HWiNFO confirms Intel Nova Lake H and HX and support for Arrow Lake Refresh

The popular monitoring software HWiNFO remains true to its unofficial role as an early indicator for new hardware: With the new version 8.35 (currently still available as a beta), the tool officially lists Intel’s upcoming Nova Lake H and HX processor families for the first time, supplemented by support for Arrow Lake Refresh and other already known series such as Panther Lake.

Early leakage through monitoring software

What used to be specialized database leaks or OEM documents are now often taken over by tools such as HWiNFO, which involuntarily provide information on upcoming products via their regularly updated hardware IDs. Even if the mere mention in a software does not guarantee a market launch, it at least means that the hardware in question is already being tested internally or distributed to OEMs. In this respect, the current HWiNFO version is a reliable seismograph for Intel’s 2026 roadmap.

Nova Lake H & HX: Mobile performance flagships with a new core mix

The entry on Nova Lake H and HX, two variants from Intel’s mobile processor line, is particularly striking. While there was previously speculation primarily about Nova Lake-S for the desktop, this is the first explicit mention of mobile offshoots in a tool with broad hardware coverage.

• Nova Lake H is positioned as the successor to Panther Lake H and, according to known specifications, will integrate up to 16 cores, divided into 4 performance cores (“Coyote Cove”), 8 efficiency cores (“Arctic Wolf”) and an additional 4 low-power efficiency cores of the same architecture.
• Nova Lake HX goes one step further: up to 28 cores are planned here, which indicates a doubling of performance and efficiency resources. The power consumption (TDP) is likely to be correspondingly higher than the H model, which is typical for HX CPUs that are primarily aimed at workstations and high-end gaming laptops.

Technically, Nova Lake is based on an extensively revised hybrid architecture, in which the LP-E cores in particular are designed for energy-efficient background tasks such as telemetry, sensor technology and simple background processes. The reference to the larger BGA-2540 package (20% larger than BGA-2114 of Arrow Lake HX) shows that Intel is also breaking new ground in packaging, probably to accommodate the increased core count and thermal requirements.

Arrow Lake Refresh, Core Ultra Plus SKUs on the way

Alongside Nova Lake, HWiNFO also mentions support for a range of Arrow Lake Refresh CPUs, which are likely to appear under the name Core Ultra Plus. Already leaked variants include:

• Core Ultra 9 290K Plus
• Core Ultra 7 270K Plus
• Core Ultra 5 250K Plus

According to previous leaks, these refresh models bring higher clock rates and in some cases an increased number of cores, i.e. a classic mid-cycle update, as Intel has often done in response to AMD’s aggressive roadmap. It is particularly interesting that Intel is apparently differentiating the Plus variants more strongly again, possibly an indication of variable L3 cache sizes or different iGPU configurations.

Panther Lake mentioned again

Also not new, but confirmed again: Panther Lake is also part of the upcoming support wave and is once again mentioned in the changelog. The fact that the platform has already appeared several times in HWiNFO is a clear indication that the first engineering samples are already in circulation.

Conclusion: Nova Lake is getting closer and Intel is planning aggressive tactics in the mobile market

The new HWiNFO version provides an indirect but reliable picture of Intel’s next steps in the mobile CPU segment. Nova Lake HX heralds a massive upgrade for mobile workstations, which not only wants to score points with the pure number of cores, but apparently also with revised core architectures and new packaging. The parallel Arrow Lake refresh also shows that Intel is continuing to work on a roadmap that is as complete as possible, presumably also in order to stand up to AMD’s upcoming Ryzen AI generations and their greatly expanded NPU performance.

Anyone waiting for new high-end notebooks with real leaps in performance can therefore expect major upheavals from 2026, provided Intel actually gets its ambitious chip designs onto the market. The first official announcements are likely to follow at CES 2026.

Source: harukaze5719