Intel's first Intel 18A chips (Core Ultra Series 3): up to 16 hybrid cores, the 12 Xe3-core Arc B390 iGPU and a 50 TOPS NPU. Excellent efficiency and Quick Sync, with integrated graphics that finally rival AMD's best.
Recommended for Gaming Local AI & LLMs Homelab & Proxmox Media Server Office & Productivity
| Graphics | Intel Arc B390 (12 Xe cores, 2.5 GHz, 122 TOPS INT8) |
| Memory | LPDDR5X-8533 onboard (64GB) |
| Storage | 2x M.2 2280 (PCIe 5.0 x4 + PCIe 4.0 x1, up to 8TB each) |
| Idle Power | Not published |
| Price | $2,399.99 (64GB/1TB) |
Intel Panther Lake Core Ultra X9 388H / X7 358H
| Model | Intel Core Ultra X9 388H / X7 358H (Panther Lake) |
| Cores / Threads | 16 / 16 (4 Cougar Cove P + 8 Darkmont E + 4 LP-E, no Hyper-Threading) |
| Max Turbo | Up to 5.1 GHz (X9 388H) |
| Cache | 18 MB L3 |
| Processor Base Power | 25 W (max turbo power up to 80 W) |
| NPU | Intel NPU 5, up to 50 TOPS (~180 TOPS platform total) |
| Process | Intel 18A compute tile |
| iGPU | Arc B390, 12 Xe3-cores with XMX (X-series); 4 Xe3-cores on non-X SKUs |
| Quick Sync | H.264 / HEVC / VP9 / AV1 encode and decode, up to 8K |
| Display Output | Up to 4 displays |
| Memory Channels | Dual-channel (128-bit) |
| Memory Type | LPDDR5X-9600 (required for 12 Xe SKUs) or DDR5-7200 SODIMM on 4 Xe SKUs |
| Max Memory | Up to 96 GB DDR5 / 128 GB LPDDR5X (model dependent) |
| Storage | PCIe 5.0 x4 on select boards, otherwise PCIe 4.0 x4 |
| Thunderbolt | Integrated Thunderbolt 4 (up to 4 ports); Thunderbolt 5 via add-on controller |
| Ethernet | Dual 2.5GbE on many models |
| Wireless | Integrated Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 (CNVi) |
| Typical Idle | 5 – 10 W at the wall |
Quick Sync media servers and editing, efficient always-on workstations, 1080p gaming on the iGPU, on-device AI with OpenVINO.
| Graphics (iGPU) | Radeon 780M (12 CUs RDNA 3) |
| Memory Architecture | Dual DDR5 5600MHz SODIMM |
| Storage Exp. | 2x PCIe 4.0 NVMe (Raid 0/1 support) |
| Idle Power | 11W – 16W |
| Est. Barebone Cost | $490 - $680 |
Native 1080p AAA gaming, external eGPU docking, Ollama local 7B-13B LLM inference.
| Graphics (iGPU) | Radeon 890M (16 CUs) |
| Memory Architecture | LPDDR5X 7500MT/s (Soldered 32/64GB) |
| Storage Exp. | Dual M.2 PCIe 4.0 x4 |
| Idle Power | 12W – 19W |
| Est. Barebone Cost | $790 - $1,050 |
Ultra-fast local model fine-tuning, 1440p gaming, intensive creative studio workflow.
| Graphics (iGPU) | Radeon 890M (16 CUs, up to 3.1 GHz) |
| Memory Architecture | DDR5-5600 SODIMM or LPDDR5X (Up to 128GB) |
| Storage Exp. | 2–3x M.2 PCIe 4.0 x4 (chassis dependent) |
| Idle Power | 6W – 10W |
| Est. Barebone Cost | $720 - $1,400 |
Local LLM inference, 1080p–1440p gaming with upscaling, software builds and creative workloads in a compact desktop.