Intel Is Reportedly Moving To New Socket For Nova Lake CPUs

Looks like the current LGA1851 socket may end up in the long list of short-lived Intel sockets, as leaks from @Olrak29_ on X (Twitter) indicate that Team Blue may transition to a new socket again for its major CPU redesign in the form of Nova Lake.

Intel Nova Lake Uses New Socket

The new socket which will be the backbone of Nova Lake processors – which is set to succeed Arrow Lake processors (or its refreshes) – is called LGA1954, which gains 103 new contact pins over the current LGA1851 socket underpinning Arrow Lake lineup. This is known from a shipping manifest that lists an item referring to testing tools for the new socket, followed by mentions of Nova Lake’s short codename “NVL-S” (Nova Lake-S, the codename for desktop CPUs).

This means the current Intel 800 series motherboard may end up obsolete pretty quick, given that the only plans for Arrow Lake at this point is to release a minor refresh (Arrow Lake-S Refresh) under the Core Ultra 300 series, and if the current generation chips are any indication, the minor update is not going to be popular among PC builders anytime soon.

Currently, it is speculated that Nova Lake won’t launch until 2026, as this year is likely reserved for the aforementioned Arrow Lake Refresh lineup. So, users on 800 series motherboards will have one more chance at upgrading, but options will likely be limited from this point on.

Source: Videocardz

Pokdepinion: You do have to appreciate how far AMD has managed to stretch the lifespan of its desktop sockets.