Intel’s K-series Nova Lake CPUs target AMD’s X3D chips with “bLLC” tech

With its next-generation Nova Lake-S series CPUs, Intel is taking the fight to AMD with its “bLLC” cache technology. This “big Last Level Cache” technology counters AMD’s X3D gaming CPUs by providing a large traditional cache, reportedly 144 MB in size. According to Jaykihn, a prominent leaker, this cache will be exclusive to “unlocked SKUs”. This means that Intel Core Ultra 400K series CPUs should feature Intel’s bLLC tech.

Intel’s bLLC cache is reportedly part of Intel’s Nova Lake Compute Tile. It delivers the same benefits as AMD’s X3D 3D V-Cache technology. With a large last-level cache, mode data can be stored on-chip. This gives a CPU access to more information and bandwidth before it needs to utilise DRAM. This allows many workloads to complete faster, as accessing on-chip data is faster and incurs lower latency.

Large caches are highly beneficial for gaming workloads. This means that Intel’s Nova Lake series CPUs should be able to counter AMD’s dominant position within the PC gaming CPU market. This should make 2026 an interesting year for PC gamers. Intel’s Nova Lake-S Core Ultra 400K series CPUs will battle AMD’s Zen 6 X3D CPUs for gaming supremacy.

Intel’s Nova Lake-S desktop CPUs will also feature a major NPU upgrade over today’s Arrow Lake CPUs. This means Intel’s Nova Lake CPUs should appeal to gamers and AI enthusiasts alike. If successful, Nova Lake could regain Intel the CPU crown. However, it remains to be seen how AMD’s Zen 6 CPUs will perform, or how Nova Lake will perform. As we said before, 2026 will be a very interesting year for the CPU market.