Intel Panther Lake CPU specs leak, could pack up to 18 cores and 12 Xe3 GPU cores

What just happened? Intel has just rolled out its Lunar Lake mobile processors, but that hasn't stopped details about the chip giant's next-gen lineup codenamed "Panther Lake" from trickling out. The details come courtesy of leaker Jaykihn, who spilled the beans on five rumored Panther Lake-H SKUs across Intel's mainstream and high-performance mobile segments.

For the uninitiated, the "H" suffix denotes the high-performance variants aimed at powerful laptops and mobile workstations. The leaked SKUs, which represent the Core Ultra 300 series, have been listed (below).

• PTL-H 4+8+4+4Xe 25W
• PTL-H 4+8+4+12Xe 25W
• PTL-H 4+0+4+4Xe 25W
• PTL-H 6+8+4+4Xe 45W
• PTL-H 6+8+4+12Xe 28W

At the lower end, there are a couple of 25W chips, both featuring a 4-core "Cougar Cove" CPU cluster, paired with an 8-core "Skymont" efficiency cluster and 4 additional power-saving "LP" cores. Between the duo, the differentiator lies in the Xe3 "Celestial" integrated GPU, with one variant featuring 4 GPU cores and the other flexing 12 of them.

Then we have what seems to be an entry-level model sporting just 4 Cougar Cove cores, no Skymont cores, 4 LP cores, and 4 Xe3 GPU cores.

The heavy hitters, however, are a pair of 28W and 45W SKUs, both armed with 6 big Cougar Cove cores and an 8-core Skymont cluster. The 28W variant gets the 12-core Xe3 GPU, while the 45W tops out with just 4 GPU cores.

Can't fully update the PTL-H pre-EDS cause I don't have the full values for each row, but just to clarify, the final SKUs are:

PTL-H 4+8+4+4Xe 25W
PTL-H 4+8+4+12Xe 25W
PTL-H 4+0+4+4Xe 25W

SKUs in the pre-EDS are:

PTL-H 6+8+4+4Xe 45W
PTL-H 6+8+4+12Xe 28W

– Jaykihn (@jaykihn0) September 5, 2024

While this leak covers the Panther Lake-H lineup, Intel's mainstream U-series is still under wraps. But going by previous releases, we can probably expect to see a few SKUs with trimmed-down CPU/GPU configs to meet tighter thermal/power constraints.

What's particularly interesting is that these next-gen chips will be Intel's first built on the new 18A process node. As part of this new node, the Cougar Cove Performance cores are an all-new design, although the Skymont Efficiency cores build on the architectures powering the Lunar Lake chips.

As for the Xe3 "Celestial" GPU, it succeeds the Xe2 "Battlemage" graphics baked into Lunar Lake. And if Intel's 50%+ performance claims hold up, the 12-core Xe3 could make for a fairly capable budget gaming solution.

Of course, take all of this with a healthy pinch of silicon – early leaks are always subject to change as the products get finalized.

Speaking of finalization, 18A is already operational, successfully booting on operating systems and yielding positive results. But Panther Lake isn't slated to make its debut until the latter half of 2025. In the meantime, we've got Intel's Lunar Lake portfolio to keep us occupied.