In recent years, Intel has struggled to catch up with AMD, as Team Red’s Zen architecture has been on a roll. Even though Intel has recovered some ground in consumer CPUs with the Core Ultra 200-series, AMD’s 3D V-Cache technology stacks cache without widening the chip or adding more cores, giving it an efficiency advantage and delivering more performance without higher power consumption.

Now, Team Blue is gearing up to launch its next-generation processors, “Nova Lake,” which are expected to be big powerhouses with up to 52 cores. However, more cores alone won’t help Intel close the gap with AMD unless it can also match AMD’s performance-per-watt efficiency.

Nova Lake is stacking up on cores, but that’s not the whole fight

A jump from 28 cores to 52 cores doesn’t automatically mean “good”

Built on the new LGA 1954 socket, Intel’s Nova Lake CPUs will feature up to 52 cores, 28 more cores than its most powerful model right now, the Core Ultra 9 285K. However, keep in mind that Intel’s core count includes a mix of P-Cores (Performance), E-Cores (Efficiency), and LP E-Cores (Low-Power Efficiency).

While this is for Intel’s flagship model, high-end models will feature up to 52 cores, upper-mid models 28 or 16, and entry-level models 8.

However, the biggest issue is that the CPU power draw has significantly increased, going up to 474W for the flagship model in PL2 (the maximum power CPUs draw under boost clocks), and as such, you can imagine the power limit for the rest of the models, which will be on a similar scale.

For reference, Intel CPUs haven’t crossed the 250W threshold since Comet Lake.

Lava Lake?

Earlier this year, GIGABYTE showed what appears to be a motherboard for the Nova Lake CPUs, which feature three 8-pin CPU power connectors (one of them might be a PCIe connector), adding power beyond the 75W supplied by the CPU socket.

This makes for a power-hungry, hot machine that will require at least a 1,200W PSU, especially with a matching GPU like the RTX 5090, which alone has a 575W TDP. Power isn’t the whole story; I don’t even want to imagine the heat from a setup featuring a flagship Nova Lake CPU and an RTX 5080/5090.

Conversely, Zen 6’s exact power figures haven’t been leaked, but with less than half the core count (24 cores via leaks covered by Tom’s Hardware), power draw should be lower than Nova Lake. I expect it to be under 300W for the flagship CPU.

Intel might be stealing AMD’s homework

Nova Lake’s bLLC is Intel’s answer to 3D V-Cache

While AMD’s 3D V-Cache technology has made it the undisputed champion for gaming CPUs and put it ahead of Intel, Team Blue seems to be gearing up a response, and we might see that with the Nova Lake processors. Intel’s bLLC (Big Last Level Cache) is a stacked cache technology that works similarly to 3D V-Cache.

This advancement alone might change the entire scene for the Intel vs. AMD competition, and current leaks estimate 288MB of cache for the flagship Nova Lake processor; that is nearly 80 MB more cache than AMD’s most powerful CPU right now, the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2.

Apparently, not all Nova Lake processors are getting bLLC either, and it will very likely be only the 52-core and 28-core variants. Entry- to mid-level processors won’t have this privilege.

I doubt many consumers are looking for a 52-core processor in the first place, and AMD was so successful with X3D processors because it could squeeze more performance out of processors with fewer cores. Also, more cache doesn’t necessarily mean better performance, since efficiency also matters. AMD, as the pioneer of this tech, understands how to make 3D V-Cache work, so we can’t say much until we see real-world gaming benchmarks.

More cores means a bigger bill to pay

Intel is solving a problem that doesn’t exist

A 52-core and 28-core processor won’t be cheap, especially considering the recent hardware prices. For this setup to work, the PC could easily cost $5,000+, given how expensive DDR5 is and how much the RTX 50-Series GPUs cost.

To utilize these cores, more RAM is required, and a computer with a 52-core CPU is answering a problem that doesn’t exist because who needs this much performance for desktop users, at least?

Accounting for the hardware prices these days, mid-level CPU entries are where the competition gets serious, and even without factoring in the leaked benchmarks so far, AMD CPUs will win in that regard, solely based on their efficiency and power consumption and the fact that you don’t need more than 8 cores for any modern AAA game these days.

I’d even go so far as to say the Ryzen 9000 and 7000 X3D chips are sufficient even after the Nova Lake CPUs debut, in the mid-range category.

A 52-core CPU is one way to be ready for GTA VI, I suppose.

Desktops and laptops won’t play the same game

AMD will keep the desktop lead, but it might see major advancements in laptops

I see Nova Lake processors winning in the laptop market, where bLLC technology, plus core count and efficiency, will boost performance. Then again, high-end laptops might get power-hungry, but entry-level to mid-level machines will most certainly thrive.

AMD never really had a grip on the laptop market anyhow, but Zen 6 might change that, depending on AMD’s execution with 3nm chips built for efficiency and packing more performance per core.

AMD still holds the long-term edge

AMD has the advantage of improving on an already established base with Zen 6, which is set to improve IPC and deliver higher clock speeds. Zen 6 CPUs won’t need a new socket like Intel’s, so if we factor in upgradability, most PC builders might lean toward AMD instead of navigating an entirely new setup with Intel.

Still, Nova Lake processors will be Intel’s biggest leap in desktop CPUs, but competing with AMD might not be possible, at least in this generation, and they might need a couple more CPU releases to pull users back to its platform, similar to how AMD fought against Team Blue when Zen-based chips first launched.