The Core Ultra 200 series ended up being around 5% slower than the previous generation in gaming benchmarks. Nova Lake, expected to launch next year for both desktops and laptops, is rumored to deliver at least a 10% uplift in single-threaded performance (overall, not just gaming). A slide shared on X shows Intel targeting a 1.1x gain in single-threaded and 1.6x in multi-threaded performance, presumably compared to the Core Ultra 200 series.
The slide doesn't confirm which product segment this refers to. It could be a mobile chip, or a non-flagship configuration, for all we know. What's clear, though, is that Intel is once again focusing on gaming performance, something that wasn't highlighted during Arrow Lake's rollout. The slide even mentions "leadership in gaming performance," which implies a potential performance edge over AMD's Ryzen 9000X3D series, that would be a notable shift if true.