Ever since Intel released its new desktop LGA 1851 platform for Arrow Lake processors last fall, there has been speculation that this socket might have only a short lifespan. The LGA 1851 platform never received the originally planned Meteor Lake processors, and the third generation (Panther Lake) won’t come to desktops either. It looks like those concerns were well-founded. No new generation of CPUs will be released for LGA 1851.
As mentioned earlier, the new generation Panther Lake (Core Ultra 300), manufactured using Intel’s 1.8nm process, will be launched exclusively for laptops, just like Meteor Lake. Unofficial reports have long stated that and there’s no indication that this will change. Consequently, speculation about the platform’s future has shifted to the next Core Ultra 400 “Nova Lake” generation, which is expected also cover the desktop market once again. If any new generation of CPUs with a fresh architecture were to come to the LGA 1851 socket and offer an interesting upgrade path, it would have to be Nova Lake.
New socket for Nova Lake
Unfortunately, the latest information seems to rule out that scenario, and states that Nova Lake will not be compatible with LGA 1851. Mentions of shipments of Nova Lake desktop processor samples – or more precisely, related components – have appeared online in shipping manifest databases. In these records reference “LGA1954” alongside the abbreviation “NVL-S” (which means Nova Lake-S, the desktop platform).
The specific entry refers to the shipment of an interposer for testing PCI Express 5.0 interfaces and a tool for testing VRMs (Voltage Regulator Modules) on motherboards based on the LGA1954 “NVL-S” platform. This practically confirms with near certainty that the desktop Nova Lake processors will use a new socket: LGA 1954.
It’s highly unlikely that there will be a version of the processors for LGA 1851 coming to market in parallel. Much more probable is that we will see the standard socket replacement and transition to a new platform with the arrival of a new CPU generation that we are used to. This new platform and Nova Lake processors are expected to be released in the second half of 2026.
- Tip: APX and AVX10 in two years? Intel to introduce them in Nova Lake
- Tip: Intel Nova Lake to have 52 cores. V-Cache and CPU w/o E-Cores also planned
The number following the LGA designation in the names of these sockets (technically they pin grids, while the contacts are on the CPU side) indicates the number of contacts, which will now increase by just over a hundred. The role of these additional pins remains to be seen. They could enable new connectivity capabilities (more USB, Thunderbolt ports, PCI Express lanes) within the processor, but they could also be meant to simply strengthen power delivery. New socket generations usually increase the allocation of pins/contacts to various power rails and corresponding ground connections.
On the other hand, this increase in pin count isn’t dramatic, so there’s a decent chance the physical size of the CPU package won’t change, and the socket may retain a similar external footprint. As a result, the mounting system might not need to change, and it could still be possible to use coolers designed for LGA 1700 and LGA 1851 platforms (note: LGA 1700 broke compatibility with the previous LGA 115x sockets due to a change in mounting hole spacing; but from then on Intel retained the same, compatible, layout for LGA 1851).
LGA 1851 thus appears to be a platform that will host only a single CPU generation (though it’s worth remembering that cancellation of the Meteor Lake is largely to blame for this). Or almost. As recently leaked, Intel is apparently preparing some form of refresh of the Arrow Lake processors, meaning there will at least be a few new models – although, strictly speaking, they’ll still belong to the same technological family as the current ones. They might be branded as the 300 series, but Intel may also keep the 200-series naming.
- Tip: LGA 1851 will get new CPUs. Intel cancels Arrow Lake Refresh cancellation
- Tip: Refresh for Arrow Lake desktop CPUs to only include 125W K models
However, this refresh is expected to be limited in scope, reportedly covering only the 125W Arrow Lake models (i.e., K and KF variants), and nothing beyond that. It also seems the refresh will consist mainly of slight clock speed increases, so the upgrade or CPU replacement options that LGA 1851 users will have available won’t broaden significantly.
- Read more: Intel Core Ultra 5 245K vs. AMD R5 9600X or… R7 9700X? (review)
- Read more: Intel Core Ultra 7 265K: Often more efficient than Ryzen 7 9700X (review)
- Read more: Intel Core Ultra 9 285K: #1 in multi-threaded tasks even without HT (review)
Source: Olrak29
English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš
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