Griffin Cove and Nova Lake IPC: Intel to follow AMD's lead and trash current E-core design as new P-cores leak
Intel’s CPU roadmap seems to be in a state of constant flux, at least according to leaks. So far, we have heard that Intel has canceled Beast Lake, Beast Lake Next, and dismantled Jim Keller’s Royal Core project. Additionally, we recently reported that Team Blue might release Panther Lake desktop processors to contend with the AMD Zen 6 in 2025.
While also revealing IPC figures for Nova Lake, Moore’s Law Is Dead has claimed that Intel is working on a potentially revolutionary new CPU architecture for 2027 and beyond.
Intel’s new Griffin Cove P-cores
According to MLID, Intel is preparing Griffin Cove P-cores for an unnamed architecture that will be released sometime in 2027 or later. These Griffin Cove P-cores could be based on the Intel 14A-P, a refresh of the Intel 14A node which is set to enter production in 2026.
What’s more interesting, however, is that MLID claims that Intel might be following AMD in handling E-cores in the future with a “Unified Core” design. CPUs based on Griffin Cove or Griffin-Next might do away with wholly different P and E-cores and adopt an approach similar to Zen 5 and Zen 5c cores. Unlike Intel’s P and E-cores, Zen 5 and Zen 5c cores are identical in terms of underlying architecture save for a few key omissions from the Zen 5c to make them smaller. Intel is reportedly planning to outfit its 2027 architecture in a similar way, doing away with maintaining two completely different cores inside one CPU package.
For performance, MLID believes the Griffin Cove P-cores could get a 10-20% IPC uplift over Nova Lake and its Coyote Cove P-cores. We must be cautious here, as Griffin Cove is far out, and any “IPC improvement” discussion needs to be taken with a giant grain of salt. MLID knows this and warns in the video that “anything after Nova Lake is NOT finalized”.
Nova Lake IPC uplift
In addition to Griffin Cove, MLID also alleges a 9 to 18% IPC uplift for the Coyote Cove P-cores of Nova Lake. However, the leaker shares no figures for the Arctic Wolf E-cores. MLID further claims that Nova Lake might use the refreshed Intel 18A-P instead of the 14A and TSMC 2 nm rumored previously.
In the end, we’ll have to wait and see what Intel actually has in store for us with Nova Lake. Until then, we have the reviews for the Arrow Lake Core Ultra 200 CPUs to look towards which should be dropping over the next few years. This makes the end of 2024 quite an interesting time for gamers, as AMD has also announced that the Ryzen 9000X3D will be available next month.
Source(s)
Moore's Law Is Dead on YouTube, Teaser image: Intel, Moore's Law Is Dead, edited
