A leaked CPU-Z screenshot has given the first real look at Intel’s next-generation desktop flagship, arriving just as AMD moves to defend its gaming crown with aggressive price cuts on the Ryzen X3D lineup.

Nova Lake-S Returns to Four-Digit Naming

The leaked sample points to an Intel Core Ultra 9 4950K (labeled 4590K on the engineering sample itself), confirming Intel is reviving its four-digit naming scheme for the new generation. The chip pairs a hybrid 28-core, 28-thread layout — 8 P-cores (“Coyote Cove”), 16 E-cores (“Arctic Wolf”), and 4 low-power E-cores — with the new LGA 1954 socket, and brings back native support for AVX-512 and APX instructions.

On the benchmark side, the early sample scored roughly 1,000 points in CPU-Z’s single-core test and over 20,000 in multi-core, running on a motherboard with Intel’s unreleased Z990 chipset. To close the gap with AMD’s 3D V-Cache advantage in gaming, Nova Lake is also expected to introduce bLLC (Big Last-Level Cache), with configurations reportedly reaching up to 288MB of total cache.

AMD Answers With Ryzen X3D Discounts

With Nova Lake still months from launch, retailers like Newegg have started clearing mid-cycle stock with steep cuts across AMD’s X3D chips: the Ryzen 9 9950X3D drops from $699 to $569 with a free 240mm AIO cooler, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D falls to $429 (also bundling a free 240mm AIO), and the Ryzen 7 7800X3D and 7700X3D are down to $339 and $279 respectively — the 7800X3D deal throwing in a free Corsair CX750 power supply.