Intel Core Ultra CPUs Promise Largest Architectural Shift in 40 Years

Intel is pushing into on-device AI capabilities beginning with its latest laptop and datacentre processors. The new lineup of laptop CPUs also introduces a new naming scheme and drops the generation number that Core CPUs have been given for the past several years. Formerly codenamed ‘Meteor Lake’, these new chips are Intel’s first to feature integrated Neural Processing Units (NPUs) as well as more powerful integrated GPUs based on the Xe architecture. They are also the first to be built partially on the Intel 4 node using a chiplet-based layout with multiple independent tiles stacked using the 3D Foveros manufacturing process.

The Intel Core Ultra series promises to enable on-device acceleration for AI tasks in software from Adobe, Microsoft, Cyberlink, Zoom and more, plus users will be able to run today’s large language models and frameworks for machine learning. For example, Intel promises 38 percent lower power consumption in video calls and a 1.7X performance uplift in generative AI using Stable Diffusion.

With the Core Ultra series, Intel has updated its P-cores and E-cores, and has improved its Thread Director scheduler which helps the OS assign tasks to the optimal core. Intel claims superior performance not only to its own previous generation, but also to AMD’s current offerings and Qualcomm, which is expected to push further into the laptop space in 2024. The new integrated GPU gets an Intel Arc label and boasts of advanced media encoding and decoding plus support for four displays. Gaming performance is said to be up to 2X compared to the previous generation, at 1080p using medium quality settings and without upscaling. Support for XeSS upscaling pushes that even further.

Gaming performance using XeSS on a pre-production laptop sample at the Core Ultra launch.

Intel’s new naming scheme drops the lowercase i but retains the 3, 5, 7, and 9 designations for product hierarchy, as well as U and H suffixes denoting power draw. The current lineup tops out with the Core Ultra 7 165H, which features 6 P-cores running at up to 5GHz and 8 3.8GHz E-cores as well as two additional ultra-low power E-cores for a total of 22 threads. There’s 24MB of total cache, and base power is 28W though it can reach 115W when boosted, depending on the laptop OEM’s thermal solution. A Core Ultra 9 185H with the same core count but a 45W base TDP and 5.1GHz top speed will join the lineup in Q1 2024.

Laptop manufacturers including Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer, Asus, Microsoft, Razer, Gigabyte, MSI, and Samsung are expected to introduce over 230 new models based on these CPUs starting immediately, with several likely to be on display at the CES trade show in January.

Along with laptop CPUs, Intel has unveiled its 5th Gen Xeon processor family which will push AI workloads in the datacentre promising improved performance and power efficiency. At the launch event, the company also showed off its upcoming Gaudi 3 AI accelerator which is scheduled for launch in 2024.