Intel has told us that it envisions a time when it makes the fastest gaming CPU, suggesting that its forthcoming Nova Lake chips could beat AMD’s X3D lineup when it comes to gaming performance. In an interview with Club386, we asked Intel’s VP and GM of its enthusiast channel, Robert Hallock, whether he thinks there will be a point where Intel makes the best gaming CPU again. “I do,” he responded, adding “I’m so excited about it. Oh my God.”
Intel used to have gaming performance sewn up, with its Coffee Lake CPUs offering superior clock speeds and single-threaded performance to AMD’s competing Zen 2 silicon, for example, but AMD’s 3D V-cache tech completely turned the tables. Intel may have performed some expert tweaking on its latest Arrow Lake Refresh chips, such as the Core Ultra 5 250K, and they’re now very competitive compared to AMD’s non-X3D chips. However, a quick look at our 270K vs 9800X3D guide will show you that AMD still rules the roost when it comes to gaming, even if its bang per buck isn’t great.
That could all be set to change soon, though. There are rumours that Intel has a CPU architecture with a big last level cache (bLLC) in the works, which could help bring the company’s chips in line with AMD’s X3D processors. Hallock wouldn’t mention any specifics about this, but it’s clear the company is excited about something in the works.
We love gaming halo
“We love gaming halo,” says Hallock, where “halo” is a marketing term that refers to the very best product in its category. “I know people want Intel to be a certain type of company for PC gamers, and they want that competition. We’re very clear-eyed about that, and we have a plan to deliver on exactly that request.”
I know people want Intel to be a certain type of company for PC gamers, and they want that competition.
Hallock points to changes at the company, which are very much in line with gaming. Intel has ushered in “new engineering, new marketing, new business,” he says. “That was a great opportunity to go, ‘hmm, we’re gonna do something with this feedback and change our roadmap to be more competitive.’ I hope you can see and feel that something is different, that something has changed here.”
Hallock described Intel’s roadmap as “honestly better than ever for gamers,” adding, “we do have a plan, and it’s going somewhere really good.” Will Intel definitely beat AMD? “I cannot say that we will,” says Hallock, “because I cannot tell the future, but I’m pretty confident that people will be delighted, or at least impressed, or at least happy about the direction we’re headed over the next couple of years.”
Hallock also points to the big improvements Intel made to its latest Arrow Lake Refresh CPUs, made in response to feedback about the gaming performance of first-gen Arrow Lake chips. “We took the feedback very seriously about the original Arrow Lake,” says Hallock “You’ve seen massive, massive changes architecturally, between what is supposed to be a refresh product, but is performing like an entirely new generation of CPU, in terms of game performance.”
We understand we have a hole to crawl out of.
Hallock isn’t in denial about the scale of the challenge ahead for Intel, and I point him to the Steam Hardware survey results, which consistently paint a picture of gamers abandoning Intel for AMD over the last few years. Is there a plan to reverse this trend?
“Yes, of course,” says Hallock, adding that the first step is Intel’s appeal to high-volume, mid-range budgets with chips such as the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus. “We understand we have a hole to crawl out of, says Hallock. “We’re not ignorant of that either, but I hope the roadmap we have will prove to gamers, and earn their trust, that we can do this.
A roadmap for gamers
“To execute this roadmap, we need to convince a ton of people, very quickly, that we know what we’re doing, we have a plan, and the gaming performance is great. And then you can start to walk up the chain, and down for that matter, to other segments that also represent pretty statistically significant chunks of the overall volume on these surveys. We chose to start in the mainstream here, because that’s the quickest way to throw the lever, and then we’ll just keep going, right?”
That’s all as big a hint as any that Intel is cooking up something significant for gamers. Arrow Lake Refresh has set the tone, and Nova Lake looks set to continue improving gaming performance across the range. Intel isn’t going to have an easy ride, though. AMD also has its Zen 6 architecture in the works, with rumours of CPUs with 240MB of L3 cache. This is all great news for gamers, though – it looks as though both Intel and AMD will be competing hard to make the fastest gaming CPU, and that competition will hopefully have a positive impact on pricing.
In the meantime, check out our in-depth guide to buying the best CPU for your needs, where we cover all the chips we recommend, as well as our best motherboard guide.
