Nova Lake Xeon E chips reportedly skip hybrid architecture

Upcoming Nova Lake Xeon E CPUs will reportedly lack hybrid configurations, according to leaker Jaykihn. Instead of combining P-Cores and E-Cores, these edge-focused chips will feature either one or the other. Jaykihn says the P-Core only lineup will include five models with 4, 6, 8, 12, or 16 cores. The E-Core only models will offer 4, 8, 16, or 32 cores. These chips will also reportedly lack low-power E-Cores (LPE). Customers needing hybrid architectures would need to use regular Nova Lake-S desktop processors, Jaykihn says.

The Xeon E series will run on the W980 chipset. Reports say the W980 platform will support native DDR5 with ECC, Intel vPro, and up to 48 PCIe lanes. This includes 12 PCIe 5.0 and 12 PCIe 4.0 lanes from the chipset. The platform is expected to feature DMI 5.0 x4 with 128 Gbps of bandwidth per direction and two 40 Gbps USB4 or Thunderbolt 4 ports from the CPU. The processor's PCIe 5.0 x16 PEG slot can be segmented via lane switches, and the two CPU-attached M.2 NVMe slots can be configured as Gen 5. Intel has not confirmed any details regarding pricing or launch dates.