HWMonitor quietly lists Intel’s next-gen Panther Lake processors ahead of launch
(Image credit: Intel)
The naming scheme for Intel’s recently announced Panther Lake series of mobile processors has been spotted in the release notes for the popular system sensor monitoring tool,by developers CPU ID. According to HWMonitor's release notes for version 1.6, the software now offers support for the upcoming Panther Lake architecture. The notes on the HWMonitor site feature Intel Panther Lake-H and Panther Lake-U processors and list a total of 12 SKUs, including the Core Ultra X9 388H, which will presumably become Intel's next flagship chip.
Announced last week, Intel’s Panther Lake family of mobile processors mark the company’s first consumer CPUs built on its next-generation 18A process node. The new lineup combines elements from Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake, bringing improved efficiency and performance in a modular, disaggregated design. Panther Lake features Cougar Cove performance cores, Darkmont efficiency cores, and Xe3 integrated graphics with up to 12 Xe cores.
Intel has developed two 18A compute dies that can be combined with different GPUs and I/O tiles to produce three distinct Panther Lake SoCs designed for different performance levels and price segments. The models listed by HWMonitor are as follows:
If we connect the dots, the smallest of the three Panther Lake SoCs could go on to become the Panther Lake-U variant. Based on existing materials released by Intel, this series is set to feature a 4P+4E core configuration similar to Lunar Lake, with 12MB of shared L3 cache and an Xe3 GPU offering up to four Xe cores. It also supports DDR5 SODIMMs or LPCAMM modules up to 6800 MT/s, as well as soldered LPDDR5X memory running at up to 6400 MT/s.
The mid-size configuration likely corresponds to the Panther Lake-H series, which features a 4P+8E+4LPE core setup, with up to 18MB of shared L3 cache. While it retains the same 4 Xe Core GPU as the smaller variant, the higher core count and larger cache suggest higher performance potential. Additionally, this tier supports DDR5 at speeds up to 7200 MT/s and LPDDR5X at up to 8533 MT/s.
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Lastly, the Core Ultra X-branded Panther Lake-H could correspond to the high-end SoC, which features a similar 4P+8E+4LPE CPU core configuration but with a more powerful 12 Xe3 Core GPU for enhanced graphics performance. Notably, this chip has more limited memory options, which aim to deliver adequate memory bandwidth for the GPU. As per Intel, this tier will support LPDDR5X memory at 9600 MT/s.
Intel is expected to officially confirm the final SKUs for Panther Lake later this year, with the first wave of products anticipated to ship before the end of 2025, and a broader availability starting next year. However, the early listings offer an early indication of how the lineup could be structured across performance (H-series) and efficiency (U-series) tiers. Additionally, the mention of previously leaked Core Ultra X models suggest that Intel plans to reserve the “X” branding for its top-tier performance chips.
Kunal Khullar is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. He is a long time technology journalist and reviewer specializing in PC components and peripherals, and welcomes any and every question around building a PC.
Intel Core Ultra X9 388H?
Ah, we have arrived at the full circle of copying someone else's naming scheme.
At least Intel had the sense to not inject AI Max in there.
