Intel Core Ultra 9 4950K CPU has allegedly leaked, and we have our first "alleged" performance figures for the Nova Lake-S Desktop SKU.

The original leak comes from LC Tech Leaks , which has been quite active in disclosing details on Intel's next-gen motherboards, primarily the Z990 parts .

In his latest post, the source has revealed what seems to be an upcoming Intel Nova Lake-S CPU with the "Core Ultra 9 4950K" part name. This part name is interesting because it uses four digits instead of three, which is the case with the current desktop lineup.

For example, the flagship Arrow Lake-S desktop CPU is called the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K. There are three digits in the naming convention, with the "2" pointing towards the "Core Ultra Series 2" family, and the "85" pointing towards the performance tier of the chip. The "K" represents the unlocked nature of the chip.

Similarly, the Intel Core Ultra 9 4950K starts with the family designation, which is "Core Ultra Series 4", while the 950K represents the segment and performance tier. This chip is also an unlocked SKU. Now, while this name is mentioned in the CPU-Z picture, it may or may not be final. Other details mentioned are the process technology, which is "18A," but this might not be the case. Since CPU-Z isn't yet updated, the software is likely simply picking up the latest node tech used on Intel's latest CPUs, aka Panther Lake, which are fabricated on 18A.

Other insiders/leakers seem to confirm that Intel is indeed moving to a 4-digit naming schema, as the 3-digit schema is simply not enough for the Nova Lake "Core Ultra Series 4" family since it will include a vast range of SKUs. We know that Intel is working on standard variants in single- and dual-compute tile offerings. Furthermore, there will also be bLLC variants with 144/288 MB of cache . It will be quite an extensive lineup based on the details we have learnt so far.

Besides the naming scheme, LC Tech Leaks also shared "alleged" performance figures of the same Core Ultra 9 4950K chip, giving us what could be our first taste of the Nova Lake-S CPU family. The chip features 28 cores, which are a mix of 8 P-Cores and 20 E-Cores (16 E + 4 LPE).

As per the source, the same chip offers single-core performance near 1000 points and multi-core performance near 20,000 points. This is within the CPU-Z benchmark tests. If we look at the CPU performance figures of some of the fastest desktop chips in CPU-Z's database , the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K yields up to 890 points while the Ryzen 9 9950X3D yields up to 869 points in single-core, while these chips offer up to 18,400 and 17,200 points in multi-core tests, respectively.

These performance figures look impressive, but we should point out that these are being compared against current-generation parts. AMD's next-gen Ryzen family based on the Zen 6 architecture is also arriving in 2027 , and will offer some disruptive performance, so the real challenge for Intel's Nova Lake will be how it performs against that.

The important thing here is that if these numbers are legit, then they are only for ES samples since QS samples haven't been rolled out. That raises another question, though: ES chips don't usually feature the proper naming convention as shown in the CPU-Z picture, but instead use the "GenuineIntel 0000" naming.

AMD Olympic Ridge vs Intel Nova Lake-S:

We would advise taking these numbers with a grain of salt, but Intel's Nova Lake should offer some big uplifts in performance based on the way things are shaping up, and we can't wait to see them in action in early 2027.

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