Panther Lake leak: Intel's Core Ultra 9 X388H packs 16 CPU / 12 GPU cores

[DragonSlayer101]

Rumor mill: Intel's upcoming Panther Lake CPU lineup has been making headlines as of late, particularly after the company shared an architectural overview with journalists during last month's Tech Tour 2025. Now, several SKUs from the Panther Lake family have reportedly leaked, revealing their names and core configurations.

According to tipster Sly on the Chinese hardware forum Chiphell, Panther Lake will launch with at least 12 SKUs, including four Core Ultra X chips for premium laptops, four standard Core Ultra CPUs for high-power gaming laptops, and four low-power U-series processors for thin-and-light notebooks.

The post suggests that the Core Ultra X lineup will consist of the Core Ultra 9 X388H, Core Ultra 7 X368H, Core Ultra 7 X358H, and Core Ultra 5 X338H. The first three will feature 16 CPU cores comprised of four performance cores, eight efficient cores, and four low-power cores alongside 12 Xe3 Celestial GPU cores. The final model will have a 12-core CPU and a 10-core GPU.

The regular Core Ultra-H family will reportedly include four SKUs: the Core Ultra 9 375H, Core Ultra 7 355H, Core Ultra 7 345H, and Core Ultra 5 325H. All four will feature quad-core Xe3 Celestial GPUs. While the first three chips will offer 16 CPU cores, the Core Ultra 5 will have only 12.

For the low-power Core Ultra-U lineup, the four SKUs are said to be the Core Ultra 7 360U, Core Ultra 5 350U, Core Ultra 5 340U, and Core Ultra 3 320U. The top three chips will feature octa-core CPUs paired with quad-core GPUs, while the last one will have a six-core CPU mated to an eight-core Celestial GPU.

It's worth noting that a recent leak suggested a slightly different naming convention for the Panther Lake SKUs. According to a Weibo post by tipster Golden Pig Upgrade, the Core Ultra X family will include the Core Ultra X9 388H, Core Ultra X7 368H, Core Ultra X7 358H, and Core Ultra 5 338H. Both sources agree that only the top three SKUs will receive the full 12 Xe3 GPU cores.

Image credit: Sly

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Panther Lake leak: Intel's Core Ultra 9 X388H packs 16 CPU / 12 GPU cores

 

[Kashim]

Same garbage from Intel regurgitated every 6 months with a different part number.

 

[GeoffreyA]

Same garbage from Intel regurgitated every 6 months with a different part number.

Panther Lake is built out of Cougar Cove, Darkmont, and Xe3, so it will be interesting from a technical point of view.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

It'll be almost impossible to find, and intel's drivers are STILL poo. And they dont last long either, they're dropping stuff launched 5 years ago.

Hopefully this will drive AMD to launch a more powerful replacement for the HX 370.

 

[Kashim]

Panther Lake is built out of Cougar Cove, Darkmont, and Xe3, so it will be interesting from a technical point of view.

Feels like Intel keeps releasing new parts just for the sake of releasing something. I'm guessing there will be almost no tangible performance improvement at all. But I'm sure the Intel fans will celebrate even a 1-2% performance increase as if it were revolutionary.

 

[GeoffreyA]

Feels like Intel keeps releasing new parts just for the sake of releasing something. I'm guessing there will be almost no tangible performance improvement at all. But I'm sure the Intel fans will celebrate even a 1-2% performance increase as if it were revolutionary.

Agreed that they've become the king of releasing a bewildering amount of new parts, with an obfuscation bent (or stupid marketing).

 

[DanteSmith]

All other U-series chips have been downgraded to 4 CU iGPUs. AMD won't have to try hard to win.

 

[daffy duck]

All other U-series chips have been downgraded to 4 CU iGPUs. AMD won't have to try hard to win.

Why? Do you think U class AMD apu's will get 16CU's like 890M and run at 15W like Panther Lake U?

 

[NyaAgain]

My desktop is at least four years old. I would love to upgrade it. I don't believe the marketing that any of the chips released since would be actually better. I wish they'd just be honest and say the chips haven't meaningfully changed in the last few years. Someday they'll release a chip that really is faster and no one will believe them.

 

[SRB]

Why? Do you think U class AMD apu's will get 16CU's like 890M and run at 15W like Panther Lake U?

Do you really think the the top 3 chips in the stack are going to have 16CU at 15w? If it does, do you think any graphics intensive game will look like more than a slide show? Especially since the little cores outnumber the big ones by 3 to 1.

 

[Puiu]

My desktop is at least four years old. I would love to upgrade it. I don't believe the marketing that any of the chips released since would be actually better. I wish they'd just be honest and say the chips haven't meaningfully changed in the last few years. Someday they'll release a chip that really is faster and no one will believe them.

These are low powered laptop CPUs. Nova Lake will be their desktop architecture.

 

[WhiteLeaff]

Do you really think the the top 3 chips in the stack are going to have 16CU at 15w? If it does, do you think any graphics intensive game will look like more than a slide show? Especially since the little cores outnumber the big ones by 3 to 1.

There is no such thing as a 15W chip; even smartphone SoCs nowadays go up to 20W to achieve high benchmark scores. These low-voltage notebook chips go up to 25-35W in PL2.

AMD abandoned the low-voltage nomenclature because its chips can be adjusted according to design requirements from 25W to 55W+, but the successor to the Kraken Point, which is the most popular segment, will have at least 8CU.

 

[daffy duck]

Do you really think the the top 3 chips in the stack are going to have 16CU at 15w? If it does, do you think any graphics intensive game will look like more than a slide show? Especially since the little cores outnumber the big ones by 3 to 1.

So you don't get it. Already Xe2 competes well against 880M, anything AMD offers in this class will also be a lot lower than 16CU's and Xe3 is much stronger than Xe2, wheres AMD is said to be reusing RDNA3.5 so no real improvements expected.

 

[Liranan]

So you don't get it. Already Xe2 competes well against 880M, anything AMD offers in this class will also be a lot lower than 16CU's and Xe3 is much stronger than Xe2, wheres AMD is said to be reusing RDNA3.5 so no real improvements expected.

The only area in which Intel beat AMD easily, without contest, is bad drivers.