Even if you have to change your motherboard, upgrading to Nova Lake shouldn't mean replacing all your PC's components.
Over the next few months, Intel will be releasing a so-called "refresh" of its Arrow Lake processors. This will not be a genuine new generation/architecture, but rather an optimization of the existing one. For anything really new, we'll have to wait until the end of next year, at best, and the release of the Nova Lake range. There are many changes in this generation, starting with the use of a new, ever-thinner etching process to make transistors even denser.
More embarrassingly, Intel has already confirmed that Nova Lake will also be an opportunity to change the processor's socket: out goes the LGA-1851 socket simply used on Arrow Lake, and in comes the LGA-1954 which, as its name suggests, will have even more pins. The problem is that a change of socket is often synonymous with a change of cooling system, as the dimensions are generally not exactly the same. Initial rumors about the LGA-1954, however, seemed to be heading in the "right direction": the LGA-1954 socket would be exactly the same size and thickness as the LGA-1851.
Noctua assures us of the LGA-1954 compatibility of its coolers © Noctua
In fact, several sources began to explain that the cooling systems (ventirad or watercooling) used for Arrow Lake would be perfectly compatible with future Nova Lakes. Today, this has been confirmed by one of the main players in the world of cooling, or at least one of the most prominent, Austrian company Noctua. On its website, the company makes no bones about it, confirming the compatibility of all its solutions with socket LGA-1954. What's more, Noctua stresses that this compatibility is guaranteed without the need for any accessories or updates. In fact, it's logical to assume that all cooling systems designed for LGA-1851 - from Noctua or other manufacturers - will be compatible with LGA-1954. Not bad.
