Intel launches Core Ultra Series 3 CPUs, made using its long-awaited 18A process

Summary

Like past Core Ultra generations, the Core Ultra 3 chips use a chiplet-based approach, combining several distinct silicon tiles on a foundational “base tile” using Intel’s Foveros packaging technology. The compute tile houses the CPU cores and the neural processing unit (NPU), and it’s the piece that’s built using 18A—there are two version of this tile, one with a maximum of 16 CPU cores and one with 8. The platform controller tile, which handles most I/O, is still being built at TSMC, as is the high-end 12-core version of the graphics tile. A simpler four-core version of the graphics tile is being made using an older Intel 3 process, which to date has mostly been used for Intel’s Xeon server CPUs. Comparing the three different Panther Lake configurations. Intel Comparing the three different Panther Lake configurations. Intel The 8-core Panther Lake. Intel The 8-core Panther Lake. Intel Comparing the three different Panther Lake configurations. Intel The 8-core Panther Lake. Intel The 16-core Panther Lake. Intel The 16-core Panther Lake. Intel A version of the 16-core chip with less I/O but a bigger GPU. Intel A version of the 16-core chip with less I/O but a bigger GPU. Intel The 16-core Panther Lake. Intel A version of the 16-core chip with less I/O but a bigger GPU. Intel The chiplet-based approach allows Intel to mix-and-match these tiles to offer three distinct iterations of Panther Lake: the 16-core CPU and the 12-core GPU, the 16-core CPU and the 4-core GPU, and the 8-core CPU and the 4-core GPU. Versions of these chips with some CPU and GPU cores switched off fill out the rest of the Core Ultra Series 3 lineup. Intel is making big performance claims about the highest-end Core Ultra Series 3 processors: up to 60 percent faster multi-core CPU performance compared to the outgoing Core Ultra 200V chips, and up to 77 percent faster integrated GPU performance. Intel also says a “Lenovo IdeaPad reference design” using a Core Ultra X9 388H was able to stream Netflix...