Intel launches Core Ultra mobile CPUs with dedicated AI hardware

[Shawn Knight]

In brief: Intel has announced the first mobile CPUs based on its new Meteor Lake platform, and they are available globally on store shelves and online starting today. Intel's Core Ultra line is the first to be built on the company's Intel 4 process technology. According to the chipmaker, it represents their largest architectural shift in four decades.

The Core Ultra line is initially comprised of four Core Ultra H parts and four Core Ultra U series chips. The Core Ultra H series is led by the Core Ultra 7 165H, a 16 core / 22 thread chip consisting of six performance (P) cores, eight efficiency (E) cores and two low-power efficiency (LP E) cores.

H series chips also include a built-in Intel Arc GPU featuring a maximum of eight X-cores clocked at up to 2.3 GHz, with support for modern features like hardware-accelerated ray tracing, mesh shading, AV1 encode and decode, HDMI 2.1, and DisplayPort 2.1 20G. According to Chipzilla, the new GPU affords up to double the graphics performance compared to the previous generation.

Intel says all of its new Core Ultra processors further come equipped with Intel AI Boost, a neural processing unit designed specifically for AI workloads. They'll help usher in the age of the AI PC along with the arrival of Windows 12. By 2028, four out of five PCs are expected to be AI-capable.

The newly launched Core Ultra 7 chips ship with 24 MB of Intel Smart Cache, and all models support up to 64 GB of DDR5-5600 or 96 GB of LPDDR5-7467. The platform additionally supports Thunderbolt 4 speeds up to 40 gigabits per second, Bluetooth 5.4, and Intel Killer networking.

Intel Core Ultra chips are launching in more than 230 products from over 35 leading OEM partners including Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung.

Intel also has three additional chips (one H series and two U series) coming in Q1 2024: the Core Ultra 9 185H, the Core Ultra 7 164U, and the Core Ultra 5 134U.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/101210-intel-launches-core-ultra-mobile-cpus-complete-dedicated.html

 

[Jme Kerul]

So, no rush to buy until the other sku arrive.

 

[hahahanoobs]

It's goooood.

 

[VitalyT]

Nice cookies, fresh and hot.

 

[Puiu]

It's goooood.

I would put in the "good enough" category because aside from video editing, the performance compared to AMD's current gen is kinda meh (it seems IPC is down from multiple reviews). Intel won't release a new mobile architecture for a long time so they'll have to compete with the next gen AMD APUs.

The battery life finally looks ok, but I'm waiting for proper apples to apples comparisons where the battery size is not a factor. Jared's tests don't look as good in youtube battery tests (the one in your video where it scored really well is chrome refreshes).

We need Steve and Jesus Steve to give us more in-depth tests

 

[Manu Arg]

I was renewing the notebooks that we give to the employees and I think in going to delay it a little bit so I can get more detailed benchmarks on this new gen.

 

[redgarl]

It's goooood.

No...

Intel Core Ultra 7 155H / AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS

3DMark Time Spy Graphics Score
3,077 / 2,749 = 1.12

Cinebench R23 Single-Threaded Score
1,483 / 1,800 = 0.82

Cinebench R23 Multi-Threaded Score
12,085 / 16,000 = 0.75

Power Consumption
40W / 35W = 1.14

 

[hahahanoobs]

No...

Intel Core Ultra 7 155H / AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS

3DMark Time Spy Graphics Score
3,077 / 2,749 = 1.12

Cinebench R23 Single-Threaded Score
1,483 / 1,800 = 0.82

Cinebench R23 Multi-Threaded Score
12,085 / 16,000 = 0.75

Power Consumption
40W / 35W = 1.14

Go to 8:00 in video.

 

[human7]

<p>Intel says all of its new Core Ultra processors further come equipped with Intel AI Boost, a neural processing unit designed specifically for AI workloads. They'll help usher in the age of the AI PC along with the arrival of Windows 12. By 2028, four out of five PCs are expected to be AI-capable.</p>

I guess it's the non-gaming platforms that are holding back the number of PCs which are "AI-capable", since any PC with a modern GPU should be capable today. It seems to me that mobile APUs would be more than capable here, and the "AI cores" would just be more hardware in that mix, with memory capacity being the main limitation - not compute.

The real question is what the software landscape will be like, and will the hardware truly be utilized? We'll need benchmarks to tell us what these "neural cores" can do, and if they are worth it. It's concerning that the single-threaded performance of these CPUs may actually regress some compared to prior generations, and I wonder how much the neural cores are supposed to distract us. (https://www.tomshardware.com/laptops/intel-core-ultra-meteor-lake-u-h-series-specs-skus)

For now, it feels like Intel and Microsoft are collaborating to prop up each other's sales. Buy a new PC so you can take advantage of Windows 12. Get Windows 12 so you can have an "AI PC". Not a new page out of the playbook, but concerning that there may be more smoke and mirrors than actual product improvement.

In the meantime, we'll see what AMD comes up with, or if they even take these neural cores seriously.

 

[zamroni111]

If intel "fake" 4 is on par with tsmc n4, intel wont use tsmc n5 and n6 for the gpu and soc tiles.
additionally, ultra 7u only has 4 xe cores that is equivalent to 2.1 tflops which is much lower than 12x rdna3.