a couple of years.
AMD debuted its first 3D V-Cache processor with the Ryzen 7 5800X3D back in 2022 when it went toe-to-silicon-toe with some of Intel’s best, and often beat despite the latter’s much higher price and power draw. Since then, AMD has continued to release many other processors featuring the technology, and with its 9000-series, it surprised the gaming community with a redesign that moved the cache to underneath the chiplet, thus allowing for better cooling and higher clock rates. Now, according to industry information leaker @Haze2K1, Intel will reportedly add its own upgraded cache design to some forthcoming processors.
8p, 16e
— Haze (@Haze2K1) June 17, 2025
8p, 12e
Both 4lpe, bLLC, 125w https://t.co/EQo4MiaGpq
So, according to this rumor, two Nova Lake SKUs will feature Intel’s server cache technology called bLLC, big Last Line Cache, that is currently being used on some Xeon processors. The other part of the rumor is that Intel is planning to integrate bLLC undeath the tile, similar to what AMD is now doing with its gaming processors. It should be noted that while additional cache is likely to improve CPU performance, there are still many other factors to take into account, such as latency, voltages, frequencies, and cache sizes, none of which are confirmed for the Nova Lake series, yet. Other rumors indicate the Ultra 9 CPUs could feature up to 180 MB of combined cache, and then the Ultra 7 with 144 MB. Nova Lake is not expected to arrive until late 2026 at the earliest, or possibly some time in 2027. More rumors regarding the product lineup, including core configurations and power draw, can be found here. However, in the meantime, here is a short video explaining bLLC that @Haze2K1 also linked to in their posts.
A hybrid iGPU Architecture?
Another rumor to add to the pile is that Intel might be utilizing a hybrid approach for graphics with Nova Lake-S. According to @Jaykihn, the upcoming processors will feature both Xe3 (Celestial) and Xe4 (Druid) graphics on the package. The former to provide graphics support while the latter will handle display and media processing.
Xe3 graphics + Xe4 display & media
— Jaykihn (@jaykihn0) June 4, 2025