Next-gen Intel Nova Lake CPUs to require new LGA-1954 CPU socket

Intel’s next-gen Nova Lake CPUs will move the company to a new CPU socket – LGA-1851 may be finished

LGA-1851 may become known as one of the worst CPU sockets in Intel’s history. If today’s rumours are true, Intel’s next-generation Nova Lake CPUs will utilise a new socket called LGA-1954, a move that may leave LGA-1851 users without an upgrade path.

While there are rumours of an Arrow Lake Refresh, these new processors won’t be a major upgrade for existing Arrow Lake CPU users on LGA-1851. Based on new data from NBD, Intel is testing Nova Lake-S (NVL-S) with their new LGA-1954 socket. This means that Intel’s next-generation CPU architecture will land with a new CPU socket and a new range of motherboards. Meanwhile, AMD plans to use its AM5 CPU socket well into the future.

Currently, Intel is expected to release Nova Lake sometime in 2026. A leak from earlier this year suggests that Intel may launch a CPU with 16 P-Cores and 32 E-Cores. If this is the case, Nova Lake should deliver much more multi-threaded performance than Intel’s current-generation processors.

(Image from Videocardz – via Olrak29)

Nova Lake will reportedly be built using Intel’s 18A lithography node. If it performs well, Nova Lake could represent a return to form for Intel. However, it remains to be seen how Intel’s 18A technology and Nova Lake CPU architecture will perform. If both do well, Intel will have a highly successful 2026. If not, Intel may plunge to new lows.

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