Earlier this year, there was a rumour that Intel's next generation of desktop processors could consume up to 700 W of power. That was just for the so-called 'dual compute tile' models, with as many as 52 cores, but that claim now carries additional weight; one sharp-eyed leaker has noticed something about Nova Lake motherboards that points to the PL2 rating being way higher than it is now.
PL2 is the maximum sustained power limit Intel gives its chips under normal operation, and for all of Intel's current CPUs, it tops out at around 250 W. LC Tech Leaks on X gets credit (via BenchLife) for spotting something about a bare next-gen Z990 motherboard that all but confirms Nova Lake's highest PL2 being way bigger, specifically 220 W higher.
Z990 power architecture will feature THREE 8 PIN CPU power plug ( against 2 now ). @intel revised power design delivery reserves 474 Watts for a nominal performance on dual computing SKU.Over 474 = dual die OCActual board picture below (no rendition)#techleaks #texhnews… pic.twitter.com/Cd3Eb3Su1iJune 26, 2026
What we're looking at are the mounting points for three 8-pin power connectors, labelled 12V_2x4_1, 12V_2x4_2, and XTRA_12V. Current Intel motherboards such as MSI's MEG Z890 Ace have two 8-pin power connectors at the top of the motherboard to provide juice for the CPU, as the standard ATX connector is no longer suitable for supplying all of the current that a modern processor will draw.
That's been fairly standard for a few years now, so the only reason why a board would have an additional CPU power connector is if the default configuration is significantly larger than the typical PL2 figures that Intel's chips currently sport. For example, even the energy-sucking Core i9 14900K is only rated to 253 W (though it can, and does, use a lot more than that).
A single 8-pin EPS CPU power connector is good for something like 230 or so W, but can often handle way more than that, which is why motherboards with two connectors can give chips considerably more power. It's not hard to see why three connectors is proof of LC Tech Leak's claim that Nova Lake's PL2 is at least 474 W.
Now it's worth reiterating that all these hefty power claims are for the Nova Lake chips that are expected to support two compute tiles. The regular Core Ultra models, with eight P-cores and 16 E-cores, will just have one, and they're almost certainly going to have the same PL1/PL2 configuration as the current Arrow Lake processors, ie 125 and 250 W.
Intel is also expected to release Nova Lake variants with massive L3 caches to combat AMD's Ryzen X3D reign in the gaming market, some of which may require three power connectors, instead of the normal two. But I suspect that these too will be the dual compute tile ones, with up to 52 cores inside.
One thing that this all points to is that regardless of the chipset, the next generation of Intel motherboards will come in two tiers: one for single compute tile chips and the other for the twin tile CPUs. That's actually a good thing, because it should mean that PC gamers hoping to buy a cache-heavy Nova Lake processor can avoid paying even more for a specialised motherboard.
Certainly no gamer needs to be buying any of the dual compute tile models, as there are no games either out now or forthcoming that will need that many CPU cores. It will be a long time before eight primary cores become a significant bottleneck to performance, as there are hardly any cases when six isn't enough right now.
But as competition for AMD's Ryzen 9 and cheaper Threadripper chips, dual-tile Nova Lake could be the processor of choice for professionals. Assuming memory and storage prices aren't so high by then that we'll all be rendering and compiling via dreams and wishes.
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AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
2. Best budget:
AMD Ryzen 5 5500
3. Best mid-range:
Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus
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AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
5. Best AM4 upgrade:
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6. Best CPU graphics:
AMD Ryzen 7 8700G
