The rumor mill is active regarding Intel's next waves of processors. Whispers include refreshes, new architectures, and high core counts. Let's examine the latest buzz surrounding Intel's Arrow Lake Refresh, Panther Lake, and Nova Lake CPUs.
Arrow Lake Refresh: A Revival
Arrow Lake Refresh is reportedly back. This refresh was intended to follow Arrow Lake chips and be branded as Core Ultra Series 3. Despite rumors of cancellation, sources like Golden Pig Upgrade indicate its return.
The Refresh was designed to introduce a new NPU architecture targeting significantly higher AI TOPS than the current 13 TOPS on Arrow Lake. This suggests enhanced AI capabilities. Source @Jaykihn indicates Intel's roadmap includes new NPUs like NPU5 (around 50 TOPS) and NPU6 (up to 75 TOPS) with Panther Lake and Nova Lake respectively.
The potential revival of Arrow Lake Refresh suggests a possible strategic shift for Intel. This could be to improve gaming optimizations and market presence, areas the Core Ultra 200S series is still developing.
Panther Lake: Mobile Powerhouse Details
Panther Lake, the successor to Arrow Lake, is anticipated for laptops. Unlike Lunar Lake, it will not feature on-package memory. @Jaykihn has revealed potential configurations.
Top-Tier Panther Lake-H: Features 4 P-cores, 8 E-cores, 4 LPE cores, a 12 Xe3 iGPU (Celestial architecture), and LPDDR5X memory. AI TOPS are projected at 180, combining 10 TOPS from the CPU, 50 from NPU5, and 120 from the Xe3 iGPU.
Mid-range Panther Lake Variants: Two versions are suggested: one with 4 P-cores + 8 E-cores + 4 LPE cores, and another with 4 P-cores + 0 E-cores + 4 LPE cores. Both include 4 Xe3 iGPU cores and 100 AI TOPS.
All Panther Lake-H chips are expected to include four Thunderbolt 4 ports, with select models supporting Thunderbolt 5 via a separate controller.
Budget Wildcat Lake: For entry-level laptops, Wildcat Lake is in development. It will feature 2 P-cores, 0 E-cores, 4 LPE cores, 2 Xe3 iGPUs, and 40 TOPS.
Panther Lake is expected in the second half of 2025. It will be the first client CPU family using Intel's 18A process. The design is tiled, incorporating new Cougar Cove P-cores and revised Skymont E-cores.
Nova Lake: Potential 52-Core Desktop Dominance
Nova Lake, potentially Core Ultra Series 4, is generating significant buzz. Rumors of high core counts are reinforced by @Jaykihn's preliminary silicon configurations.
Nova Lake Beast: Potentially features 52 Cores (16 P-cores, 32 E-cores, 4 LPE-cores).
High-End Nova Lake: May offer 28 Cores (8 P-cores, 16 E-cores, 4 LPE cores).
Mainstream Nova Lake: Could include 16 Cores (4 P-cores, 8 E-cores, 4 LPE cores).
The top-tier 52-core SKU is rumored to utilize a dual-tile design. Each tile would contain 8 Coyote Cove P-cores, 16 Arctic Wolf E-cores, and 4 LPE Arctic Wolf cores. This configuration suggests substantial multitasking capabilities.
It is currently unknown if Hyper-Threading will return. However, even without it, 52 cores represent a significant increase from current desktop offerings. Intel will likely employ advanced Foveros and EMIB packaging to manage thread scheduling and interconnects in this dual-tile design.
Enthusiast-focused P-core only Nova Lake variants with a large 144MB cache are also rumored, though consumer availability is uncertain. Nova Lake is also anticipated to support AVX10.2 and APX instruction sets.
Exciting Future (Subject to Change)
These details are based on leaks and rumors and are subject to change. However, if these reports are accurate, Intel's upcoming CPU releases are poised to be impactful. From mobile AI advancements to high-core desktop CPUs, Intel appears to be aiming for a strong market position. Further official announcements and leaks are anticipated.
