Intel’s upcoming Nova Lake-S desktop processors are shaping up to be a direct challenge to AMD’s popular X3D gaming chips, thanks to a new feature called “bLLC”—short for big Last Level Cache.
This enlarged cache, expected to be around 144 MB, is reportedly available only on Intel’s unlocked models. In other words, the Core Ultra 400K lineup should be the ones carrying this tech.
The bLLC sits on the Nova Lake Compute Tile and aims to offer the same kind of benefits that AMD delivers with its 3D V-Cache design. By providing the processor with a much larger pool of on-chip data, it reduces the frequency at which the CPU must retrieve information from system memory. That means quicker access, lower latency, and performance boosts across a range of workloads.
Games in particular tend to benefit from large caches, which puts Intel in a better position to take on AMD’s strong lead in the gaming CPU market. With Nova Lake-S going up against Zen 6 X3D in 2026, the battle for the gaming performance crown looks closer than it has in years.
bLLC will only be present on unlocked SKUs.
— Jaykihn (@jaykihn0) November 25, 2025
Intel is also preparing a major upgrade to the NPU inside Nova Lake-S, offering far more AI acceleration than what’s built into current Arrow Lake chips. That combination—strong gaming performance and improved AI hardware—could give Intel a path back to the top.
Of course, everything depends on how both companies’ 2026 chips actually perform, but one thing is clear: the CPU market is heading for a very lively year.
