During the CES trade show, the new Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors, built on the interesting Panther Lake architecture, were unveiled.
With these new processors, it seems that Intel is finally standing up to AMD in the low-power sector with integrated graphics. The new Intel Xe3 GPUs offer a 50% performance improvement, putting them ahead of AMD’s RDNA 3.5 and finally bringing some competition to the sector. The design of these processors also allows NVIDIA or AMD GPUs to be mounted in the same package if desired, opening up more possibilities. In addition, they are highly efficient, providing low power consumption and extending battery life.
These products will initially be available in laptops, but we will soon see versions designed for handheld PC consoles and mini PCs from leading brands.
General specifications
There are many new features in the Intel Panther Lake platform with Intel 18A process, the most notable being a 40-50% increase in overall CPU performance and a 50% increase in GPU performance with Intel Xe3 cores. In terms of NPU for AI, we also have up to 50 TOPS with 50% less consumption than the previous generation for the same figure, which is an interesting development because they have not increased the space for these functions.
Thanks to the modular capacity of the new architecture, we have a wide range of options available from the outset, and these are only the initial ones; later we will have many more aimed at other sectors outside of laptops. The RAM ranges from 6400 to 9600 MHz DDR5. Power consumption is low at 25 W and high between 65 and 80 W when the integrated graphics are activated to the maximum. In terms of GPU, we have 12, 10, or 4 Intel Xe3 cores.
As we can see, the platform is very exciting, and if it delivers what it promises, we will be looking at a step forward for Intel. But this is something that will have to be seen in real tests when the product goes on sale.
Integrated Xe3 graphics
The new graphics integrated by default in the Intel Xe3, as we can see, promises 40% performance per watt and allows for a configuration of up to 12 cores with 12 ray tracing units. As we have seen, the Panther Lake platform is modular, and in the future, we may see this GPU replaced by a solution from AMD, NVIDIA, or other functions for AI or similar.
In the multimedia section, we also have major improvements, including new 10-bit color AVC support, high-quality AV1 444 support, and compatibility with Sony’s XVAC. These features put this solution ahead as a platform for hardware video playback and encoding.
