Nova Lake’s appearance in the Linux Kernel patches marks the end of the Family 6, which included Intel’s several generations of processors.
Intel Posts Linux Kernel Patches, Revealing Nova Lake’s Progress; Will be Included Under the Family 18
The release of Intel’s Nova Lake processors might be far from now, but it looks like Intel has been making some continuous progress. Nova Lake, which will succeed the Panther Lake but will be available in both desktop and mobile platforms, has started appearing in Linux Kernel patches, revealing some crucial information about the upcoming family.
If you are aware of the Family classification of Intel processors, the Family 6 has been used for several generations, including the latest Alder Lake, Raptor Lake/Refresh, and the current Arrow Lake series. The latest patches show that Intel is finally transitioning to Family 18 for the Nova Lake, as Family 6 has been used exhaustively across many lineups in the last 20 years.
That said, the patches for the Nova Look appear foundational and add basic identifiers for the series for easy identification in the future. Not only will the Nova Lake get a new family, but the upcoming Diamond Rapids server CPUs are also leaving Family 6 and transitioning to Family 19. So, Intel is classifying server and client CPUs into different groups for easier identification.
The latest Kernel patches reveal two Intel Nova Lake families: Nova Lake (mainline) with Family 18, Model 1 as the identifier, and the Nova Lake L (Low Power/mobile) with Family 18, Model 3. The upcoming patches will also depend on these IDs, whether they are related to graphics, power management, or network. That said, it’s a long way to go, and we will see many more patches in the coming weeks. The Nova Lake isn’t coming before 2026, and we still have around a year for Intel to prepare for the launch.
We have reported about Nova Lake multiple times, including the Nova Lake S for desktop, Nova Lake HX for high-performance mobile, and the rumored Nova Lake AX, which is said to be the rival to Strix Halo. One of the most interesting things about Nova Lake isn’t just the incredibly high core count of up 52 cores but also the unique hybrid iGPU architecture, which is supposedly bringing the Xe4 Druid for the display and media.
News Source: Phoronix
