Intel Nova Lake Leaks Reveal 900 Series Chipsets and BLLC Cache Strategy

Intel’s Nova Lake platform introduces new 900 series chipsets and expanded PCIe lane configurations for desktop systems

Hardware by Katmin on Feb 15, 2026

Once again, mid-February has brought a peculiar mix of anger and cautious hope. The RAM crisis is still ongoing, and hardware costs are still fluctuating.

However, fresh information on Intel's next-generation Nova Lake CPUs suggests that there may still be some serious competition in the desktop market.

Intel, Nova Lake, Leaks Reveal 900 Series, Chipsets and BLLC Cache Strategy, NoobFeed

900 Series Chipsets Appear

There are rumors that Intel is preparing to launch five LG1954 chipsets for Nova Lake-S desktop processors: B960, Z970, Z990, Q970, and W980. The Z990 seems to be the best choice because it supports full CPU overclocking and has up to 48 PCIe lanes. This contains 12 PCIe 5.0 lanes from the chipset and 16 PCIe 5.0 lanes straight from the CPU.

The W980 is aimed at workstation customers. It keeps the connection but stops CPU overclocking. It still lets you change the memory. The Q970 is a simpler choice for a workstation. The Z970, on the other hand, includes a mid-range enthusiast option that lets you overclock but not change the base clock. This cuts the number of PCIe lanes down to 34 and takes away support for PCIe 5.0. The B960 has a similar lane setup; it only allows memory overclocking.

There are also suggestions that Intel wants this new socket to last longer than just a few generations. If that turns out to be true, it would be a pleasant change for fans who are tired of having to switch platforms so often.

BLLC vs. 3D V-Cache

Another significant rumor is about BLLC, or big last-level cache. This is Intel's possible answer to AMD's 3D V-Cache technology. AMD's X3D processors have been the best for gaming for a few cycles now, and Mercury Research says they have helped the company get more than 35% of the desktop x86 CPU market.

Intel, Nova Lake, Leaks Reveal 900 Series, Chipsets and BLLC Cache Strategy, NoobFeed

According to leaker HXL, Nova Lake dies are about 150 mm² with BLLC and 110 mm² without it. That means the improved cache version has a die size that is 36% bigger. Nova Lake's 8+16-core design differs from AMD's anticipated 12-core Zen6 CCDs, so it's hard to compare them directly. In general, larger dies equal greater production costs.

It is thought that both TSMC's N2 Fab22 in Taiwan and Intel's 18A Fab32 in Arizona would be involved in making the products. However, it is still unclear how production will be split between desktop and mobile SKUs.

For those of us who keep a close eye on the CPU market, Nova Lake is more than simply another product cycle. It could decide whether Intel can get back on track with enthusiast gaming performance and platform stability. You might want to lower your expectations, but real competition could finally be coming back to the desktop market.

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