To counter AMD and expand the possibilities of the Nova Lake generation, Intel is bringing out the big guns.
For many, many years, it was simply unthinkable to have a PC without a dedicated graphics card: in reality, there was no choice—processors were incapable of handling Windows graphics, among other things. Later, in order to offer increasingly compact machines—and, in particular, to reduce power consumption in laptops—Intel developed graphics solutions integrated into the processors. Of course, these were limited to basic display tasks, and gaming, for example, was completely out of the question… But that was before the arrival of AMD’s APUs. These processors, found for example in handheld consoles like the Steam Deck or the ROG Ally, are perfectly capable of running even the most modern games. Of course, 4K resolution is out of the question, and you often have to lower the detail settings, but that’s the point: the games run smoothly without a dedicated graphics card.
Intel couldn’t just sit idly by, and the release of the Panther Lake chips marked its first response. The Arc G3 and Arc G3 Extreme chips leverage Xe3 graphics cores to match—or even surpass—AMD’s most widely used APUs. But that’s not enough, and to take things even further, Intel is looking to Nova Lake. The next generation of processors is already known to include a model with a whopping 52 CPU cores. Today, we’ve learned that a variant of Nova Lake is expected to reduce the number of these CPU cores, but offer a significant boost in GPU power. Until now, all reports had indicated that Nova Lake processors would have only two graphics cores—just the bare minimum.
The different generations of Intel’s Xe cores. © Intel
But now, the always well-informed Jaykihn has posted on X.com that a significantly different Nova Lake processor is in the works at Intel. It doesn’t have a name yet, but this processor is said to feature 16 CPU cores divided into 4 high-performance cores, 8 efficient cores, and 4 low-power cores. That’s already quite impressive. In addition, 12 so-called Xe3P GPU cores are reportedly part of the package. That’s more than on the Arc G3 and Arc G3 Extreme chips, but it’s also a more modern design. On the latter chips, we’re talking about “plain” Xe3 GPU cores—that is, based on the Battlemage architecture. In contrast, Nova Lake is said to feature Xe3P cores, also known as Celestial cores, which represent Intel’s next generation. Better yet, this chip—with 16 CPU cores and 12 GPU cores—is said to consume just 65 watts of power. This should result in compact, powerful, and energy-efficient machines. Intel seems determined to make a comeback!
