We are getting more and more details about Intel's next-gen Nova Lake-S desktop "Core Ultra 400" series CPUs, which will reportedly support DDR5-8000 memory natively, while also boasting 36 PCIe Gen5 lanes.
The new information on the RAM + Gen5 lanes for Nova Lake-S desktop processors is coming from leaker @jaykihn0 on X, after information was posted about the new Core Ultra 400 series CPUs featuring up to 52 cores (over twice the core count of Arrow Lake-S chips on the market today).
Intel is reportedly gearing up to provide 50% higher native RAM speed support (DDR5-6400 on Arrow Lake-S, with DDR5-8000 on Nova Lake-S and up to DDR5-10000 also supported). Intel officially supports DDR5-6400 memory through DDR5 and CUDIMM modules on the 800-series and Arrow Lake-S, but you can squeeze up to DDR5-9000+ speeds, but natively, only DDR5-6400 is supported.
It seems as though Intel's new 900-series PCH has a new powerful memory controller to support DDR5-8000 memory natively, with the baseline at 8000MT/s we should expect DDR5 memory speeds of up to and over 10000MT/s using high-frequency CUDIMM memory modules.
Intel's new 900-series motherboards and Nova Lake-S processors will also be able to enjoy 36 PCIe Gen5 lanes, a large increase over the 24 PCIe Gen5 lanes on the 800-series and Arrow Lake-S processors. 4 of these Gen5 lanes on 800-series motherboards are used for DMI, leaving 20 Gen5 lanes for the PCIe x16 slot, while the new 900-series will also share 4 Gen5 lanes with DMI, leaving 32 Gen5 lanes (meaning 2 x full x16 Gen5 lanes, or a single x16 with 4 x 4 lanes for ultra-fast SSDs). There'll also be 16 Gen4 lanes, too.
Intel is cooking up 7 new SKUs of Core Ultra 400 series with the flagship Core Ultra 9 SKU featuring 52 cores (16 P-Cores + 32 E-Cores + 4 LP-E Cores) with a 150W TDP. Compare this with the current-gen flagship Core Ultra 9 285K "Arrow Lake-S" desktop CPU which features 8 P-Cores and 16 E-Cores for a total of 24 cores (with no LP-E cores), meaning we're in for a 2.16x increase in core count, with 2 x more P-Cores and E-Cores.
The new Core Ultra 7 offering in the Nova Lake-S family rocks more CPU cores than the current flagship Core Ultra 9 processor, with 14 P-Cores and 24 E-Cores joined by 4 LP-E cores for a total of 28 cores, meaning we've got 4 more cores than the current Core Ultra 9 285K chip. The new Core Ultra 5 series CPUs in the Nova Lake-S platform should also impress, offering 8 P-Cores and 16 E-Cores joined by 4 LP-E cores.
Intel's next-gen Nova Lake-S desktop "Core Ultra 400" series CPU leaked details:
- Core Ultra 9 - 16 P-Cores + 32 E-Cores + 4 LP-E Cores (150W)
- Core Ultra 7 - 14 P-Cores + 24 E-Cores + 4 LP-E Cores (150W)
- Core Ultra 5 - 8 P-Cores + 16 E-Cores + 4 LP-E Cores (125W)
- Core Ultra 5 - 8 P-Cores + 12 E-Cores + 4 LP-E Cores (125W)
- Core Ultra 5 - 6 P-Cores + 8 E-Cores + 4 LP-E Cores (125W)
- Core Ultra 3 - 4 P-Cores + 8 E-Cores + 4 LP-E Cores (65W)
- Core Ultra 3 - 4 P-Cores + 4 E-Cores + 4 LP-E Cores (65W)
