Nova Lake will prompt a long-awaited clash of cache if recent leaks hold water, with Intel bLLC delivering capacities that would greatly exceed what AMD 3D V-Cache currently offers. Combine this with exceedingly large core counts and Intel may concoct the one-two punch it’s sought for so long to dethrone its rival’s X3D models.

Regular Intel leaker jaykihn0 has shared potential cache configurations, adding further detail to the 13 Nova Lake CPU specs that leaked earlier this month. According to the X user, we should expect five of the baker’s dozen to sport bLLC (big Last Level Cache), flying under new ‘D’ and ‘DX’ suffixes, which will sport 108-288MB of cache. I’ve listed these rumoured details in the table below.

ModelCores (P+E+LP)CacheCodenameTBD-DX16+32+4 (52)*288MB**P3DXTBD-DX16+24+4 (44)*264MB**P2DXCore Ultra 9D8+16+4 (28)144MB**P2DCore Ultra 98+16+4 (28)36MBP2KCore Ultra 9D6+12+4 (22)108MB**P2Core Ultra 7D8+12+4 (24)132MB**P1DCore Ultra 78+12+4 (24)33MBP1KCore Ultra 74+8+4 (16)18MBP1Core Ultra 56+12+4 (22)27MBMS2K / MS2KFCore Ultra 54+4+4 (12)15MBMS2Core Ultra 54+0+4 (8)12MBMS1Core Ultra 32+0+4 (6)6MBT1*Dual-die package
**bLLC

Setting the floor at 108MB, the prospective Core Ultra 9D would have more cache with which to play than the mighty Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which has 104MB (8+96MB) under the hood. While this extra cache isn’t the only factor when it comes to gaming performance, it would remove one of AMD’s key advantages.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the scale, the dual-die ‘DX’ models will apparently rock an enormous 288MB of cache. That pool would be larger than the 208MB (16+192MB) of AMD’s new flagship, the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2, potentially ending AMD’s reign as the go-to choice for high-end productivity desktops.

Of course, we’re comparing next-generation Nova Lake processors to Zen 5 chips that have been around for almost two years now. The real test for Intel’s upcoming processors will be Zen 6, AMD’s upcoming CPU architecture, which may finally prompt a shakeup in core counts. We’re hoping to see this tussle take shape towards the end of the year, or the beginning of 2027, if prior Nova Lake release date estimations hold.

Until then, check out our 270K Plus vs 9800X3D head-to-head to see just how much of an advantage L3 cache can offer in the current landscape.