A new leak by @laurentschoice lists seven desktop Nova Lake-S processors under what looks like Intel's new four-digit Core Ultra 4000 naming, led by a Core Ultra 9 4970K BFC. It apparently has 8 P-cores, 16 E-cores, and 4 LPE cores for 28 in total, plus bLLC (big last-level cache), a 125 W rating, and a 32 EU iGPU. That puts it above the Core Ultra 9 4950K, which first surfaced in a CPU-Z leak in August as a 28-core chip. This list shows the 4950K with 24 cores (8 P-cores and 16 E-cores), without LPE cores or bLLC.

The rest of the list follows a similar pattern. The Core Ultra 7 4870K BFC has 24 cores and bLLC, while the 4850K gets 20 cores without it. There is also a Core Ultra 9 4900 BFC with 22 cores, bLLC, and a 65 W rating. We currently don't know what BFC stands for, although the models carrying it appear to be the ones with bLLC, which Intel is introducing as its answer to AMD's 3D V-Cache. Intel hasn't confirmed any of these names, so they may well change before Nova Lake's official launch.Earlier reports said the single compute tile models would arrive before the 52-core flagship, and the 28-core bLLC chip was reportedly set to pull up to 296 W at PL2 despite its 125 W rating. Regardless, Nova Lake's launch is inching closer and closer, with qualification samples now showing up in programs like HWiNFO. Earlier reports point to a Q1 2027 launch window for Nova Lake-S CPUs, with the 52-core flagship arriving later.