Intel Nova Lake and Diamond Rapids CPU gain preliminary support in popular monitoring utility

FinalWire has added preliminary support for Intel's Nova Lake and Diamond Rapids Xeon processors in the latest beta release of AIDA64—months or years before the CPUs hit shelves. This means that AIDA64 can now at least recognize these processors, though other functionality might be limited. Other updates include improved support on ASRock motherboards and a few bug fixes that led to incorrect specs being displayed for Intel's Arrow Lake processors.

For more context, AIDA64 and a handful of other benchmarking suites lay initial groundwork years before the product materializes. In July last year, AIDA64 received preliminary support for AMD's Zen 5 CPU lineup, which launched this year. To reiterate, preliminary support only identifies the CPU and nothing more. As support matures, expect improved compatibility across utilities like CPU-Z and Geekbench.

Still, Nova Lake and Diamond Rapids aren't expected to retail anytime soon. Nova Lake, slated as the successor to Arrow Lake on desktop, is expected to arrive sometime in 2026-27.

Word on the street is that Intel is equipping these CPUs with Coyote Cove P-cores (renamed from Panther Cove) and Arctic Wolf E-cores. Provided Intel doesn't port Panther Lake to LGA 1851 mid-generation, Nova Lake—hailed as the successor to Arrow Lake—will reportedly fix its memory latency issues. Additionally, a large portion of Nova Lake will be designed in-house and expected to leverage the 18A node. Core counts and expected performance metrics are whispers in the wind for now.

Conversely, Diamond Rapids - succeeding Granite Rapids - allegedly uses a massive LGA9324 socket (Oak Stream platform) with nearly 10,000 contact pads. Since Intel did reveal Granite Rapids just a couple of months back, Diamond Rapids might be pushed into late 2025 or 2026 against AMD's Venice (Zen 6) server CPUs. Diamond Rapids Xeon processors should employ Panther Cove-X-based P-cores and are expected to introduce the new enhanced AVX10.2 instruction set. Again, it is likely to be fabricated using Intel's 18A node.

There is a slight possibility Intel could introduce a "Local Cache" akin to its Clearwater Forest chips on Diamond Rapids and Nova Lake, but that's speculation for now. Nonetheless, these are undoubtedly some of Intel's most ambitious and high-profile projects—so much so that the company's turnaround—despite the recent corporate fiasco—hinges on their and 18A's success.