Intel Nova Lake test chips surpass rival desktop flagships in early single-thread benchmarks

Pre-production samples of Intel's upcoming Nova Lake-S desktop processors have surfaced in PassMark PerformanceTest 11.1 benchmarks, posting strong single-thread scores. A 28-core sample clocked at roughly 3.3 GHz base and up to 4.8 GHz boost achieved 5,210 points in single-thread testing. That edges out Intel's current Core Ultra 9 285K baseline score of 5,059, AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D at 4,805, and the older Core i9-14900KF at 4,635. [1][2][3]

Multi-threaded performance proved far more modest on the unfinished hardware. The 28-core chip generated an overall CPU Mark score around 61,509 points, staying ahead of the i9-14900KF but trailing both the Ultra 9 285K and Ryzen 9 9950X3D. Tested eight-core samples also lagged, which analysts attribute to lower operating clocks under multi-core loads or incomplete firmware tuning. The tested systems ran with about 16GB of RAM, and the database does not clarify whether the tested chips featured extra cache. [1][2]

The early figures offer an encouraging look at Intel's per-clock efficiency improvements as the company prepares to introduce Nova Lake-S in the first quarter of 2027. Leaked roadmaps indicate the architecture will feature models running on a new LGA 1954 socket with 900-series chipsets, including specialized high-cache models designed to directly challenge AMD's gaming-focused X3D line. [1][2]