Intel’s next-generation Nova Lake-S Desktop CPUs could deliver a significant performance boost, with early predictions suggesting a more than 10% increase in single-threaded (ST) performance and over 60% for multi-threaded (MT) workloads. This performance surge is expected to come from Intel’s new architectures, including the Coyote Cove P-Cores and Arctic Wolf E-Cores, which are designed for better performance and efficiency. A leaked internal Intel slide has circulated, showing these projected gains, though it’s important to remember that these figures are based on estimations and may fluctuate by the time of release.
The Nova Lake-S CPUs are expected to challenge AMD’s current Ryzen offerings, though by the time of their 2026 release, they’ll likely be facing next-gen Ryzen chips based on the Zen 6 core architecture. 
Intel’s focus on “Ultimate Performance and Efficiency” along with “Leadership Gaming Performance” is meant to compete in both general and gaming workloads. However, users should note that the numbers provided in the slide are based on a comparison with Intel’s own Arrow Lake-S CPUs, which delivered an 8% improvement in ST and a 15% increase in MT performance over the Raptor Lake-S lineup.
The leak also mentioned a new addition to the Nova Lake-S series, a Low-Power Island with 4 LP-E cores, which could enhance the performance per watt. The Core Ultra 9, Intel’s most powerful upcoming SKU, is set to feature 52 cores (16 P-Cores, 32 E-Cores, and 4 LP-E cores), a significant leap from the Core Ultra 9 285K, which only has 24 cores in total.
In addition, there’s speculation about the cache capacity for these chips. With the Core Ultra 9 featuring up to 180MB of LLC (Last-Level Cache) and the Core Ultra 7 models offering up to 144MB, Intel could provide a substantial advantage over AMD’s Ryzen 9 CPUs, which offer up to 128MB of cache. This increase in cache, combined with more cores, should result in significant performance improvements in both gaming and productivity tasks.
While details are still scarce and the launch is some time away, these early leaks give us an exciting glimpse into the future of desktop CPUs, with Intel looking to maintain a leadership position in both performance and efficiency.