Intel’s upcoming Nova Lake?S desktop CPUs mark a shift toward more modular, tile?based processor designs. At the heart of these chips are three different core types. First, you have the “Coyote Cove” P?cores, which handle demanding tasks like gaming, content creation, and heavy compute apps. Then there are the “Arctic Wolf” E?cores, optimized for efficient background processing, web browsing, and less intensive workloads. Finally, each chip includes a small group of low?power E?cores (LPE) dedicated to background services and always?on tasks, drawing minimal power when your PC is idle or lightly loaded. The Core Ultra?9 sits at the very top of Intel’s desktop lineup. It packs 16 P?cores, 32 E?cores spread across eight clusters, and 4 LPE cores, for a total of 52 cores on a single socket.

Intel has provisioned a substantial 144?MB of shared L3 cache for the P?cores and E?core clusters. The LPE cores live in a separate power island inside the chip’s SoC region, similar to what we saw in Meteor Lake. This segregation helps the main CPU complex run optimally under full load, while the little LPE cluster handles background chores without waking the rest of the chip.

Just below the Ultra?9, you’ll find the Core Ultra?7 series. These chips are essentially the same design with a couple of cores switched off. You get 14 P?cores, 24 E?cores, and the same 4 LPE cores, for 42 cores total. They carry a 150?W base power rating on the K and KF models, so you still get robust overclocking headroom and performance potential. Intel achieves this by disabling two P?cores and two E?core clusters and scaling back the shared cache accordingly.

Moving further down, the Core Ultra?5 lineup introduces three distinct configurations to hit different price and performance targets. The top?end Ultra?5 K/KF parts boast 8 P?cores, 16 E?cores, and 4 LPE cores (28 total), with a 150?W base power rating. Just beneath those are non?K/KF models with 8 P?cores, 12 E?cores, and 4 LPE cores (24 total), and finally a more budget?oriented version combining 6 P?cores, 8 E?cores, and 4 LPE cores (18 total). All three sit in a 125?W thermal envelope, making them suitable for mainstream gaming and productivity builds.

At the entry level, Intel offers two Core Ultra?3 SKUs, both rated at 65?W. One configuration pairs 4 P?cores with 8 E?cores and 4 LPE cores, delivering 16 cores in total. The other combines 4 P?cores, 4 E?cores, and 4 LPE cores for a lighter 12?core option. These parts aim to cover compact desktops, small?form?factor systems, and budget?friendly builds where power efficiency and cost savings are priorities.

Across all Core Ultra series, platform I/O remains consistent. The top Nova Lake?S chipset routes 32 PCIe?5.0 lanes and 16 PCIe?4.0 lanes to your discrete graphics cards, NVMe drives, and other high?speed peripherals. Intel has upgraded its chipset bus to DMI?5.0, which mirrors PCIe?5.0 x8 bandwidth for the flagship chipset and PCIe?5.0 x4 for mid?range boards. This ensures minimal bottlenecks between the CPU and chipset, even when multiple devices are active.

Graphics are handled by an integrated Xe3 “Celestial” engine. While it’s smaller than the versions planned for mobile H? and U?series chips, it still offers significant performance gains over the previous generation. Expect decent entry?level gaming and smooth UI acceleration without a discrete GPU. Additionally, every Nova Lake?S processor includes an NPU block certified for local AI workloads under Microsoft Copilot , enabling tasks like on?device speech recognition, background AI filters, and hardware?accelerated inference.

Series	SKU Type	P?Cores	E?Cores	LPE Cores	Total Cores	Base Power (W)
Core Ultra 9	Unlocked K/KF	16	32	4	52	150
Core Ultra 7	Unlocked K/KF	14	24	4	42	150
Core Ultra 5	Unlocked K/KF	8	16	4	28	—
	Non?K/KF Top SKU	8	12	4	24	—
	Lower?End SKU	6	8	4	18	—
Core Ultra 3	Upper SKU	4	8	4	16	65
	Entry SKU	4	4	4	12	65

Source:?Expreview

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